STUPA WORSHIP.pdf

ST ¯ PA WORSHIP: THE EARLY FORMOF

TAI RELIGIOUS TOURISM

Dr Pimmada Wichasin

Pilgrimage and tourism can be related to each other, especially religious tourism. It can

be said that pilgrimage is considered an early form of religious tourism due to the fact

that these two share similar aspects. The relationship of pilgrimage and tourism with the

emphasis on the case of st¯pa worship is illustrated in this paper. St¯pa worship is

regarded to be an early form of both the pilgrimage and tourism of Tai. The ‘Tai’ in this

context refers to those who share Lanna cultural features such as Tai Lanna, Tai Lue, Tai

Yai, Tai Khuen, and Laos.

Pilgrimage as religious tourism

Pilgrimage is a religious phenomenon existing in all main religions of the

world: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islamism. Barber deﬁned pilgrimage

as ‘a journey resulting from religious causes, externally to a holy site, internally for

spiritual purposes and internal understanding’ (1993, 1). Leeming and Odajnyk

(2001, 269) suggest that pilgrimage involves three essential steps. The ﬁrst step

involves the signiﬁcant separation through pilgrimage from home and ordinary

life and a journey to a sacred centre. This separation can be identiﬁed with clothes,

ritual or any unusual behaviour. The second step is the interaction with the sacred

as with ritual acts. The third step is the return home, which is always marked by a

sense of renewal.

Pilgrimage has often been linked with tourism. It might be said that the

pilgrimage should be seen as the earliest form of travelling (Cohen 2004). In the

context of tourism, most researchers refer to the pilgrim as a religious tourist (for

example, Kaplan and Bar-On 1991; Smith 1989, 1992; Turner and Turner 1978). One

of the reasons is that pilgrimage provides a mix of pious and pleasurable states

through the means of travel. With the exception of the devotional aspect,

pilgrimage involves sightseeing, travelling and visiting different places. Besides,

the nature of tourist experience shares some similarity with the essential steps of

pilgrimage. For example, MacCannell claims that the tourist can be compared

with the modern-day pilgrim because they make a journey to experience a

quest for authenticity (MacCannell 1973 cited in Collins-Kreiner and Kliot 2000).

Contemporary Buddhism, Vol. 10, No. 1, May 2009

ISSN 1463-9947 print/1476-7953 online/09/010185-191

q 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14639940902969168

186 PIMMADA WICHASIN

Graburn also describes tourism as a sacred journey, in the sense that it is the

situation in which an individual escapes from the secular everyday world to the

land of play (Graburn 1989 cited in Collins-Kreiner and Kliot 2000).

The pilgrimage of Tai to worship st ¯ pas

In the early period, generally, Tai peoples were not travellers in the sense of

westerners who seek for new adventures or new lands. A long journey for a Tai

was mainly for trade purposes, and most of those traders were men. There was

hardly a chance for women or laymen to travel on a long journey until pilgrimage

for st ¯ pa worship began in the thirteenth century (Aksorndit 2002). The sacred

journey was undertaken mainly for religious purposes, but leisure purposes were

also in evidence. The next part illustrates the early form of pilgrimage and religious

tourism by Tai people involving visits to st¯pas.

In Buddhism, the abstract symbol of Lord Buddha is the Buddhist doctrine,

while the concrete symbols are st¯pas containing bone or hair relics, footprints

and even the bed of Lord Buddha. In the thirteenth century, st¯pas were widely

constructed by Tai rulers in the belief that these works would help them toward

enlightenment. Since a st¯pa is the sacred representative of Lord Buddha,

Buddhists living in Thailand and other countries undertook pilgrimage to worship

st¯pas in the belief that this journey would protect them from all forms of danger.

Pilgrimage to st ¯ pas was not only widely practiced among laymen but also among

the Tai rulers (Aksorndit 2002).

As a matter of fact, pilgrimage to worship st ¯ pas was a compulsory annual

custom of Tai rulers and royalty in so far as they were the patrons of Buddhism.

An example of annual pilgrimage by a Tai royal is portrayed in Khlong Niras

Hariphunchai. A ‘Niras’ is a Thai literary work describing a voyage. In this

Niras, there is a description of the Prince Royal of Chiangmai and his mother

visiting the Hariphunchai St¯pa in Lampoon (Na Nagara 1973). Since then, it was

considered the strict duty for every ruler of Chiangmai to take care and worship

this st¯pa.

