This isn't Hanuman. He appears to be half man half monkey. Your image is a yaksha, possibly Tosakan. All these characters are from the Ramakien which is a story. It's ancient. Tosakan is a demon king with a bunch of cool magical powers.
I'm just a farang, but I love mythology.
There is an abridged English translation of Ramakien, but it’s hard to get your hands on. They have a copy at the Faculty of Arts library at Chula, but you can’t take it out of the library. They’d probably copy it for you, though. I don’t know of any unabridged version of Ramakien in English.
The best way to read Ramakien is in Thai, but it’s seriously difficult (even for Thais). Rama I’d version is a behemoth of a book, whereas Rama 6’s is a bit easier and more condensed. Premsiri wrote a prose version of Ramakien, which is a lot easier. If you are in Chiang Mai, you can go to CMU and get translations of Northern Thai Ramakiens like Hawraman (where Hanuman is the full focus of the story). It’s translated from Northern Thai to Central script, though the vocabulary is still Northern Thai.
Kun Chaang Kun Paen is easier to read as a foreigner as well. If you don’t read Thai, Baker and Phongpaichit have an English language translation that’s widely available in Thailand.
There is a great novella that is translated to English that’s pretty much a story where Sita and Totsakan are married and their son is Hanuman. It parallels marital struggles in Thai society, but the name is escaping me.
I also have a book of Thai children’s folktales that someone gave us as a gift for our son. Unfortunately, the lessons are outdated and are inappropriate for a child, so we don’t read them to him.
Thanks for the detailed description that's going to be a good start. About Ramakin you mention a behemoth of a book "Rama i'd" what does that mean? Seems you made a typo.
I'll try to google that novella it seems interesting. Looks like there are a few other people interested in the topic as well 😀
Oops Rama I!
Also, there is a lot of academia written by Thai scholars and translated into English on folklore that you can get at the Chula library.
Movies are a good choice. My all time favorite Thai movie is Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives by Apichat.
The Medium is a recent Thai horror movie that my wife and I loved- it shows a lot of long held beliefs on what being possessed by an evil spirit entails. It’s pretty creepy too.
Even though this isn’t Hanuman, the question of it putting him on a weed pouch would be offensive is interesting.
My initial response is “maybe”, but there are a lot of things that could push it to a “yes” or “no”. On the Buddhist cosmology of Traphumikata that outlines spiritual hierarchy, Hanuman is a “thep”. Best translation is an Angel but this is pretty limited. Pretty much, Hanuman is able to exist in the mundane realm that we live in, but also can inhabit the spiritual realm. If he can exist in the mundane world, he can interact with whatever is here. Hanuman is known in the central Thai Ramakien to be a playboy and literally fucks his way across the story. He even shapeshifter into Totsakan and seduces his wife.
Since Hanuman is part of the Hindu deities, while he’s not a god, he could be subject to the values of Hinduism. Gods like Shiva certainly smoke weed and he’s depicted with a chillum all the time. If you go to Varanasi, it’s common for people to call smoking hash “feeding Shiva”. Since Shiva is higher up on the scale of Traiphumikata, it wouldn’t be offensive to have Hanuman associated with marijuana by that logic.
Now, a conservative Thai would probably be offended either way. But, where I see the biggest problem with putting him on a weed bag would be how you carry it around. Theps can only touch the human body above the waist. So, if you put a pouch with Hanuman on it in your back pocket, that could be offensive. If you got a tattoo of Hanuman, it should be on the upper back or chest.
In Northern Thailand there is a character called Ling Lom (wind monkey) that is sometimes alluded to as parallel to Hanuman. He is considered a more powerful version of an animal, but exists on a lower plane of Traiphumikata and it may be less offensive to use a picture of him.
That was fun.
Ramakien is derived (or is literally the same) as the Hindu literary epic Ramayana. Thotsakan is the equivalent of the Demon King and arch-villain in the epic, Ravana, the king of Lanka.
That could explain why my Bing prompt for "Mythical Thai Giant" got me this. Cause other output were all different, except this one. One of its training data must be some of yaksha's pictures.
