Fine Arts chief inspects lightning-hit Wat Arun
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Fine Arts Department chief Sahawat Naenna yesterday inspected Wat Arun in Bangkok, following the recent decapitation of a statue of a demon in the compound by a lightning strike, before scaffolds were set up to allow repairs to the statue today.
Many people went to take a look at the damaged statue at the temple’s smaller stupa yesterday, prompting Assistant Abbot Phra Khru Arunthammanuwat to thank everyone for their expressions of concern. He urged the Thai public not to view this as a bad omen, rather as a natural phenomenon that had resulted in an accident due to a faulty lightning rod.
Sahawat said the department would set up scaffolds to repair the statue today, and would improve the temple’s system of lightening rods to prevent a recurrence of the incident.
The Fine Arts chief said he also talked to temple officials about the possibility of making Wat Arun a model in terms of applying stricter regulations prohibiting visitors from wearing shoes or short skirts or pants in the Buddhavas area – a zone housing the temple’s Ubosot, Chedis, Stupas and Viharn – and building a venue for changing clothes, as more and more visitors seemed to dress inappropriately.
This pilot scheme could later be expanded to Bangkok’s other key temples, and temples nationwide, to apply the same standard so that visitors, be they Thai or foreign, could follow the rules and act respectfully in these holy places, he added.
Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen Assistant Abbot Phra Mahasasanamuni backed the regulation requiring visitors to remove their shoes before entering temples, especially the Buddhavas area, in order to show respect.
