Places of Danger and PossibilityĬaves are liminal spaces – an in-between space. Thus, kingship, Buddhism, and spirits all combine in one story. They sought protection in a cave, and the Buddha, hearing their pleas, appointed a monstrous ghost to keep them safe – a ghost that persists, according to legend, today. For instance, the caves in Sri Lanna National Park, in between Chiang Dao and Nang Non caves, are rumored to be the home of two princesses that hid after their kingdom was destroyed. They blend together, especially so in cave legends. These, as some might expect, are not three separate traditions. The caves of Northern Thailand are places where these religious traditions blend: There are shrines to the Buddha, Hindu hermits and the spirit lords of the mountain, all in the same space. But religion in Thailand and especially the North is, as scholars such as Pattana Kitiarsa, Erick White, Justin McDaniel, and many others have pointed out, a blend of different influences: a belief in the power of particular people and places, a respect for Buddhist teachings, and a model of kingly power based on older Hindu traditions in the region. It could be inferred that Northern Thai caves, then, have little to do with Buddhism. In each of these stories, the cave becomes the home of a powerful but sometimes dangerous spirit, who keeps the Northern Thai region safe, prosperous and healthy so long as the spirit and the dangerous power of the mountain is respected. However, in his death, according to one version, he became its ruler. My favorite such story has a Northern Thai lord – Jao Luang Kham Daeng, the Lord of Burnished Copper – who was tricked into following a beautiful woman into the cave, where he was later devoured by the spirits within. Others have a noble ruler founding the kingdom of Lanna (Northern Thailand) and then retreating to the cave only to have his realm fall into disarray. Local chronicle and oral legend varies on the exact story of the place: Some say the cave was the home of demonic giants – “yaksha” – who were nonetheless ruled from within the cave by a noble king. And, like many such mountains in the region, there is a cave that winds down into its heart. It is an impressive mountain, rising straight up from rice fields, with sheer drops on most sides. Just south of Nang Non Cave and about an hour north of the city of Chiang Mai, the capital of Thailand’s northern region, is Chiang Dao peak. So in the faces of the trapped children, I can see a little of me, had I kept going.īut I spent a great deal of time in other caves around the region, interviewing religious attendants and local guides about how people in the region understand the power of caves and other sacred sites, and what their role is in Northern Thai mythology. As the schoolchildren found out, during the rainy season the water levels at tight spots in the cave can rise dramatically, trapping would-be explorers inside. Only my companion, having heeded better the sign at the entrance forbidding ingress during the rainy season, called me back. I started down the rocky descent toward the entrance, drawn in by its vast scale and emptiness. It looks like the gateway to another world. Its entrance is broad, like a cathedral door, and during the rainy season the humidity pours out of it like steam. I first visited Nang Non Cave in the rainy season of 2007 along with my partner, for my book project “ Ghosts of the New City.” While the current attention has focused on the treacherous flooded passages, the trapped children and their heroic rescuers, as I found, there is much more to this story. She is now the ruler – the “jao mae” – of both. Her body became the mountains, and her genitals, the cave. The name of the cave, Tham Luang Nang Non, literally means “the cave of the reclining lady.” It is named after a princess who, as the legend goes, committed suicide after she was forbidden to be with her commoner love. A department-store mannequin used as the votive image for Jao Mae Nang Non, the guardian spirit of Nang Non Cave.
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