Stop by to take a picture with Golden Boy.

Anyone who visits the National Museum of Phra Nakhon on the Royal Stadium, remember to take a photo with Golden Boy at the Lop Buri Exhibition Room. 🥰

Golden Boy or King Jayavarman VI is a bronze sculpture in the state of God, a 900-1,000-year-old art that was recently reacquired from The MET Museum, New York, after being unlawfully removed from Thailand, and we were officially reinstated on May 20, 2024 by the Department of Arts. It is currently on display at the National Museum of Nakhon.

🎨. Origin and artistic value.

Golden Boy reflects the mechanic wisdom of the Dung Basin and the Korat Plateau (Phimai, South Isan) using advanced bronze metal casting techniques, which are striking and difficult to imitate.

There is a debate about whether Golden Boy represents the 6th King Jayavarman of the Himarapur Dynasty (centered in Pymai, South-East), who may be the "King of the Twisted," or his response after his death.

🪔 scholars point out that the Golden Boy may not be a statue of a deity such as Shiva or Shiva, because it has no symbols such as Trident or Sangwal and has no clear historical hallmarks, and some scholars also note that the Golden Boy may be older than the Jayavarman VI era, so it may have a relationship with the mechanic genus in the castle, the Great Wall pool, or any other northeast art center.

🪔 And it's not an anal statue, which often appears in pairs, with weapons like a spear or a baton, and a clear face like a demon, but Golden Boy is one, unarmed, without a baton, and without typical anal characteristics.

When compared to a bronze sculpture from the Great Wall Pool Castle, which has similarities in costume and art form, it may indicate that it was being built as a portrait of a monk, rather than as a sculptural guardian deity.

🏆 Golden Boy, the 6th Jayavarman, or Shiva (as a matter of belief), is a piece of art in Thailand in the city of Sin City, 16th-century Buddha (about 90 + years ago), a bronze statue with a golden shoulder, decorated with a high silver inlay (including a spur) 128.9 wide 35.6 deep 34.3 cm high, excluding a spur 105.4 cm.

This is the most complete bronze sculpture surviving from the time of Phra Nakhon. It is a small group of metal-cast Hindu sculptures associated with the customs of the royal court. It is found in Cambodia and northeastern Thailand. Although the sculpture is labeled as Shiva, the gestures of the two hands are different from those of the sculptures in general that usually bear the symbol of Shiva. This sculpture may refer to Shiva in a human sector that is rarely found in ordinary Khmer art. It may be possible that it was created for two purposes: as an idol for worship in the royal monastery, or as an idol of the King.

👑 And who is God Chai?

"Jayavarman" was the name of several kings in the Empire, whose influence spanned modern-day Laos, Cambodia and parts of Thailand.

The first center was in the state of Lao, and then moved down to Ayodhya Sriram Thep (next to Sriyutthaya), and then expanded to Cambodia, so that anyone, whether Mon, Khmer, Malayan, Lao, Chinese, Cham, or Thai, etc., who practiced Brahminism and Mahayana Buddhism, was affiliated with the state of Lao-Ayodhya and the kingdom of Cambodia, would be named Khmer, but people often understood two different things: Khmer and not Khmer... "- Cultural Arts.

🤴 the most prominent king in the "Jayavarman" family.

🤴 King Jayavarman II (reigned circa c.802-850), a king who declared independence from Java, founded the Khom Empire and established the "Devaraja" regime (that believed the king was a living god), marking the beginning of the prosperous Khom Kingdom.

🤴 King Jayavarman VII (reigned circa 1181-1218), who built the city of Thom and Bayan Castle.

And widely spread Mahayana Buddhism. It is the most famous King Khom in terms of art and architecture.

🤴, King Jayavarman VI, reigned about 1080-1107, was the first king of the Mahidharapura Dynasty, which has a power center in the south of Thailand, such as Phimai, Nakhon Ratchasima.

Leading the transition of power from the previous dynasty (semi-revolutionary) is believed to have started the art of pimai, which has its own special characteristics, and may have created bronze works like the Golden Boy as a representation or "image of Him."

📜 What does it have to do with Thailand?

Historians conclude that King Jayavarman VI was crowned king of the ancient kingdom of Khom at Mahindarapur, which is Pymai, now in the area of Nakhon Ratchasima Province, and may have been the origin of Khom art in Thailand.

... "Many scholars have the idea that the real royal family may have been more Indian than the locals, since the king had a name ending" Vrman, "which corresponds to the name of many kings in India, and the name of the Varman dynasty ruled in India at the same time as Gupta and after Gupta, both in North and South India.

🤴 of the Mahithapura dynasty that ruled the northeastern highlands practiced Brahmin-Hinduism, where the religion had a relatively clear caste system. Ordinary people were unlikely to have an elite, including that the text of the city inscriptions contained a large number of mixed Sanskrit words, some in Sanskrit, and the inscriptions of the castle recorded that the land in the highlands was home to Brahmins and priests, and matched the values of building a castle in the southeast that was built for the Hindu gods. The ruling class was probably ancient Indians rather than natives... "- Wikipedia

The ancient sites in Thailand, such as Pimai Stone Castle, Great Wall Pool, Phnom Rung Stone Castle, are associated with this period, including artistic evidence such as Golden Boy, suggesting that some of the Thai lands were under the control of His Majesty or the royal family.

Collected content from The Department of Arts, Cultural Arts, Wikipedia

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