Khuang Chang Phuak and Khuang Singh

Part of Ancient Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai has two historic monuments known as khuang(ข่วง) - a Northern Thai term meaning a 'meeting place', but often translated as 'terrace' - which were constructed to protect the city against enemies mundane, usually in the form of Burma (though in times past the armies of Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, Lan Chang, Yunnan and even Vietnam were also considered threats), as well as enemies spiritual, in the form of malign spirits.

Both khuang are located to the north of the Old City, in an area traditionally associated with royalty, as well as the dignity and well being of the city. The oldest and most visible is Khuang Chang Phuak, familiar to anyone who has walked or driven north from Chang Phuak Gate towards Chotana. Less visible, and therefore less familiar, is Khuang Singh, which lies a short distance to the west of the Mae Rim Road, just north of the Superhighway.

Anusawari Khuang Chang Phuak อนุสาวรีย์ ช้างเผือก

Chiang Mai's 'Albino Elephant Monument', more commonly rendered in English as 'White Elephant Monument', is also known as Khuang Chang Phuak or 'White Elephant Terrace'.

Khuang Chang Puak dates back to the time of King Saen Muang Ma, the 10th ruler of the Mangrai Dynasty (1385-1401), who attacked Sukhothai in 1387, but was defeated and forced to flee back to the north. According to the Chiang Mai Chronicle: 'The engaging force was broken and fled, and Chao Saen Muang Ma lost elephants, horses, and most of his men'. He was carried back to Chiang Mai on a litter by two 'retainers' named Ai Op and Yi Ra, and thereafter 'Saen Muang Ma took care of them as his Right and Left Guards'. The translators of the Chiang Mai Chronicle, Wyatt and Wichienkeeo, remark in a footnote that the term used to describe the retainers as 'Right and Left Guards' is phuak chang ['albino elephants'], or 'perhaps military leaders'.

The Chronicle further records that, after their rescue of King Saen Muang Ma, Ai Op and Yi Ra 'lived south of Chiang Som, on the eastern side'. Chiang Som, which means 'Beautiful City', was a small settlement located about 1.5km north of Chang Puak Gate (until the time of Saen Muang Ma known as Pratu Hua Wiang, or 'Head of the City Gate'), with its own temple, Wat Chiang Som, which has long since disappeared. According to Wyatt and Wichienkeeo, Chiang Som was in the vicinity of today's Gat Thanin or Thanin Market. Here - that is, to the south of Chiang Som - 'were fashioned two white elephant statues which were placed to the left and the right of the thoroughfare, and people have had to pass between them, ever since ancient times; and those two elephant statues have never been razed'.

The question arises, were 'Ai Op and Yi Ra' human retainers, or two elephants in the service of King Saen Muang Ma? Or, perhaps, were they mahouts who controlled two elephants who took turns carrying the retreating king back to Chiang Mai? Either way, the appreciative ruler apparently showed his gratitude by ordering the construction of Khuang Chang Puak, probably around 1390. From about this time, too, the north gate of the city, since King Mangrai's time the royal entrance known as Pratu Hua Wiang, was renamed Pratu Chang Puak, a designation which has survived down to the present day.

Little enough is known of Khuang Chang Puak during the declining days of the Mangrai Dynasty (1526-1558) or during the period of Burmese rule (1558-1775). Between 1775 and 1797, when Chiang Mai was depopulated - the domain of tigers and wild elephants - it must have stood abandoned. In 1796, however, Kawila re-established the city, and ordered the restoration of the White Elephant Terrace as part of his formal assumption of royalty. The White Elephant Terrace was an important and auspicious monument associated both with the Mangrai Dynasty and with Lan Na independence, and as such its restoration underlined Kawila's authority and regal status. The event is recorded in the Chiang Mai Chronicle as follows: 'On Saturday, the eleventh waxing of the seventh month (March 1801), they built two images of white elephants north of the city' [to replace those made during the reign of King Saen Muang Ma].

