Thaksin has been seen as the enemy of justice, virtue and democracy. He may not like it, but in this battle he has inevitably been painted as Dasakantha, the 10-headed, 10-faced and 20-handed demon. Dasakantha is a paradoxical character. In some eyes, he is bold, ruthless and fearsome. But at other times, he is a very elegant, gentle and romantic character with a sense of humour. He has flesh. He is full of life. He is very smart and very stupid at the same time.

Dasakantha is the symbol of evil in "Ramakien", helping to remind our consciences and give us a good lesson about right and wrong. King Yodfa, or Rama I, who founded Bangkok in 1782, authored "Ramakien" as a Thai version of India's "Ramayana". The plot is slightly different, and the Thai verse is first class.

You may say that "Ramayana" is an epic portraying exemplary characters. Rama is the ideal king, Sita the perfect wife and Hanuman the perfect devotee. The character of Hanuman exemplifies how devotional service is practised in its perfection, how a pure devotee relates with his lord and how the lord reciprocates.

As a child, Hanuman once thought that the sun rising in the sky was an apple and he quickly flew towards it desiring to eat it. Indra, the king of demigods, alarmed at the sight of someone about to swallow the sun, quickly deployed his weapon, the Vajra. Struck by the powerful thunderbolt, the child Hanuman fell back to Earth unconscious, thus earning him his famous name, which means "one with a broken jaw".

It is now apparent how, more than 10 years ago, Hanuman Sondhi fell unconscious from the heights during the 1997 financial crisis after he tried to swallow media outlets everywhere.

Hanuman redeemed himself by mastering the Vedic scriptures and the science of war. His strength and skills as a warrior were matched by his keen intellect, knowledge of the scriptures and a deep compassion for all living entities.

Hanuman Sondhi is also trying to redeem himself by going back to the Buddhist scriptures with Luangta Mahabua as his mentor and launching the "We'll Fight for the King" campaign. He has sharpened his oratory skills and decided to embark on a go-for-broke war against Dasakantha Thaksin, as Hanuman did against the demon lord to help Rama regain Sita and restore order to the universe.

Dasakantha Thaksin has underestimated the monkey troop of Hanuman Sondhi. He has called the protesters hooligans, the Lumpini mob, the Royal Plaza mob, the Sanam Luang mob and now the Government House mob. Beginning with a few thousand, the monkey troop expanded to a force totalling 100,000 over the course of the day on Tuesday. Still, Dasakantha Thaksin did not resign from his power, nor could he be killed.

In the Thai version of "Ramakien", Dasakantha tries to dig a hole in the ground in order to bury himself until his body turns into diamond, which would then enable him to become immortal and invulnerable to attacks. But Hanuman uses the beautiful Mando to induce feelings of sexual desire in Dasakantha, destroying the ritual.

Further, Dasakantha tries to create a magical spear that nobody could withstand, but again Pali comes forward to disrupt Dasakantha's ritual.

We don't know exactly what kind of black magic Thaksin, with the help of Newin Chidchob, embraced in Buri Ram to extend his political life earlier this week, but he looks as powerful as ever.

Dasakantha is a character of immense energy and perseverance. If he were to be born today, he would certainly own a mobile company, a satellite company, a finance company, a TV station, an Internet company, a real-estate company and so on. In short, Dasakantha would be king of the stock market.

Still, the real reason that Dasakantha lost the war against Rama is because of a betrayal from within. The story is similar to Caesar's, whose ambition to become emperor of Rome resulted in his tragic death when his close friend Brutus plotted his downfall. As the ruler of Lanka, Dasakantha also suffered a defeat due to the betrayal of his brother Piphek.

Hanuman's final trick is to fool the hermit guarding Dasakanta's heart, thereby depriving Dasakantha of his final safeguard, because with his heart under the hermit's care the demon could not be killed. In our current story, the hermit deposits Dasakantha's heart in Ample Rich, the land where nobody pays tax.

In the end, Dasakantha falls after Rama struck him with an arrow while Hanuman destroys his heart. He repents all his earthly sins before his death.

Now Dasakantha Thaksin has stored his heart at Government House and Hanuman Sondhi and his monkey troop have successfully surrounded this last bastion. Dasakantha Thaksin has been feeling anxious, travelling all over the place to avoid a confrontation. Nobody inside Thai Rak Thai has betrayed him yet, but some soon will. Little does he realise that Hanuman and his monkey troop are about to lay their hands on a demon's heart.

Thanong Khantong

The Nation