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THAI AMULET ART
Here you can find texts about Thai Amulet Art. The page aims at doing the following
· Present Thai Amulet Art across the times.
· Propose an additional art period that marks the advent of the 5-amulet set, Benjapakee.
· Present the various Buddha Statue Postures which have influenced Thai Amulet Art.
· Establish a system of classification for enhanced appreciation of this unique way of aesthetic representation.
· Offer links to important websites that help appreciating Thai Amulet Art.
AMULET HISTORICAL PERIODS
This section presents amulets across established art periods in Thailand but one, Post-Rattanakosin, which I have here introduced. The downloadable Excel file summarizes the amulets presented.
AMULET LISTINGS
This section presents lists of amulets according to their purpose.
Amulets - Listing According to Powers (list of amulets according to one's wished achievements in life)
Amulets - Birthday Listing (list of amulets according to the birth week day)
BUDDHA POSTURES
Buddha statues are particular in that they present postures/poses (ปาง) representing the life stages and events associated with the teachings and travels of Gautama Buddha. I have counted 88 such postures in the first file. The second file, "The Mystery of the Beauty of Reclining Buddha Postures" presents in more detail 9 reclining postures, which are part of the first file, especially the 30-50-meter-long monuments found around Thailand. The third file "Decoding the Code" establishes for each of the 88 postures the elements that make up the posture, the gestures of hands and feet and the pose. A handy complementary file is "Double and Single Right-Handed Buddha Mudras" which shoe the most important hand gestures in Buddhist iconography. The file "Pang Listings" simply presents all possible lists that exist for Buddha statues, such as week days, months, years, creation as per art periods etc. The last file establishes the relationship between the character of a person informed by a Day Deity and the associated Buddha Postures.
Buddha Postures (Pang) Presentation (2024) (detailed presentation of 88 Buddha Postures and other images)
The Mystery of the Beauty of Reclining Buddha Postures (2024) (an outline of Reclining Postures)
Double and Single Right-Handed Buddha Mudras (2024) (presenting key hand gestures with Posture pictures)
Pang Listings (2024) (presenting all sort of ways to categorize and list Buddha Postures)
Person Characters Across Day and Buddha Symbolics (2024) (establishing the relationship between the Day Deity and the associated Day Buddha Postures)
KNOWLEDGE LINKS
This is a non-exhaustive list of links to amulet-related websites, yet what I think useful to gain further knowledge of Thai amulets or to acquire (rent) some.
THAI BUDDHA IMAGE ADMIRATION ASSOCIATION especially its ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AMULETS
NAIBORAN to gain knowledge on LAMPHOON AMULETS (e.g. Phra Rod)
RECLINING BUDDHA showing all the great monuments to visit across Thailand
RENTING LINKS
This is a non-exhaustive list of links to rent (as the proper term goes, i.e. purchase) amulets via exporters from Thailand
BILLIONMORE - a comprehensive range of amulets with casing services and kathas in English and MP3 (prety rare and cool)
SOURCES
A word of caution pertaining to sources: those provided do not necessarily cover the spectrum of my online research endeavors, since such sources are likely to move or get deleted defeating any sound referencing system. The aim of this page is educational and scientific, and I take it that all sources made available on the internet are public domain unless otherwise specified by copyright restrictions.
In case of possible flaws and disagreements, I would welcome to hear of via amulets.zamaros.net[at]gmail.com to make improvements.