Stylized lions guard a bodhi tree in this composition by Parinya Nanjai. One is Tukkar Tor with the body of a lion and the head of an elephant. The other is Kraisorn Puksa, who has the body of a lion with the head and wings of a bird. Both live in the Himmaphan forest of Hindu myth. It is said that Buddha achieved enlightenment while meditating beneath a bodhi tree, which then became known as the enlightened tree. Some of these trees in Thailand are said to derive from cuttings of the original bodhi, and people use stakes to prop their branches. Nanjai names this work Kraisorn Puksa and Tukkar Tor, frames the painting in rain tree wood.
Language: English
