There are
many stories concerning the origin of Thai tattoo. Basically these stories can
be subdivided into Pre-Buddhist, Buddhist influence and Ancestral related. I
have collected some stories just to share with loyal blog visitors:
Pre-Buddhist story
In ancient
time, there is a type of water demon known as Phi Thale that always attacks
fishermen who earned living by fishing fishes and shrimps. This demon has
caused many fishermen to shy away from the waters except for a brave young man
who has to support his sick and aged mother.
One day
this young man accidentally netted the 7th daughter of nagaraja
(dragon king). When the king learnt about the news of the capture of his
daughter, his majesty immediately dispatches his minister to bring some jewels
to exchange for the princess. After hearing what the minister had to say, the
young man voluntarily sent the princess back without asking for any rewards.
The
minister was very grateful for what the young man’s benevolent act and he
tattooed some fish scale patterns on the young man’s body. Since then whenever
the young man enters into water, the water would automatically splits apart;
even the horrible Phi Thale also keeps away from him. As the news spread, many
people tattooed the fish scale patterns on to their bodies too for protection.
Post-Buddhist story
One day the
Buddha was preaching to a group of monks but one young monk was too lazy to
listen to the Buddha, so he sneaked out to steal some food to eat. When the Buddha
has discovered what the young monk has done, the Buddha stripped off the young
monk’s robe and start drawing various patterns on the young monk’s body. These
patterns were later being copied as the tattoo patterns of later days.
Ancestral story
Once upon a
time, when the sun and moon still not yet exist in the sky, the Thai ancestors
have a ruby stone that hangs on a bodhi tree. This ruby has illuminated the
world of the Thai folks and bestowing fortune. One day, a demon has stolen this
ruby and escaped to the end of the world. Since then, the Thai lived in
darkness.
A brave
young man vowed to get back this stolen ruby so he started his long journey. He
started to tattoo what he saw during his journey on his body as records. After
he has passed through 9,999 forests, 9,999 mountains and 9,999 rivers, he
finally found and killed the demon; and regained the ruby. Sadly when the young
man has finally returned to his village, he already became an old man with
white hairs. And this person died on the same day he reached his village.
So as a remembrance
of his bravery, all men in the village tattooed the patterns of their hero on
their body. This is how the practice of tattoo started amongst the Thais.
Hmm... what then is the reason you choose to tattoo may I ask?
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