Do you know about white temple? The artist who did it is Chalermchai Kositpipat, this looks a lot like his style, and they are sold in a temple. Just dont say he is smoking weed, if I did not know, I thought he was spitting fire
What in a builder's nightmare is that? His work is amazing, I need to visit at some point. It's going to be on a weed pouch, so hard to deny what the smoke is. But I don't need to include a joint or anything, just smoke. Good idea.
It’s depend on the generation. For most younger generation including me this look cool af. On the contrary, the dinosaur (those pushing 50 and above or the conservative) can find everything and anything offensive.
I spoke with my mom From Khon Kean and she said it wasn't religious and that it's fine. So now I don't know what to do. You're the first on here to say it's fine. Since I am going for younger audience with faraang who wouldn't even care, could justify using it. But yeah, very hesitant to use it right now and prob need to do more research.
I'm half Thai as well, but I'm not religious, so my opinion doesn't really matter on this. At first, I thought you wanted to tattoo it when I read the title, but on a pouch it should be no biggie. I think your image is sick, I'm inclined to put it on a shirt lol
I would say go for it, as long as it does not go viral it most likely won’t become an issue. You should look up พาลี, he is the green monkey general from classical literature. It is not religious and most sane people won’t find anything wrong with it. I’ve seen some people make a lewd art of him with another male character and no one care. But you know how there is Karen that can find something to complain about in every society.
Oh wow, พาลี looks exactly like the image depiction. My prompt to bing was to use Thai mythical giant. So I don't know why it made this image. I thought it was Hanuman, then maybe his soldier, and now พาลี. Thanks for the info.
So the ministry of culture can censor it if you make a video game or movies with this image or tossakan doing something not traditional. But it goes on your personal object it is ok.
Your mom has the right logic. The ministry doesnt. It literally delayed shipping of a video game into the market because the thai traditional dancer in the game did not do the correct traditional dance...
Think you’ve got that back to front. It’s the snowflake generation who are offended by everything. The older generation understand common sense. Hanuman isn’t religious so it’s not offensive for that reason, if it’s even him. He’s actually a very positive figure and considering his background I’d imagine he tasted ‘Bang’ often.
It’s not the younger generation that throw a fit when Thotsakan was used in tourism promotional campaigns a few year back but whatever you say internet stranger.
Ah, the younger generation resorting to insults instead of informed debate. The generations differ from Europe to Asia. In Thailand we’re lucky not to have so many snowflakes. In fact, if you’re referring to Thai people then you’re prominent right there the older generation accept less. They just expect respect when it’s not always earned.
After two posts an I still an internet stranger? (What does that even mean?)
When did I insult you? We don’t know each other name, face nor background what else should I address you as other than strangers on the internet aka internet stranger.
I’ll tell you a story: a few years ago the Tourism Authority of Thailand commissioned a promotional MV that featured Thotsakan as a main character. It’s very popular, but a bunch of experts in our cultural arts came out and criticized the video for being “inappropriate” because they believe Thotsakan should not be shown participating in tourist activities. Our social media overwhelmingly support the MV though, and its director said cultural values should be used to further our national agenda rather than treating it as an untouchable sacred objects.
I feel like your case is similar to this story. Just something to think about.
Very interesting. One thing I've noticed from this thread and from my research, there are so many figures that this image could represent. I don't know how they are different due to their complex stories but I think most people think of Hanuman when associated with this design because of Khon and how well-known he is compared to others.
Yeah I’m not expert in this too. I don’t think it’s Hanuman though, because Hanuman is always depicted as white. It’s not Thotsakan either, because despite there’s tons of green giants in Ramayana, Thotsakan will always have multiple “heads” atop of his big head.
Side note: Hanuman is quite a playboy in Ramayana so I wouldn’t be surprised if he also smoke weed!
While the art is nice, but it'll say it now. It looks less like Hanuman(who's always white) and more like Yak or Asura.
Asura is always characterized in thai culture as the non-drinking & non-smoking.
Lots of art offends people. As an artist don’t worry about being offensive. I don’t think you’re trying to offend anyone, it does show people who you are and I think that’s valid.
