Detail of eagle king Sadayu (Thai Ramayana mural)
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Bangkok, Thailand
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2006. Terms of use
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- Search LEARN NC for art, Bangkok, birds, deities, Emerald Buddha Temple, murals, mythology, paintings, Ramayana, Sadayu, and Thailand.
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This portrait of the eagle king Sadayu is colored in white, red, and gold leaf paint on a black background at the Emerald Buddha Temple. The painting style of the bird’s neck and body includes the use of nested diamond motifs while the tail is formed with wave-shaped plumes. The bird’s beak is hooked and his head comb or crest is painted in gold leaf. Sadayu’s long legs and his feather tips are white. Overall, the depiction resembles a fighting cock, a much loved bird in Thai and other Southeast Asian villages.
In the Ramayana, Sadayu is the son of the mythical bird Garuda, who is the mount of the Hindu god Vishnu. Sadayu also is an ally of the kingdom of Ayudhya. He fights the demon Ravana when he sees him abducting Rama’s wife Sita.
This image was photographed in August 1984.
