Phra Thai Amulets

The motif images of Thai Buddhist amulets were usually the Buddha, it was until the past century when images of Arahants (disciples of Buddha whom had achieved Nibbana), famous monks and Devas gained much more popularity. In fact, the Buddha had forbidden the worship of his images in attempt to achieve enlightenment, but rather achieve enlightenment through practising the Dhamma. The worship of Buddha's images may also lead to the wrong practise of worshipping idols instead of practising and understanding the Dhamma. No images of the Buddha were made during the life of the Buddha, and after the Buddha's passing away, Buddhist paid respect to the Buddha's relics, Stupas and to his footprints.

Five centuries later after Buddha's Parinibbana, the army of Emperor Alexander of Macedonia/Greece were sent to conquer the area of present-day northern India. Sculptors and other craftsmen were sent along with those troops and these sculptors subsequently became Buddhist followers, the first images of the Buddha were then created. Images of the Buddha are then made in accordance to the thirty-two marks of a Buddha, symbolising the thirty-two qualities of a Buddha. And since then till now, images of the Buddha are used by Buddhist to pay respects, take refuge, and reminding oneself of the Buddha and his teachings.
Thai Buddhist amulets can be divided into two categories, the first being ancient votive images of the Buddha, these were cached images in form of small tablet images and statue images of varied sizes, usually stored in ancient Stupas (a Buddhist architectural), temples, and caves. These ancient votive images were made from terracotta (Nur Din) or metal alloy (Nur Chin).

There are eight original Buddhist Stupas. After Sakyamuni Buddha's Parinibbana, his relic was subsequently divided to eight parts, to be brought to eight different parts of the land to spread the Buddhist religion.
There are two main reasons for the building of Stupas; to enshrine Sakyamuni Buddha's relics after he passed away; and to commemorate eight great deeds accomplished during Sakyamuni Buddha's life. They are; Birth, Enlightenment, Turning of the Wheel, Miracles, Descent from Tushita, Reconciliation, Complete Victory and Parinibbana. The Stupas were built respectively at

The second category of Thai Buddhist amulets are made by monks from since the last century. As mentioned earlier, the majority Thai Buddhist amulets depicts the image of the Buddha, however images of Arahants, popular monks and Devas had also gained popularity in recent decades, especially the images of popular holy monks. These images often bear words from Buddhist scriptures written or inscribed in old Khymer language scripts and contemporary Thai language scripts. The name of the particular monk and temple making and commissioning the amulet are oftenly also included on the amulet, along with the date it was made and issued. Yantra scripts and other Buddhist symbols such as images of Stupas, Bodhi leave, etc, are also oftenly included on the amulet.

Like ancient votive images, they are also made from terracotta (Nur Din) and metal alloy (Nur Chin), however other materials such as wood from auspicious trees, ivory and horns had also been used to make these amulets, the list of materials is endless. And a majority of these new period amulets are made from a mixture of powder-based (Nur Phong) materials. They may consist of materials such as burned palm leaves of scriptures, food grains, herbs, crushed stones from temple buildings, filed metal from ancient Buddha statues, powder from previous famous amulets, lime powder, etc, and again the list is endless. Amulet in form of medals (Rians) also gain popularity in these recent decades, they resembles coins, two dimensioned and in various shapes and sizes oftenly depicting images of a particular popular monk whom usually is the monk whom consecrated and commissioned these particular amulet.

Three dimensioned miniature statues (Loop Meun) were also popularly created, they are usually made of metal alloys, and in some cases from terracotta and mixed powder base. These are the three most common types of new period Thai Buddhist amulets made from since the last century; Nur Phong/mixed-powder based amulets, Rian/medals, Loop Meun/Miniature statues.

New period of Thai Buddhist images are made for a few purposes other than for Stupa storage, some common purposes are; to rise funds for the purposes of temple building or repair, fund rising for building hospitals, orphanages, etc.
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The Thai name for a penis amulet is palad khik, which means "honorable surrogate penis." These small charms, averaging less than 2' in length, are worn by boys and men on a waist-string under the clothes, off-center from the real penis, in the hope that they will attract and absorb any magical injury directed toward the generative organs.

It is not uncommon for a man to wear several palad khiks at one time, one to increase gambling luck, for instance, another to attract women, and a third for invulnerability from bullets and knives. The palad khik amulet is said to have originated in the Siva linga of India and to have been imported to Thailand by Cambodian monks in the 8th century AD. Early styles of palad khik bear inscribed invocations, entreaties, and praises to Siva; later ones combine these with interlineated invocations and praises to Buddha; modern ones bear uniformly Buddhist inscriptions, invariably written in an old form of script that cannot be read by contemporary Thais.

