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King Mongkhut Memorial Park |
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King Mongkhut Memorial Park |
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Before
ascending the throne in
1851, this
scholarly
monarch
lived for
27 years
as a Buddhist
monk during
which time he
became erudite
in several
western
sciences,
including
astronomy
(fig.),
and
one of his well-known accomplishments was
his
accurate
prediction of
a solar eclipse
in
1868
(fig.). |
The park's design
has been arranged to commemorate this achievement and
hence features a
zodiac
court, and flanking the royal statue to the east is a
sun pavilion, seen in the picture to the below, while to
the west is a moon pavilion, seen in this picture to the
left (fig.). |
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King Mongkhut Memorial Park |
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King Mongkhut Memorial Park |
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There is
also a
solar eclipse yard with two
barrel-shaped displays,
one put up on a platform and representing the sun, set
in a red frame, i.e. the colour for Sunday in the
sih prajam wan
system,
the other in a pond and symbolizing the moon, with a
yellow frame, i.e.
the colour for
Monday. |
The
latter has the depiction of
a
rabbit,
referring to the rabbit on the moon (fig.),
and a
rajarot
(fig.)
pulled by a
horse,
i.e. the mount of
the moon god
Phra Jan
(fig.). The
sun
barrel has the
depiction of a chariot
pulled by a
mythological
lion
called
singh
(fig.),
representing the vehicle of the sun god
Phra Ahtit. |
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King Mongkhut Memorial Park |
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King Mongkhut Memorial Park |
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