Thatarattha (ธตรฐ, ธตรัฏฐะ)

Thai name of one of the four guardian gods, also known as the Four Heavenly Kings, and the guardian of the East, who is associated with Indra. As such, he is typically found at the entrance of Chinese-Taoist temples. He is usually referred to as Thao Thatarattha, but is in Thai also called Thatarot. In Pali, he is known as Dhatarattha and in Sanskrit as Dhrtarastra or Dhritarashtra, which means ‘Whose Empire is Firm’. In Chinese, he is called Chi Guo Tian, which translates ‘Deity that Watches the Land’, and he is depicted holding a Chinese lute known as a pipa (fig.). In khon, he is portrayed with a khon mask, that has a orangey-brown complexion and a golden, chadah-like, cockerel-tail crown, that is adorned with pieces or red mirror-like glass, and that ‒seen from the side‒ is wavy and curves somewhat backward, similar to the crown worn by the yak Mahayommayak (fig.). 回