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I got a call this morning from Ploy ..My IELTS student ..her mommy had passed away from cancer on Saturday 19 November 2011
Ploy came to IELTS preparation before she went to Study English in NewZealand
Her family own the Silver factory CHIANGMAI SILVERWARE
More than 65 years Woulai Silpa , Villagers become artisan
I and my son ..Mii came to the ceremony at night time
Her cousins came from the UK
Friends from Montfort College ChiangMai Thailand
Ploy will go to the examination for University next month ..December2011
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Artisan from Woulai street went back to created their temple ..here..
Pra Kruba Srivichai has been called the 'Engineer
Monk' because he mounted and supervised over one
hundred construction projects in northern Thailand,
including the erection of many Buddhist wats (temples).
Of special note, he organized the building of a road
leading to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, the grandiose temple
complex that sits on a mountain top overlooking the
city of Chiang Mai. The road went under construction in
1934 (2477 in the Thai calendar).
Kruba Sriwichai was born in 1878 near Li in the Province of Lamphun and died in 1938. His charismatic career spanned the last years of old Lanna and its gradual absorption into the Siamese state.
This was the time of the Shan Rebellion (1902), the promulgation of the Royal Sangha Act (1903) and the consolidation of Bangkok control over the north.
Kruba Sriwichai, abbot of the remote, Wat Bang Pang, built up a devout and loyal following and he insisted on practicing many of the old Lanna Buddhist traditions. He was regarded with great suspicion by the central authorities who feared that he was becoming revered as a phumibun and might lead a revolt against the encroachment of Bangkok officialdom. He was sent for reeducation and then to Bangkok for trial. He was vindicated and returned to Lamphun in 1923.
Now began his great work in restoring, or rebuilding derelict wat throughout the north. His most famous work was the construction of the road up to Phra That Doi Suthep which was completed in 1935. During the celebrations Kruba Sriwichai was accused of serious errors such as ordaining monks on his own authority, flouting the authority of the monkhood as vested in the Royal Sangha Act and rebuilding wat without permission.
Again he was summoned to Bangkok, again he was exonerated, again he returned to Lamphun. He was invited to continue his work in Chiang Mai. This was his retort.
So long as the Ping River does not flow upstream, I will not set my foot down in Chiang Mai.
After his death the people of Chiang Mai wished to erect a statue of him at the foot of Doi Suthep where the road had started, but this was not possible because of the words he had spoken - until the completion of the Yanhee Dam which backed up the waters of the Ping River so that they did in fact flow upstream.
The revered Khru Sriwichai was one of three people who did much to ensure the smooth integration of Lanna into the Kingdom of Siam. The other two were Princess Dara Rasami who was active in the north after her return from Bangkok where she had been Consort to King Rama V. During the years 1914 - 1933 she acted as a channel of understanding between the Court in Bangkok and the Princely family in Chiang Mai. Much less well-known was Kruba Wajiraphanya of Mae Sruay in Chiang Rai Province who died in 1928 at the age of about 75. He, too, was a revered leader to whom extraordinary powers were attributed, a leader who held onto the old traditions in his remote valley - it took seven days and six nights to reach Mae Sruay from Chiang Mai [Andrew Turton, The Journal of the Siam Society, 2006].
There are some who fault Kruba Sriwichai for having destroyed many old Lanna wat in the process of his work of restoration, but he deserves to be called the Buddhist saint of Northern Thailand.
A precious book I recommended..
Translated by Dr Ronald D. Reynard from the original of Charun Kamsorn. Publishing sponsored by David & Pusadee Salisbury on the occasion of Kruba 129th birthday, June 11th, 2006.
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