In Bangkok

IN A cavernous hangar-like structure in the compound of the National Museum in Bangkok, artisans and engineers are working day and night to ready the Kingdom of Thailand's ancient royal chariots and palanquins for next month's cremation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's only sister.

The chariots will roll for the first time since 1995 when they were used during the cremation ceremony of the King's mother.

But they date back to 1875, when they were built during the reign of King Rama I. 

The main chariot is a behemoth weighing in at 14 tons, which will be pulled by 228 soldiers. Despite its size it is an elegant, intricate, gleaming work of exquisite art in wooden carving covered with mirrors and coloured stones and gold leaf, painstakingly restored over the past 10 months since Princess Galyani Vadhana passed away on January 2nd at the age of 84. 

The sandalwood urn carrying her body on a long procession around the heart of historic Bangkok, culminating in the cremation at a newly constructed funeral pyre at one end of the sprawling Sanam Luang grounds under the shadow of the bejeweled Grand Palace, will be hoisted up on to the main chariot with a winch fitted into an elevator. 

The government's Public Relations Department gave the media a close-up look at the chariots and palanquins on Wednesday morning. While artisans put the finishing touches to the ornate vehicles which in the ancient days were carried by soldiers or drawn by horses and soldiers, an army unit practiced moving the manual elevator into place and winching up the urn using a large water tank as a dummy. 

Preparing to transfer the urn for Princess' last journey.
ST Photo: Nirmal Ghosh

None of the ancient vehicles will be powered; all will be maneuvered in the time-honoured manner using levers, gears and winches. Several thousand men and women from the armed forces will take part in the elaborate rituals and ceremonies over six days beginning on November 14.

There will be a symbolic cremation in the early evening of November 15, followed by the actual cremation at around 10pm that same night, which will be attended only by the royal family and relatives and friends and senior palace and government officials. 

An intricate frieze of the mythical winged
deity Garuda, symbol of the Thai state.
ST Photo: Nirmal Ghosh

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who will be 81 himself next month, will perform the last rites at the crematorium built specially for the occasion by group captain Arvuth Ngoenchuklin, 66, a national artist who worked closely with the Fine Arts Department and the Royal Household Bureau to create the elaborate tiered structure replete with Brahmanical-Buddhist symbolism. 

It will be a sad moment for King Bhumibol to say the ultimate goodbye to his elder – and only – sister. 

King Bhumibol is the world's longest reigning monarch, and has steered his often rambunctious country through many turbulent times, always careful to remain above the political fray and regarded as Thailand's ultimate moral authority. 

And it will certainly give the Thai people reason to reflect, perhaps, on the fleeting and fragile nature of life itself, compared by the Buddha to a mere dew drop on a blade of grass, quickly vanishing at sunrise. 

The elaborate tiered crematorium, made of plywood
on a metal frame, covered with painted fabric.
ST Photo: Nirmal Ghosh

Read Nirmal's report $300m cremation for Thai princess in The Straits Times today.