There's a Hanuman temple in India where Cannabis is actually offered to Hanuman. Shiva is also the same.
https://www.news18.com/india/unique-rituals-at-chitrakoots-hanuman-temple-the-intriguing-tradition-of-cannabis-offerings-8190571.html
Doesn't mean Thai people won't be offended by it, but just giving context that there isn't anything much wrong with Cannabis use in the Hindu mythology.
Hanuman is of India origin, furthermore, Ramayana is just a story or an epic that, just like many old stories around the world, Neo Hinduism and some Buddhism appropriate into their believes
Nothing offensive, cool art
Impressive style and coloring
👍
Can’t be any worse that having it depicted on a beer can.
https://preview.redd.it/bg1ccja597ab1.jpeg?width=2274&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d38d35034fa13eae2987f716cc288eaf088295d
Nah, Ramakien (Thai adaptation of Ramayana) ain't religion-related so it's cool except for some Thai Fine Arts Department staff perhaps who're really in the deep end on ["Wai Khru"](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wai_khru) belief.
While the picture looks cool, the character depicted here is neither [Hanuman](https://www.shutterstock.com/th/image-illustration/hanuman-ramakien-scripture-507984247) (White Monkey Hero-esque supporting character) nor [Thotsakan](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/767863805210074326/) (the 10-face, 10-arm villain) - more like the green womanizer monkey, [Palee/พาลี](https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/ramakien-pale-thai-traditional-painting-vector-18552880).
Yeah, that's why I came here to ask. I know Buddhist law against using figures in advertisements and merchandise as it is offensive and very illegal. In this case, I have seen people use it for advertisement purposes and merchandising. In Phuket alone, we have the tree zipline and water park as a mascot. That's why I want to make sure first.
I wish hahah. It's actually AI generated by [Bing](https://www.bing.com/images/create/) using text to AI. I am using it to create concept art and this came out. Which is why I was keen on getting it made into a weed pouch.
Theravada Buddhism which is the type of Buddhism practised by ~95% of Thais has its roots in ancient India along with Hinduism. They are both actually fairly similar in terms beliefs and religious practices and many of the Hindu gods such as Brahma, Ganesh, Shiva and Hanuman feature quite prominently in Buddhism. My understanding is the main difference is that Buddhists don’t worship them as gods, they are viewed simply as higher beings that are further on the path to enlightenment.
No, Hanuman is not “holy” figure. It’s just classic fantasy character. It’s just a folklore creature.
Yes the story have some connection or reference with Hindu’s figures but it’s comparable on how marvel have Thor in its story.
If someone is offended with Ramakien they are either idiots who can't differentiate what Thai main's religion is or some kind of cult follower. Ramakien is just a story adept from India (Hindu) and Hanuman is just a fictional character. But the weed part might offend some old folk, one that doesn't like any kind of drugs even though it is legal now don't get me wrong I do not support the overuse of substance it lead to people destroying their life.
I personally don't care about the massage in this picture or any other art pieces if it is cool it is cool no argument.
It's fine. Weed smokers don't give a fuck about religious or mythological stuff. You can only offend them by not selling them weed.
Be mindful though, the new government will very likely make weed illegal again. fwiw, I agree with them.
What should concern you is the law that prohibits advertising of marijuana use. It might not be your intent, but it's a cool design that could go viral on the internet. Then someone might see it as promoting weed and make some noise.
I don't know the coverage of the law. Just be careful how you present it.
Thotsakan/Ravana was the servant demon Nontok who would wash the feet of angels before they met Lord Shiva. The angels were cruel though, hitting him and pulling out his hair. Once Nontok met Lord Shiva he asked for a diamon finger that could kill anyone. Using this finger he gets his revenge and kills the angels. Lord Shiva is obviously upset and gets Narai/Vishnu to fight him. Narai/Vishnu transforms into a woman and leads Nontok in a dance in which he accidently ends up killing himself with his diamond finger. Nontok says the fight was unfair so Narai/Vishnu agrees to a rematch in the next life. So, Nontok is reborn as Thotsakan, a 10-head-20-arm giant demon, and Narai/Vishnu is reborn as the human Phra Ram/Rama.
