Ceremonial Names

Detail of ancient mural on temple wall in Nan, Thailand

Cha-Am Beach, Phetchaburi, Thailand

beautiful_sea_with_clean_white_beach

That's the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand, looking east toward Pattaya, a bit north of Hua Hin. Cha-Am is the only place in Thailand where one could attend an American university, Webster University.

Far to the left and inland, to the north of the northern shore of this large sea, is Bangkok, the administrative district that governs Thailand, and one verrrrry large city of over eight million people, about one-quarter of those being citizens of other countries. These expats and the many tourists are the ones who call the city Bangkok. To the native Thai people, the city is called Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or just Krung Thep, meaning "City of Angels," no, not THAT one, the one in Thailand.

One thing I find very cool about this city is that it has a ceremonial name. Think about that! Do you know other cities with ceremonial names? I don't. Here it is.

Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit

But that's just a transliteration into Roman letters. Some might spell it with letter V's where the W's are. The actual ceremonial name would be in Thai script as follows:

กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุก��รมประสิทธิ์

Not nearly as long, as you can see. You may notice that Thai script doesn't waste space with spaces. The reader is expected to figure that out on her own.

One English translation of the name reads:

City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Visvakarman at Indra's behest.

Another one reads:

"The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city of Ayutthaya of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn."

I like the longer version, but have no idea which one is more correct. I've been to Bangkok and we saw the Emerald Buddha and the enormous Royal Palace, both magnificant and worthy of being enshrined in a grand ceremonial name.

After four visits to Thailand over a period of more than two years, I have only recently learned of this ceremonial name while reading a travel article on the city. I was reading in bed late one evening and I turned to my native Thai wife and informed her of my new discovery, with a pretended air of Aren't I soooo smart? Within seconds she began to recite the name out loud for me, in a beautiful light way that sounded more like singing than reciting. I still had my laptop open on the article (she couldn't see it, so she wasn't cheating) and I followed along and confirmed that she got it all right, 100% correct. Wow!

Then she told me why it sounded like she was singing. Because she was.

Asanee–Wasan is a popular and well-known rock band, formed by two brother's, Asanee "Pom" and Wasan "Toe" Chotikul. When my wife was still a teenager they had a hit song that put the Bangkok ceremonial name to verse in a song.

Krung Thep Mahanakhon or กรุงเทพมหานคร

That is when my wife memorized the ceremonial name of Bangkok. And yes, the song begins with the sound of a rooster crowing, the first sound I heard when I woke my first morning in Thailand on 21 October 2012.

When I watch the images in the video and listen to the song, I start to feel homesick for Thailand.