There was an immediate public outcry when the feet of a 19 metre statue of Vaisramana, one of four Buddhist heavenly kings, also known as a god of war and god of the north, arrived to be erected in front of Mae Hia’s Wat Doi Kham.
According the many members of the public this statue would stand taller than that of the Buddha as well as potentially upset the area’s guardian spirits, Pu Sae Ya Sae, two giants who are believed to have roamed the land for millennia.
An officer from the Buddhist Council was sent to urge the temple to scrap this 17 million baht statue and following a successful meeting the temple has now abandoned the plan.