According to Srisawat (2004), in the kingdom of Laos, two out of 14 rules

mentioned for the king concern worshipping st ¯ pas. They are:

Rule number 11: in the 11 th month of the year, the king had to worship Jomsri

st¯pa as annual ceremony in order that the kingdom would be peaceful and

prosperous. Rule number 12: in the 12 th month of the year, the king had a duty

to gather all population under his reign including the minority ethnic groups

into Luang Pra Bang and take a pilgrimage to worship the Sridhammasokaraj

st¯pa.

Rule number 12 states that this pilgrimage would encourage populations from

various ethnic backgrounds to meet and befriend each other. It also supported

Buddhist faith among a large section of the population irrespective of ethnic

background. Everyone had the same faith, belief and precepts. There was no

EARLY FORM OF TAI RELIGIOUS TOURISM 187

difference in social class, as this sacred journey allowed people to intermix. This

could create good relations between races, communities and cultures at village,

town and country levels (Aksorndit 2002, 326–327). The pilgrimage supported the

opportunity to engage in activities together, such as renovating the st¯pa,

cooking so as to make merit, and eating together. It was also a chance to

exchange the culture of hosts and guests. There were also three-day celebrations

at the st¯pa with various entertainments including ﬁreworks, light rockets and

various kinds of live performance.

Another example can be found in ‘The Customs and rules of the Cao Fa Sali

No Kham of Mueng Sing’ (cited in Grabowsky and Wichasin 2009, 212–213).

It states:

on the full moon day of the ﬁrst month, people come together for the

procession with the cao fa up to worship the great st¯pa of Chiang Tuem. They

stay there for one night and then light rockets and ﬁreworks, according to the

will of everyone in all monasteries, villages and towns. Then people amuse

themselves throughout the night.

Tai Lue rulers of Sipsong panna also followed the tradition of visiting the

Shwedagon in Rangon, Myanmar (Wichasin 2001). In ‘Twilight over Burma’

(Sargent 1994), it is mentioned that there was a ceremony of worshipping the

Bawgyo st¯pa as an annual custom. Bawgyo is near the town of Hsipaw in

Northern Shan State. The ceremony was set on the full moon of March. People

from all over Shan State gathered together to worship this st¯pa containing four

holy images of Lord Buddha and attended the seven-day ceremony. Cao Fa of

Hsipaw had to attend as a compulsory duty. This custom continued until the last

Cao Fa before the decline of the Cao Fa system in Myanmar. There is evidence that

King Mangtra of Myanmar brought his retinue to worship Bawgyo st¯pa during

the ceremony time and requested a meeting with Cao Fa Laung Khun Kham of

Saenwi because of his reputation for ability in both religious and secular affairs

(Wichasin 2007).

Pilgrimage gave a religious and a tourist beneﬁt at the same time, in the

sense that the pilgrim could enjoy the tourist attractions all the way to the st¯pa,

and then could worship the sacred st ¯ pa on arrival. Besides, there were also

ceremonies at the st¯pa to entertain the pilgrim. Therefore, the st¯pa could be

considered the visitor attraction in a tourist sense. Pilgrimage can also be the

motive for writing travel literature, as well as romantic literature, describing the

beautiful scenery along the way of the pilgrimage. Some works became classic

literature. These travelogues portray beautiful scenery, entertaining activities,

attractions along the way giving a picture of the geography, society and culture of

local areas en route to the st¯pa.

As for the transportation of the day, the pilgrims travelled by boat, on foot,

in carts or on elephants. As people began to move from their point of origin to

their destination, there would be more and more people joining the pilgrimage

along the way. Thus, small groups of pilgrims would turn into large caravans.

188 PIMMADA WICHASIN

As for accommodation for pilgrims: layman stayed at the temple or at the homes

of relatives. Sometimes, they might even stay with someone with whom they were

not well acquainted. The hosts gave support to this religious activity as it gave

them a chance to play a part in this sacred journey. Although they personally did

not have a chance to join the pilgrimage, at least they could kindly offer

accommodation to the pilgrims.

In regard to the location of st ¯ pas, they are mostly built on higher

ground or mountains. This can be put down to pre-Buddhist animist beliefs

respecting nature and mountains. In time, the older belief was assimilated to

Buddhism. Thus, the concrete symbols of Lord Buddha were mostly situated

on mountains. Scholars also believe that the construction of st¯pas on

mountains was part of the culture of the people who live in the upper part of

Northern Thailand (Lanna). According to Aksorndit’s (2002) survey, there are 66

st¯pas in the region. Tai who were inﬂuenced by Lanna culture called

pilgrimage ‘Khuen That’, which means climbing to worship a st¯pa on higher

ground. They do not use the word ‘Wai That’, which means paying respect to

the st¯pa.

