Open Collections

Front of the Nanpu Temple (南埔宮) (ศาลเจ้าแม่อาเหนียว)

From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)

The Nanpu Temple (南埔宮) (ศาลเจ้าแม่อาเหนียว) is a one-room Guanyin 觀音 temple in Bangkok, Thailand. According to the temple caretaker, the temple is over two hundred years old and is one of the five oldest shrines in Bangkok. It was originally constructed from the wood of the boats used to by China immigrants who moved into this neighborhood in Thailand. The temple is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The temple has regular chanting groups of mostly women that come every Thursday and chant in Chinese. The temple is run by a committee, but the name and nature of the organization is largely unknown; the temple caretaker said that the committee members are picked from the neighborhood using divination tactics and visit the temple only once a month. The temple caretaker specified that the majority of the people who live in the immediate proximity of the temple are family, and that they are "descendants of Guanyin." It is unclear whether he meant descendants from those who established the Guanyin shrine or literally descendants of Guanyin herself. He continually referred to the community around the shrine by this name. The temple is also said to have a decent amount of tourist activity. Fieldwork participants visited two times over the course of 2023. During the first visit in May of 2023, the temple caretaker made specific note to bring attention to the valuable incense pots given by King Rama V or King Chulalongkorn (จุฬาลงกรณ์) (1853-1910)(1868-1910), as well as antique ceramic plates from China that they held in their cupboard. Many people offer to buy these items, but the caretaker never dared to sell them, believing that his fate would be similar of the two past temple caretakers, who Guanyin supposedly took in their sleep as they were cheating the temple out of donation money. When fieldwork participants visited again in December 2023, however, these items had vanished. The following images show the front of the Nanpu Temple (南埔宮). Image 01 shows an overview of the front of the temple from the middle of the temple courtyard. There are lanterns hanging from the metal covering with various Chinese characters written on them. There are seating areas spread throughout with stone and concrete tables and benches. Image 02 shows a closer perspective of the temple fence and entrance, where a neighborhood inhabitant is sitting on one of the stone benches outside of the temple fence. Image 03 shows a closer perspective, highlighting what is likely a granite altar table with four censers, three smaller censers, and one large censer, all with red bows and a set of Chinese "Golden Flowers" 金花 placed inside them. The temple caretaker specified that one week before the Chinese new year, they change out these golden flowers, and burn the old ones. Five candles sit behind the censers, two large ones flanking three smaller ones. Image 04 shows the temple sign above, which reads from right to left, 南埔宮, identifying the name of the temple. The small inscription on the right reads, 光緒三年冬月吉立, and the small inscription on the left reads, 沐思弟子 王坨 (?) 興俊(?) 仝 (?) 泰. There is a yellow banner below that which reads in Thai, สวัสดีปีใหม่, "Happy New Year." Image 05 shows a close-up of the sign on the left side of the fence, reading ศาลเจ้าแม่อาเหนียว อำเภอ คลองสานจังหา้ดธนบุรี, which states the name of the temple, An Niao Goddess Shrine, and the district, Khlong San District, Thonburi Province. Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen.

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.721964; 100.492967

chi; tha

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0443928

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace