The cremation of revered abbot Luang Phor Koon Parisutho on the back of an ornamental mythical Hassadeelink bird figure on Jan 29 has spurred Khon Kaen University to further promote this once little-known local ritual.
Art experts and researchers are taking this opportunity to make this unique Northeast funeral rite more culturally and academically recognised, following the TV broadcast of the ceremony and increasing internet searches of "Hassadeelink", which is an unfamiliar term to many Buddhist worshippers both in Thailand and abroad.
"One way to achieve this goal is to conduct studies on new aspects of the tradition and make them better known here and internationally," Niyom Wongpongkum, the dean of Khon Kaen University's Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, said yesterday.
Hassadeelink, a Hindu mythical bird with an elephant-like head, is part of a "rarely seen Isan [northeastern] culture", he said.
Khon Kaen University, which was allowed to use the body of the late abbot of Wat Ban Rai in Nakhon Ratchasima for medical learning among its students, spearheaded the preparations for the royally sponsored cremation of the late abbot who died in 2015 at the age of 91.
The crematorium was built on the Hassadeelink statue, all of which was painted in white. Artists and craftsmen designed the bird to make it able to turn its head, blink its eyes and cry.
This type of funeral ceremony in the North and the Northeast is traditionally held for highly respected monks.
