Thep-Thanjai: From Nat Myanmar to be Thai Spirit

Abstract

          During the past 10 years period, many Thai people have visited Myanmar for touring purposes. Besides of travelling to explore numerous cultural places in Myanmar, worshipping the sacred objects in Myanmar has come to be one of the main objectives for Thai tourists. Nat Bobogyi at Botahtaung Pagoda known by Thais as “Thep-Thanjai” is a sacred place in Myanmar that is very popular among Thai tourists. The popularity of “Thep-Thanjai” has led to the creation of many “Thep-Thanjai” sculptures in Thailand including sacred objects as well as bringing “Thep-Thanjai” to combine with the sacred things of the temples to attract more people to make merit at the temples. It is shown that the current of the Than-Jai popularity outcome the adaptation of the temples in this period. However, even though in what way Thai people are willing to worship and pray famous “Thep-Thanjai”, on the other hand “Thep-Thanjai” has not been able to completely soften the long-standing historical bias between Thailand and Myanmar as the incident happened at Sanam Luang at the beginning of 2015.