Palad khik amulets are cast in metal, or carved from wood, bone, or horn are made by monks who specialize in their manufacture, and the efficacy of a given amulet is dependent on the charisma and reputation of its creator. The lettering of the inscriptions is a matter of serious ritual and can take several days to complete. Cast metal palad khiks do not always bear inscriptions, but they may carry the additional symbolism embodied in an animal holding the penis.

Although palad khik amulets are not designed specifically to use in love spells, among American eclectic pagans, witches, and magicians, they are often employed that way at the present time.

All of Thailand is in the grip of Jatukam fever, but nowhere else is it so all-consuming as in the southern Thai city of Nakhon Si Thammarat, where it all began. Here it seems like every other citizen is wearing one of the amulets.

They are easy to spot, since they look like Olympic bronze medals suspended by a chain around the neck. Sometimes more than one. (Thai joke: A man goes to the doctor complaining of neck and shoulder pain. The doctor points to the five Jatukam medallions strung around his neck and suggests he lighten the load.)

It is impossible to ignore the phenomenon here. Bill boards plastered on the side of buildings display the latest models. Sound trucks that in any other Thai city might be advertising boxing matches or the candidates in local elections, blast information on new medals.

Along Ratchadamoen Road, the town's main street, whole shops are given over to display cases stocked with the medallions in their little plastic cases, generally priced from 2,000 to 5,000 baht. Even stores that sell ordinary household items still have a few cases displaying the latest amulets.

The Jatukam craze has become a huge bonanza for Nakhon Si Thammarat and the Buddhist temples that give the medals their blessing. Of the city's 560 temples, 200 produce the amulets, and more are planning to do so. The sales and visitors have brought in more than 10 billion baht.

Jatukam fever is bringing in so much money that the Thai Revenue Department is considering whether to tax them, helping to offset loss of tax revenue from the general downturn in the economy. "There's a tremendous amount of money floating around in the amulet market," said department director general Sanit Rangnoi.
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What is Jatukam?

It is actually two people, Jatukam Rammathep, and their origin is obscure and difficult to understand for someone not steeped in Hindu-Buddhist mythology. By some accounts, they were princes in the Srivijay Kingdom of which Nahkon Si Thammarat was the center.

Another theory is that the names are a corruption of Khuttugama and Ramadeva two Hindu guardians, that can be seen alongside the stairway leading into the inner sanctum of the Great Stupa of the Wat Pra Mahathat, which is said to be the most important and historic Buddhist temple in southern Thailand.

The first Jatukam amulets were stuck and sold in 1987 (they now fetch prices in excess of a million baht). But only a few of the amulets were sold for many years. The craze only took off last year.

Most Jatukam enthusiasts associate the amulets with a much more contemporary figure, Police Major General Phantarak Rajadej, the provincial police chief who died only last September at age 103. He was said to have magical powers and instrumental in building the holy site called the City Pillar, now a center of the trade.

Just to give you an example of what some Phra can command on the market....This is a Phra that a friend of ours will be putting up for auction. The starting bid will be about 1,500,000 baht. Phra from certain Wats and time periods can command over 20,000,000 baht.

Since the olden days, these amulets were believed to bestow great protection from harm, and some particular pieces are highly sought for, usually after incidents where people had miraculously survived accidents, mishaps or assaults and escaped death unscathed while wearing a particular amulet. Some particular amulets made by certain monks or temples are believed to bring the wearer Kong Gapan (invulnerability from weapons and firearms), and Keow Klab (avoiding and survival from accidents and mishaps), these had resulted in the Thai people collecting and valuing these famous pieces.

Usually a practise more by Thai men than women, because during old times, men folk at times traveled from places to places, trading at foreign villages and into mountainous routes flocked with dangers and bandits, and during times of war, men have to become soldiers.

Similar to collecting other items such as coins and currency, stamps and antiques, popular pieces, rare pieces, and old pieces in general resulted in higher prices, and therefore resulted in imitations being made. Identifying authentic piece from imitated piece makes these hobbies more interesting, and experts from various fields and hobbies emerged over time.

Similar again to collecting other items such as coins and currency, stamps and antiques, their original price may not be expensive in the past, but when collectors created the demand for them years later, the difference in price are often astonishing.

Thai Buddhist amulets, associated with Thailand's main religion; Theravada Buddhism, and the Thai culture of wearing amulets, makes the hobby of collecting Thai Buddhist amulets extremely popular in Thailand, and spreading it's influences to other parts of Southeast Asia. Thai Buddhism amulets are not exactly an intergral part of Theravada Buddhism, but it certainly is in Thai life and culture.

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