Lamphun: Before it became a mural painting in the temple covering the footprint of the Buddha, Wat Phra Bat Huai Tom, Li District, Lamphun Province, Professor Jamnong Rattanakun spent more than 11 years studying the way of life, traditions, collecting information, and painting the picture.
According to Thai News Agency, an amazing painting was found. There are more than 20,000 Karen villagers in the painting, but none of them look exactly alike. The patterns on their clothes also vary depending on where they live. In total, it took over 11 years to paint the murals, from gathering information, adjusting the wall surface, interacting with the villagers, studying their way of life and traditions, to finally painting them.
At the Buddha's footprint shrine, Wat Phra Bat Huai Tom, Na Sai Subdistrict, Li District, Lamphun Province, inside the shrine, there are paintings on all four walls of the shrine, which tell the story of the way of life, art, traditions, and faith of the Pga K'nyau people towards Buddhism, including the image of Khru Ba Chai Ya Wongsa Phatthana, the former abbot of Wat Phra Bat Huai Tom, who passed away while performing religious ceremonies. The artist painted tens of thousands of Pga K'nyau people, giving them completely different appearances. Most of the people the artist painted were villagers in the Phra Bat Huai Tom community, which is interesting to those who see them. Not only are their appearances different, but the patterns of their clothes are also different.
Mr. Wimon Sukdaeng, village headman of Mae La, Village No. 17, Na Sai Subdistrict, Li District, revealed that there are more than 20,000 people in the picture, who are real people in the Phra Bat Huai Tom community, which consists of 11 villages. Each person is completely different, and they are of all ages, from young children, teenagers, to the elderly. Most of them are locals and some are from other areas. They are modern Thai patterns, painted with acrylic paint. They tell the story of Luang Pu Kruba Chaiyawongsa Phatthana, and they are also pictures of King Rama IX visiting Wat Phra Bat Huai Tom in 1978, 1979, and 1980, granting houses and farms to the villagers, until it became the large community it is today.
Mr. Wimon said that the artist, Ajarn Jamnong Rattanakul, took more than 6 years to paint the picture, not including the years spent studying information. In total, Ajarn Jamnong spent more than 11 years here painting the whole picture.
Starting from 2010, Ajarn Jamnong began studying the history of Luang Pu Kruba Chaiyawongsa Phatthana, going to every place that Luang Pu went, to every spot that Luang Pu had stayed, to collect information, collect details. In the second year or 2011, Ajarn Jamnong began adjusting the surface of the walls in the entire temple. Then, from 2012-2013, he sketched all the images, while studying the way of life and culture of the villagers of Phra Bat Huai Tom community. Then in 2014, Ajarn Jamnong began drawing continuously until 2020, a total of more than 6 years.