Today Khuang Chang Puak stands at the heart of a busy intersection by Chang Puak Bus Station, the terminus for provincial bus services. Two stucco elephants - or rather the forequarters of two elephants, both whitewashed - stand in their separate stables, facing north and west. Whether the names Ai Op and Yi Ra were originally applied to the elephants or to their mahouts, there is no indication of such commonplace designations today. Instead, the elephant facing north is styled Prap Chakravala, or 'Lord World-Conqueror', while the one facing west is styled Prap Muang Mara Muang Yaksa, or 'Lord Conqueror of Demons and Devils'. Thus Khuang Chang Puak has protected Chiang Mai from foes worldly and spiritual for more than five centuries, and long may it continue to do so.

Anusawari Khuang Singh อนุสาวรีย์ ข่วง สิงห์

Chao Kawila in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. As quiet and traffic-free as Khuang Chang Phuak is noisy and polluted, the 'Lion Terrace Monument' is relatively little known and seldom visited.

To see Kawila's lions, one should continue north beyond Anusawari Chang Phuak along Chotana Road, then cross the Superhighway towards Mae Rim, before taking the first through road on the left, Chotana Soi 1, also known as Soi Anusawari Singh, or 'Lion Monument Lane'. About 200m down the lane on the south side is Wat Khuang Singh Chai Mongkon, the 'Temple of the Lion Terrace of Auspicious Victory', erected on the orders of ChaoInthawichayanon (Inthanon), the 7th Chiang Mai lord, who ruled over Chiang Mai between 1871 and 1897.

The actual Lion Terrace, from which Chao Inthanon's temple takes its name, stands a short distance further to the west, on the north side of the soi. Raised on an approximately square artificial island and surrounded by a narrow moat (where fishing is forbidden), it is reached by a new concrete bridge approximately 3m wide, crossing the moat from wasteland on the east side. To the north is a Chinese cemetery, designated in Thai by a sign Susan Jin. When we last visited, more than a decade ago, access was by a much more dilapidated bridge, indicated by a battered sign in cast metal bearing the legend Kum Singh, or 'Lion Enclosure' - perhaps more fancifully 'Lions' Den' - in Northern Thai. The old bridge and sign were replaced in 1996 as part of the renovations accompanying the celebrations marking the 700th anniversary of the founding of Chiang Mai, and today, as well as a new bridge, there is a Fine Arts Department plaque (in Thai and English) detailing some of the history of the location.

According to this notice, the khuang 'in former times' was a wide and open terrace, situated (as it is today) about 2km to the north of Chang Phuak Gate. The notice continues: 'Later, in 1801, two white stucco lions were built and installed at this place on the command of Chao Kawila'. This implies that a terrace of some kind, apparently without lion guardians, stood at this spot before Kawila re-established Chiang Mai in 1797, though I have found no notice of this in any of the various historical chronicles I have access to.

On Kawila's orders, two white stucco lions were installed on the terrace, both standing, with one facing north and the other east. Each is about 2m high and sheltered in its own enclosure or 'den'. Kawila intended the lions to act as guardians for the city of Chiang Mai against invaders and threats of all kinds - particularly the Burmese. After their completion, he held a ceremony to imbue the lions with spiritual power (probably involving the painting in of the eyes, amongst other rituals). Thus, according to the English version of the plaque: 'The initiation ceremony of a holy spirit for the two lions was performed to give super power to the city'.

Kawila was above all a warrior prince, and his 'Lion Terrace' was built to emphasise the resurgent power of Chiang Mai, both in sacred and mundane terms, in the eyes of his Burmese opponents. As such, it took on a special spiritual significance for the military, and 'in the past the armies of Chiang Mai would always come to it and perform a ritual for good luck'.

The plaque further notes that Khuang Singh was registered as an important national monument by the Fine Arts Department on March 8, 1935, and subsequently restored and landscaped using funds donated by both the private and public sectors during 1996, on the occasion of Chiang Mai's 700th anniversary.

Text by Andrew Forbes. © CPA Media, 2006