01Brahma for a troubled hotel
In the mid-1950s the Thai government was building the Erawan Hotel, named after Airavata, the white elephant of Indra, and the work went badly: accidents among the labourers, delays, a ship of marble lost at sea. Astrologers advised that a shrine be set up, and in 1956 a gilded four-faced Brahma was installed at the corner of the site. The troubles are said to have ended. The hotel has since been replaced by the Grand Hyatt Erawan, but the shrine stays where it was put.
02Garlands and dancers
Brahma has four faces, and Thai custom is to pray at each one in turn, offering marigold garlands, incense and candles. Those whose prayers are answered come back to give thanks, often by paying a troupe of dancers in traditional costume who perform before the shrine to the sound of a small orchestra. Wooden elephants, Airavata again, pile up at the railings. On 21 March 2006 a mentally ill man smashed the statue with a hammer; a new image, made with fragments of the old, was installed the same year. On 17 August 2015 a bomb exploded beside the shrine and killed 20 people.
The life of this place
- 1956The Brahma shrine was installed at the Erawan Hotel site.
- 21 March 2006The statue was smashed; a restored image was installed later that year.
- 17 August 2015A bomb blast beside the shrine killed 20 people.
At the Ratchaprasong junction, next to Chit Lom BTS station. Garlands and incense are sold at the gate.