A popular time for pilgrimage to ‘Khuen That’ was either before sowing the

paddy or after harvest (Aksorndit 2002). This is the ‘Songkran Day’, which is

regarded as the ﬁrst day of the year in the Thai context. People visit a st ¯ pa to

worship and to pour water on it. In the past, people would use a bunch of ﬂowers

or leaves dipped in kafﬁr lime water and ﬂick them at the st ¯ pa. Today, the

temples employ technology by using machines to help in pouring water on the

st¯pa from the top to the base. In addition, there is also the ceremony of pouring

water on a Buddha image.

The rise of st ¯ pa worship in relation to birth year

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, in Lanna cultural areas, there

appeared the idea of worshipping st¯pas in relation to one’s birth-year symbol

(Aksorndit 2002). Thai people give importance to the birth date on account of the

belief that it is information useful for predicting or foretelling the future of that

person. In Lanna astrology, animals are conceived as symbols of each birth year of

the 12-year cycle. This is called nakshat. There are 12 animal symbols and

therefore, in relation to pilgrimage, 12 st ¯ pas visited for worship. These st ¯ pas are

mostly situated in the northern part of Thailand.

Table 1 presents the relationship of nakshat and the st¯pas that are linked to

these animals. From the table, it can be seen that Bantak st¯pa was speciﬁed as a

replacement for Shwedagon st¯pa in Myanmar. The reason for this is that, in the

past, people walked through Tak province to visit Shwedagon st¯pa in Yangon,

Myanmar. Later, the visit to Yangon became difﬁcult due to various reasons at the

moment. Therefore, the abbot of Bantak temple built the new st¯pa around the

old st¯pa, imitating the Shwedagon (Phra Kru Pitakbarommathat 2007). There are

two more cases of substitutions for convenience. They are The Bodhi tree at Jed

EARLY FORM OF TAI RELIGIOUS TOURISM 189

TABLE 1

Nakshat and st¯pas

Nakshat

St¯pas to be visited

The year of the Rat

Jom Thong, Chiangmai, Thailand

The year of the Ox

Lampang Luang, Lampang, Thailand

The year of the Tiger

Cho-Hae, Prae, Thailand

The year of the Rabbit

Chae-Haeng, Nan, Thailand

The year of the Big Snake

Phra-Sing or the image of Lord Buddha called

‘Phra Phuddha Si Hing’, Chiangmai, Thailand

The year of the Snake

Buddhagaya, India or The Bodhi Tree

or Jet Yod temple, Chiangmai, Thailand

The year of the Horse

Shwedagon, Myanmar or Bantak St ¯ pa, Tak, Thailand

The year of the Goat

Doi Su Thep, Chiangmai, Thailand

The year of the Monkey

Pha-nom, Nakhonphanom, Thailand

The year of the Cock

Hariphunchai, Lampoon, Thailand

The year of the Dog

Ket Kaew Chula Manee in heaven. However, it is

allowed to pay a visit to Ket Ka Ram temple, Chiangmai,

Thailand, or Kyaihtiyo, Myanmar

The year of the Pig

Doi Tung, Chiangrai, Thailand

Yod temple, Chiangmai, substituting Buddhag¯ya in India; and Ket Ka Ram Temple

in Chiangmai and Kyaihtiyo, Myanmar substituting for Ket Kaew Chula Manee

in heaven.

Aksorndit (2002) suggests that the belief of worshipping st¯pas in relation to

birth year was encouraged by Lanna people so as to resist the ambition of Siam to

capture Lanna. The Lanna people wanted to show the strength of their identity

to Siam, that they had their own culture and belief. Later, when Lanna became

part of Siam, this belief faded with time. The practice was only maintained among

Lanna royals and monks.

The belief of visiting birth-year st ¯ pas was temporarily revived by Kru Ba

Sri Wi Chai, a very respected monk in the Lanna area. He was born in the year

of the tiger and he visited Cho-Hae st ¯ pa at Prae. He also brought a small

tiger made of wood to the st ¯ pa as an act of respect. The practice declined

after his death.

However, the popularity of visiting one’s the birth-year st¯pa has revived

again in the past ﬁve years as part of a tourism campaign. Apart from Chiangmai,

most of the provinces where st¯pas are situated are not popular tourist

destinations. Reviving the idea of visiting birth year st¯pas can encourage tourists

to visit those destinations. The campaign has combined religious belief with

tourism. St¯pa worship can be inserted in the travel programme if that st¯pa is

related to tour members naksat. For example, Jom Thong st¯pa is situated on the

way to Inthanon mountain, which is the highest mountain of Thailand. So, people

who were born on the year of the rat tend to stop off and pay respect. The visit to

Jom Thong st¯pa is motivated by religious intent en route to visiting Inthanon for

the purpose of tourism.

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