Meet you at the Love Shrine

Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and if you still have no one to give a box of chocolates, you'd best be paying your respects to the Hindu gods and goddesses at the Rachaprasong intersection.

They're in the business of love - as well as power and money.

The Trimurti Shrine in front of CentralWorld Plaza is colloquially known as the Lover's Shrine because, if you present the gods nine red offerings - nine sticks of incense, nine candles, nine roses, etc - they'll find you someone's heart to share.

Trimurti literally means "three forms" and refers to the three pillars of the Hindu godhead - Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. When the three of them are joined as one, the universe runs like clockwork.

"Trimurti represents unity and love," explains Prasart "Kru Mued" Thongaram of the government's Fine Arts Department.

"Some people focus only on the connotation of romantic love but, if you look closely at the base of the statue, you'll see demons and monkeys. In the Thai literary epic the Ramakien, demons are monkeys' bitter enemies, but the Trimurti statue shows both seated together peacefully.

"Red is always identified as the colour of passionate love, and people worship Trimurti with all things red," Kru Mued notes, but another tone is linked to love.

"In the myth of the Churning of the Milky Ocean for the Nectar of Immortality, Vasuki, king of the Nagas, is used as the churning rope and has to spew his venom once in a while. But his poison is so potent that, if it drops to earth, all living things will die.

"Out of compassion for these living beings, Shiva drinks the deadly poison, and the colour of his neck changes to black. So black is considered the 'colour' of love and compassion for other beings."

The bustle of the intersection barely registers on devotees at the shrine. They shrug off the heat, too, and continue chanting Pali mantras.

Not far away is another popular shrine, this one to Ganesh, the Hindu elephant-headed god who stands for accomplishment, success, wisdom, the arts and, not incidentally, wealth.

Ganesh will help his worshippers overcome any obstacle, which makes him the goto deity in Hindu heaven.

"Ganesh is the son of Shiva and Parvati, known as Uma Devi to Thais," says Mued. "He was born in human form, but on the day of his headshaving ceremony, Shiva asked Indra to blow a conch to summon Vishnu to the ceremony.

"This upset Vishnu, and he cried, 'That lost-headed boy is so annoying!' and the boy's head disappeared.

"Shiva ordered all the gods to find a replacement head before the sun went down, but no humans died that day, only an elephant. So they cut off the elephant's head and placed it on the boy's body and revived him.

"To atone for his carelessness, Vishnu placed every blessing he received from the other gods in the boy's belly."

On the fourth-floor balcony of Gaysorn Plaza across the street is a statue of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fertility.

"Lakshmi is Vishnu's consort," Kru Mued notes. "Her love for Vishnu is very deep. When he takes another form to fight demons, she does too. In the Ramakien, Vishnu incarnates as Rama and she incarnates as Sita.

"Lakshmi is the goddess of beauty and also the mother of Kama Deva - otherwise known as Cupid!"

Next door at the InterContinental Bangkok is a statue of Vishnu mounted on a garuda. Thais know him as Phra Narai, preserver of the universe.

"Thais believe their kings are avatars of Vishnu," says Kru Mued. "The garuda is his celestial vehicle, and you can see a garuda flag on His Majesty the King's cars. Vishnu destroys all evil and preserves the good - always with Lakshmi at his side."

Across the road again, the Indra Shrine has a dark, jade-coloured likeness of the god with 1,000 eyes to watch over humanity. He is the supreme ruler of the gods, and wields Vajra, the thunderbolt, as his weapon.

"Indra is our guardian," Mued says. "If there's any trouble on earth, his soft seat becomes hard, and he'll use his thousand eyes to see what's wrong and will come down to help."

The Brahma Shrine, the oldest in the area, is formally known as Phra Prom Erawan because of its proximity to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, and it's famous around the world, especially among Chinese and Indians.

"Brahma is the giver, and his four faces are ready to hear prayers from all worshippers," says Kru Mued.

"In some legends he originally only had one face, but he was so deeply in love with his consort, Sarasvati - the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts - that he could hardly take his eyes off her. When she walked to the left, another face emerged on the left side of his head. Finally, he had five faces, all for watching her.

"However, the fifth face proved lethal to less-powerful beings, so Brahma asked Shiva to cut it off."

Kru Mued assures people that they don't have to be able to read the engraved mantras to recite, or can't read Pali, or if they have no offerings.

"Gods are benevolent, so wai them respectfully, and that's enough. The shape of your palms when you put them together to wai is like lotus, which represents purity in Buddhism.

"That's surely one of the best offerings, isn't it?"

In search of true love I may or may not succeed, but with my head bowed low and my hands in the wai gesture, I think I understand why love is divine. 

Prayer wheel

All of these shrines are around the Rachaprasong intersection. The Brahma Shrine enclosure is open daily from 6am to 11pm and the area around the Lakshmi statue from 10am to 8pm. The rest can be visited anytime.

Every Saturday this month the Ratchaprasong Square Trade Association is conducting Rachaprasong Phob Rak walking tours that visit all six shrines, and Kru Meud is the guide. Book a spot at (02) 650 4704.