Lauren Crosby is a 2016 University of Maine at Farmington graduate with a degree in Secondary Education. After being awarded the Fulbright Scholarship, she was placed in Thailand to teach English.
It was a cool autumn evening in small village of Thung Saliam, Sukhothai when I first heard the pieces of the treasured Luang por Sila story while sitting around a table of older Thai men at a backyard celebration. As per usual, I did not know what was being celebrated. I was invited by my school’s music teacher, Teacher Kwan (who is also a professional gigging musician) to play a few of my songs at one of his shows this particular evening. With Teacher Kwan not able to speak English, the Google Translate App on his phone did the hard work– “outdoor garden party”. Any social gathering with music sounded good to me, and I had learned to not ask questions, because in Thailand, the answers just come later.
A couple hours into the night, after I had played some of my songs, I found myself perched around a table with five older Thai men. Without a lick of English being spoken, I nodded my head and smiled, and acted like I knew what was happening. As Teacher Kwan began to perform one of his pieces, I was instantly attracted to the melody and picking style of the tune. I put on my “actress” hat and tried to ask the Thai men around me what the song was about, because I was intrigued by its subtle tones. I only understood three words out of the five minutes of pure Thai: Buddha, Stolen, America. Wow! I needed to know more. After attempting to speak with Teacher Kwan, I only gathered that he had written the song himself, and it had something to do with the history of the temple in our town.
Deciding that I could not go without knowing the story behind the song, I began asking people about the temple in Thung Saliam (where my school is located). No one spoke English well enough for me to understand, so I sheepishly asked Teacher Kwan for the Thai lyrics of his song. After some hard-core investigating, translating, and interviewing, it took me about two weeks to solve the mysterious and magical puzzle of the Luang por Sila story:
Back in 1929 townspeople in the village of Thung Saliam were exploring a bat cave in the mountains, and happened to stumble across an ancient Buddha carved from grey sandstone– its name, Luang por Sila! Believed to be eight hundred years old and associated with the first Phra Ruang dynasty (1238-1368), the townspeople were amazed, and moved the 44cm wide and 85cm tall Luang por Sila to Wat Thung Saliam, where the sculpture sat happily for fifty four years. In 1983, Luang por Sila was stolen. Twelve years later, it appeared in America at an art auction being hosted by a London museum. When Thailand caught wind of this, they begged for custody of the sacred piece of history. The owner claimed he was in good faith—he had a title and had purchased the piece honorably. In the end, Thailand was forced to buy Luang por Sila back for $200,000!
The magic of the story however, happens here: When Luang por Sila arrived at the Sukhothai airport via plane at noon on February 24th, 1997, thousands of bats flocked to the airport to greet it. Thai people refer to it as a miracle, as bats are nocturnal creatures, and everyone rejoiced as the beloved Luang por Sila safely returned home. Today, you can venture to Wat Thung Sallium in the Sukhothai Province and witness the magic that Luang por Sila holds for yourself.
Teacher Kwan retells the tale of Luang por Sila in his moving song, “Father Stone,” and I’m happy that I took the time to fully grasp its meaning and better understand the local history of my town; “Thai people rejoice, Luang por Sila returned to the land– คนไทยมีความสุขกับหลวงพ่อซิลลากลับขึ้นฝั่ง.” There is a shrine set up for Luang por Sila in the foreign language department at my school, and my host teacher explained that when she was arranging the shrine, a bat flew into the office and circled around the relic! I’m currently in the process of working on an English version of this song to allow its accessibility around the world. In Thailand, the answers may come later, but the magic is everywhere.
Very interesting story !!! The late Dr..Bob Martin of New Sharon, at UMF known as “Bat Man,” would have liked to have read this I’m sure.