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BANGKOK: Ten months after Princess Galyani's death, an elaborate crematorium has sprung up in central Bangkok which, Thai tradition dictates, will allow the royal to take her rightful place among the gods.
Preparations are almost complete for her funeral on November 15, when a sombre procession will carry Galyani's remains to a gilded crematorium in the first full royal funeral in Thailand since 1996.
Galyani, the beloved elder sister of King Bhumibol Adulaydej, was a French professor who also worked in rural development. She died of cancer on January 2 this year at the age of 84.
In one of the few nations left in the world where the monarchy is respected with an almost religious devotion, the death of a senior member of the royal family is treated with the utmost pomp.
The funeral rites - including a procession of nearly 6,000 soldiers and an outing of ancient teak carriages - carry a price tag of at least 300 million baht (US$8.9 million), Thailand's Public Relations Department estimates.
The cremation will take place at Sanam Luang Plaza, a grassy field in central Bangkok where Thais usually picnic and fly kites, which has been turned into a funeral campus.
Somchai Nanakhonphanom, an expert on royal funeral proceedings, explained that historically in the mainly Buddhist kingdom, members of the royal family were considered gods come to live among the people.
When they die, folklore holds that they ascend to the top of Mount Meru, a mountain at the centre of the universe, to take their place among the deities.
"It's believed the ritual comes from India, from the Brahmin (Hindu) religious belief and Buddhism mixed together," said Somchai, who works for the National Museum in Bangkok.
Official mourning will begin on Friday ahead of the moving of Galyani's body from the Grand Palace to Sanam Luang on Saturday, when her body will be cremated. The collection of the ashes will take place on Sunday.
Flags will fly at half mast, Thais will be asked to dress in black and television stations ordered to keep their programming tasteful.
After two more days of mourning and prayers, the ashes will be transported in another grand procession to their final resting place at the nearby Rajabopit Temple on November 19.
The centerpiece of the dozens of temporary funeral buildings at Sanam Luang is the crematorium pyre, a 39-metre (128-foot) tower modelled after Mount Meru.
Guarded by half-human, half-animal statues, the glittering crematorium is adorned on all sides by sculptures of the gods.
As the tower spirals upwards, the statues get smaller, symbolising the ascension to pure spirit, said Arvuth Ngernchuklin, the chief architect.
"Once the cremation takes place, it's symbolic that we all join hands and send the royal back to heaven," he said.
After the cremation, the funeral buildings will be demolished, Arvuth said, because they are reminders of the death of a beloved royal.
The last time Bangkok saw a royal funeral was in 1996 for the king's mother.
While the funeral grounds are new, some of the chariots that will carry the princess are centuries-old.
Gilded with snake-like mythical Naga and the half-human, half-bird Garuda, the Royal Great Victory Carriage has been used for royal funerals, coronations and the transportation of foreign dignitaries since 1795.
The teak, iron and gold-gilt carriage weighs nearly 14 tonnes and requires 221 soldiers to move it.
The funeral takes place amid a tense political atmosphere, as an anti-government group claiming loyalty to the monarchy continues months-long street protests to remove the elected government.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has urged the protesters to leave his offices at Government House, which they seized in August, before the royal cremation, but they have said they will not budge.
The health of 80-year-old King Bhumibol Adulaydej, who was hospitalised last year, is also a matter of great concern in a nation which has relied on him for moral guidance over decades of political strife.
But for many Thais who came to Sanam Luang to marvel at the royal finery, the princess' funeral is a chance to unite as Thais, even in a divided time.
"I think it's very important for Thai people because her majesty is so very like the mother of the Thai people," said Phannipa Thawontklang, 21.
- AFP/yb
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