The Strange tale of Indra's Pillar
It came as a surprise . " Men only " said a forbidding signboard at the entrance to the first shrine inside the Wat ChediLuang Varaviharn complex in Chiang Mai . Why was Buddha being uncharacteristically partial here ? It turned out that the shrine was not for Buddha , but for The Pillar of Indra ! ( Sao Inthakin ) ; also called The City Pillar. An object so very holy that the biology of women is seen as a problem in keeping that holiness intact . See signboard . But no ,woman, no cry ! We are not missing much. Indra's Pillar is secured in an underground vault below the alter , with only the Buddha installed above it accesible even to the men who enter ! What is a City Pillar ? And what is Indra's role in it ? It took some reading in the hotel's excellent library , some running around minor Wats and a serendipitous visit to a not so popular museum to get the full picture. Today's Chiang Mai region was once the independent Kingdom o