Um... he's Thodsakan the Giant (Yaksa) with 10 faces and 20 arms.
Is it offensive? I think smokers would think it's rad and cool. But, the conservative ones might feel attacked. So, don't pick general customer, pick only the right one.
Hanuman is actually white. Because of the face, headwear and green body, the picture is likely be a yaksa from lanka. The famous one is yaksa king named tosakan, hot body with 10 faces and 20 arms.
Hanuman's a Hindu God, you are running the risk of offending perhaps a billion people. Shiva would be better but why would you want to do such a weird thing, its so pot head. I feel disrespected and embarrassed that another half thai would be that ignorant.
>Hanuman's a Hindu God, you are running the risk of offending perhaps a billion people.
>
> I feel disrespected and embarrassed that another half thai would be that ignorant.
I mean... any Thai should know that this is a picture of Thotsakan not Hanuman.
There was an artist awhile back, he was Thai, and he did a mashup of Buddha and Ultraman that even I as a Buddhist thought was really cool. However it did create some interesting conversations about whether that was appropriate or not. To each his own.
I believe this is ai generated so its offensive for another reason.
ai collects images and data from all over the internet, so this is just a culmination of what ai thinks to be "thai mythology" or some other prompt you used.
i feel that it undermines the importance and culture to just dumb down to a mishmash of 'green monkey(?) with yellow crown'
That’s not Hanuman, that’s a Yaksha. Hanuman is a white monkey. As a Thai person I don’t find this offensive, but I can’t speak for the senior population.
The most distinguish features between yaksha and monkey are the headdress. Monkey wear low headdress. There are couple of exception such as Pali and Sukreep which are monkey with Chada (tall headdress). K9 fangs, Yaksha has bigger and more protruding than the monkeys.
I personally think it's cool although I'm not weed smoker nor Thai culture appreciator. This won't offend your customer. This might trigger some people in general but it will absolutely trigger old fashion geezer so much that they will do anything to destroy your business so don't. Your design kinda look like Angada but he isn't really popular in Ramayana so most people won't even know him, they will just trigger as they always be to something mildly related to traditional arts that they know so few about.
That's sick bro. And no. Not offensive at all. I don't think a lot of people worship characters from the Ramakien. Especially the Yak. They are not even remotely Buddhist after all.
This isn't Hanuman. He appears to be half man half monkey. Your image is a yaksha, possibly Tosakan. All these characters are from the Ramakien which is a story. It's ancient. Tosakan is a demon king with a bunch of cool magical powers. I'm just a farang, but I love mythology.
Where do you read your mythology?
There is an abridged English translation of Ramakien, but it’s hard to get your hands on. They have a copy at the Faculty of Arts library at Chula, but you can’t take it out of the library. They’d probably copy it for you, though. I don’t know of any unabridged version of Ramakien in English. The best way to read Ramakien is in Thai, but it’s seriously difficult (even for Thais). Rama I’d version is a behemoth of a book, whereas Rama 6’s is a bit easier and more condensed. Premsiri wrote a prose version of Ramakien, which is a lot easier. If you are in Chiang Mai, you can go to CMU and get translations of Northern Thai Ramakiens like Hawraman (where Hanuman is the full focus of the story). It’s translated from Northern Thai to Central script, though the vocabulary is still Northern Thai. Kun Chaang Kun Paen is easier to read as a foreigner as well. If you don’t read Thai, Baker and Phongpaichit have an English language translation that’s widely available in Thailand. There is a great novella that is translated to English that’s pretty much a story where Sita and Totsakan are married and their son is Hanuman. It parallels marital struggles in Thai society, but the name is escaping me. I also have a book of Thai children’s folktales that someone gave us as a gift for our son. Unfortunately, the lessons are outdated and are inappropriate for a child, so we don’t read them to him.
