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Published on September 10, 2007

Published on September 10, 2007

which has been refurbished by city authorities after standing as one of Bangkok's landmarks for more than two centuries.

The old swing was built in 1784, two years after King Rama I had founded Bangkok as his new capital. The King ordered his men to build the Giant Swing in order to observe the Brahmin New Year Ceremony of "Triyampawai". King Rama VII discontinued the ceremony in 1931 due to economic problems.

Over the decades, the old Sao Ching Cha, which is located in front of Wat Suthat, was gradually damaged by natural phenomena and fire accidents from worshipping. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has just completed its restoration with hundred-year-old golden teak logs from Phrae province, using artisans from the Fine Arts Department.

A three-day celebration starting on Wednesday is planned to recall the history of the Giant Swing as well as the Brahmin New Year Ceremony. The swing has not functioned for several decades.

According to  the diary of a foreign traveller to Siam several centuries ago, the first swing was brought to the country by two Brahmin priests during the reign of King Ramathibodi II, who ruled from 1491 to 1529.

Jeramias Van Vliet, a Dutch merchant who arrived in Ayutthaya in 1633, wrote that the two Brahmans and the swing were sent by the king of Ramaradt - ruler of a land identified in Nakhon Sri Thammarat's legend of Brahmins as the holy city of Benares in India.

The king wanted to make peace with Siam after he was unable to defeat Ramathibodi II. In order to please the Siamese king with rare presents unknown in the country at that time, the Ramaradt king ordered his officials to find out things in his country which were unknown in Siam.

They discovered that Siam had everything that Ramaradt had, except for "scoppen or schongelen" (which referred to swings made of a board suspended by two ropes on which one can swing to and fro), and a Brahman who was able to prevent misfortune or the casting of spells over the Siamese Court. The Ramaradt king ordered the Brahmans to make a swing for Siam.

"He also instructed the Brahmans that they should make the game of scoppen or schongelen known in Siam and to establish it there," wrote Van Vliet in his account "The Short History of the Kings of Siam".

"Since then, various Brahmans have come to Siam from many places, especially from Ramaradt, and have continued to be held in great esteem among the kings, princes, the royal family and the community."

Van Vliet also said in his diary that the swing ceremony was still being held during his time in Siam and there were special feast days held yearly which would go on from one day to the next for a long time.

Centuries later, it was suggested to King Rama I, who founded Bangkok, by a Brahman in Sukhothai province that he build a swing in the new capital to serve the Brahmin's Triyampawai ceremony which was held to welcome the Hindu God to Earth. The Brahman told the king the ceremony would assure the strength of the new capital.

The Siamese Court took the Brahmin ritual as one of the 12-months Royal Ceremonies.

A Siamese king selected one of his ministers as "Phraya Yuen Ching Cha", who at the ceremony had represented the Hindu God "Shiva" setting foot on the earth.

In the book "The 12-months Royal Ceremonies" written in 1888 by Prince Chulalongkorn (King Rama V), the prince recalled that he and other members of the royal family went on the elephant procession to see the Swing Ceremony every year.

Prince Chulalongkorn wrote that he was very excited to see the ceremony, watching a team of four young Brahmans riding on specially constructed boards, swinging back and forth in arcs as high as 25 metres as they attempted to grab a pouch of money attached to a pole.

The prince also wrote about the swing ceremony in Ayutthaya, saying he had learnt from chronicles that King Narai (1656-1688) had taken the Brahmin ritual as one of most important rites of his reign. King Narai had never missed the Triyampawai ceremony even during one year when he heard a rumour that someone wanted to attack him.

During the Bangkok period, his father, King Mongkut (Rama IV), had also taken the Brahmin ritual as one of his important procedures.

The king offered food to Buddhist monks at Putthaisawan Throne as an addition to the programme, the Prince wrote.

A theatre production and fireworks are among activities introduced to the ceremony since the reign of King Rama IV.

Many activities of old will be revived during the three-day celebration of the new Giant Swing, which the BMA believes will stand as a city landmark for another century.

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

 The Nation