Bangkok’s giant demon banished

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From The Nation

 

A giant demon statue criticised as “un-Buddhist and scary” was removed from in front of The Bazaar Hotel in Bangkok's Huai Khwang district on Thursday.

The move came after the State Railway of Thailand ordered that the statue of Khru Kai Kaeo, a winged demon with fangs and crimson talons, be removed by December 30.

The hotel’s operator, Suan Lum Night Bazaar Ratchadaphisek, has also been ordered to pay a fine of 1.3 million baht for violating the Building Control Act.

The statue of Khru Kai Kaeo and its accompanying nine-tailed fox figure were removed to the rear of the hotel, out of public sight.

"The front of The Bazaar Hotel will be transformed into an activity area for guests," said the hotel’s owner Pairoj Thungthong.

The giant demon statue made headlines when it was erected in August this year, baffling motorists and passersby on Ratchadaphisek Road.

It spawned online groups who began discussing their devotion to Khru Kai Kaeo, a mythical figure said to be the teacher of Jayavarman VII, a former king of the Khmer empire. Some worshippers also reportedly regarded him as a god of wealth.

However, a group calling itself the Council of Artists Supporting Thai Buddhism urged the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to remove the statue, claiming it encouraged demon worship. Khru Kai Kaeo worshippers were promoting un-Buddhist practices including the sacrifice of animals, the group claimed.

Meanwhile, the venerable Phra Phayom Kalayano, abbot of Wat Suan Kaew in Nonthaburi, advised devotees to be cautious about what they worshipped, lamenting that anything could be made into a statue to worship these days.

Devotees should instead worship spiritual beings like the Buddha or Jesus, as role models of goodness, he added.