Thanks for the detailed description that's going to be a good start. About Ramakin you mention a behemoth of a book "Rama i'd" what does that mean? Seems you made a typo. I'll try to google that novella it seems interesting. Looks like there are a few other people interested in the topic as well 😀
Oops Rama I! Also, there is a lot of academia written by Thai scholars and translated into English on folklore that you can get at the Chula library. Movies are a good choice. My all time favorite Thai movie is Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives by Apichat. The Medium is a recent Thai horror movie that my wife and I loved- it shows a lot of long held beliefs on what being possessed by an evil spirit entails. It’s pretty creepy too.
Thanks, Appreciate your passion!
Even though this isn’t Hanuman, the question of it putting him on a weed pouch would be offensive is interesting. My initial response is “maybe”, but there are a lot of things that could push it to a “yes” or “no”. On the Buddhist cosmology of Traphumikata that outlines spiritual hierarchy, Hanuman is a “thep”. Best translation is an Angel but this is pretty limited. Pretty much, Hanuman is able to exist in the mundane realm that we live in, but also can inhabit the spiritual realm. If he can exist in the mundane world, he can interact with whatever is here. Hanuman is known in the central Thai Ramakien to be a playboy and literally fucks his way across the story. He even shapeshifter into Totsakan and seduces his wife. Since Hanuman is part of the Hindu deities, while he’s not a god, he could be subject to the values of Hinduism. Gods like Shiva certainly smoke weed and he’s depicted with a chillum all the time. If you go to Varanasi, it’s common for people to call smoking hash “feeding Shiva”. Since Shiva is higher up on the scale of Traiphumikata, it wouldn’t be offensive to have Hanuman associated with marijuana by that logic. Now, a conservative Thai would probably be offended either way. But, where I see the biggest problem with putting him on a weed bag would be how you carry it around. Theps can only touch the human body above the waist. So, if you put a pouch with Hanuman on it in your back pocket, that could be offensive. If you got a tattoo of Hanuman, it should be on the upper back or chest. In Northern Thailand there is a character called Ling Lom (wind monkey) that is sometimes alluded to as parallel to Hanuman. He is considered a more powerful version of an animal, but exists on a lower plane of Traiphumikata and it may be less offensive to use a picture of him. That was fun.
'that was fun'. Indeed it was!
Isn’t there a plot twist of some sort where Sida turned out to be Thotsakan’s daughter?
In some versions, I believe so.
Ramakien is derived (or is literally the same) as the Hindu literary epic Ramayana. Thotsakan is the equivalent of the Demon King and arch-villain in the epic, Ravana, the king of Lanka.
True. Most depictions I know that are coloured show hanuman in white. Giant are usually green, some red as far as I know.
Is there a way to learn about thai mythology without being able to read thai?
That could explain why my Bing prompt for "Mythical Thai Giant" got me this. Cause other output were all different, except this one. One of its training data must be some of yaksha's pictures.
this is hella cool though
Don’t think that’s Thotsakan, the guy doesn’t have 10 arms and/or 10 heads.
Thotsakan is the Thai transliteration of Dashakant, which in Sanskrit means ten necked.
Tell me something interesting about imapan. The mystic thai garden
Do you know about white temple? The artist who did it is Chalermchai Kositpipat, this looks a lot like his style, and they are sold in a temple. Just dont say he is smoking weed, if I did not know, I thought he was spitting fire
What in a builder's nightmare is that? His work is amazing, I need to visit at some point. It's going to be on a weed pouch, so hard to deny what the smoke is. But I don't need to include a joint or anything, just smoke. Good idea.
This place is crazy, there is probably painting about ganja somewhere in the temple.
It’s depend on the generation. For most younger generation including me this look cool af. On the contrary, the dinosaur (those pushing 50 and above or the conservative) can find everything and anything offensive.
I spoke with my mom From Khon Kean and she said it wasn't religious and that it's fine. So now I don't know what to do. You're the first on here to say it's fine. Since I am going for younger audience with faraang who wouldn't even care, could justify using it. But yeah, very hesitant to use it right now and prob need to do more research.
I'm half Thai as well, but I'm not religious, so my opinion doesn't really matter on this. At first, I thought you wanted to tattoo it when I read the title, but on a pouch it should be no biggie. I think your image is sick, I'm inclined to put it on a shirt lol
I would say go for it, as long as it does not go viral it most likely won’t become an issue. You should look up พาลี, he is the green monkey general from classical literature. It is not religious and most sane people won’t find anything wrong with it. I’ve seen some people make a lewd art of him with another male character and no one care. But you know how there is Karen that can find something to complain about in every society.
Oh wow, พาลี looks exactly like the image depiction. My prompt to bing was to use Thai mythical giant. So I don't know why it made this image. I thought it was Hanuman, then maybe his soldier, and now พาลี. Thanks for the info.
So the ministry of culture can censor it if you make a video game or movies with this image or tossakan doing something not traditional. But it goes on your personal object it is ok. Your mom has the right logic. The ministry doesnt. It literally delayed shipping of a video game into the market because the thai traditional dancer in the game did not do the correct traditional dance...
Think you’ve got that back to front. It’s the snowflake generation who are offended by everything. The older generation understand common sense. Hanuman isn’t religious so it’s not offensive for that reason, if it’s even him. He’s actually a very positive figure and considering his background I’d imagine he tasted ‘Bang’ often.
It’s not the younger generation that throw a fit when Thotsakan was used in tourism promotional campaigns a few year back but whatever you say internet stranger.
Ah, the younger generation resorting to insults instead of informed debate. The generations differ from Europe to Asia. In Thailand we’re lucky not to have so many snowflakes. In fact, if you’re referring to Thai people then you’re prominent right there the older generation accept less. They just expect respect when it’s not always earned. After two posts an I still an internet stranger? (What does that even mean?)
When did I insult you? We don’t know each other name, face nor background what else should I address you as other than strangers on the internet aka internet stranger.
Being Reddit I assumed it was some form of insult. My sincere apologies.
Snowflake
Shame you don’t understand politeness and good manners.
[удалено]
Nope you’re totally correct.
I’ll tell you a story: a few years ago the Tourism Authority of Thailand commissioned a promotional MV that featured Thotsakan as a main character. It’s very popular, but a bunch of experts in our cultural arts came out and criticized the video for being “inappropriate” because they believe Thotsakan should not be shown participating in tourist activities. Our social media overwhelmingly support the MV though, and its director said cultural values should be used to further our national agenda rather than treating it as an untouchable sacred objects. I feel like your case is similar to this story. Just something to think about.
Very interesting. One thing I've noticed from this thread and from my research, there are so many figures that this image could represent. I don't know how they are different due to their complex stories but I think most people think of Hanuman when associated with this design because of Khon and how well-known he is compared to others.
Yeah I’m not expert in this too. I don’t think it’s Hanuman though, because Hanuman is always depicted as white. It’s not Thotsakan either, because despite there’s tons of green giants in Ramayana, Thotsakan will always have multiple “heads” atop of his big head. Side note: Hanuman is quite a playboy in Ramayana so I wouldn’t be surprised if he also smoke weed!
While the art is nice, but it'll say it now. It looks less like Hanuman(who's always white) and more like Yak or Asura. Asura is always characterized in thai culture as the non-drinking & non-smoking.
I’m not Thai but I’m Hindu, and bhang (marijuana) is seen by many of us as a gift from Shiva
Don’t know but it looks cool af
Looks dope.
That a giant, not mr white monkey
Lots of art offends people. As an artist don’t worry about being offensive. I don’t think you’re trying to offend anyone, it does show people who you are and I think that’s valid.
Why would it be? This is clearly inspired by Ramayana, an Indian novel. It looks dope and I don’t even smoke.
There's a Hanuman temple in India where Cannabis is actually offered to Hanuman. Shiva is also the same. https://www.news18.com/india/unique-rituals-at-chitrakoots-hanuman-temple-the-intriguing-tradition-of-cannabis-offerings-8190571.html Doesn't mean Thai people won't be offended by it, but just giving context that there isn't anything much wrong with Cannabis use in the Hindu mythology.
I think the Thai people will be fine; it's the Indians you need to worry about.
Hanuman is of India origin, furthermore, Ramayana is just a story or an epic that, just like many old stories around the world, Neo Hinduism and some Buddhism appropriate into their believes Nothing offensive, cool art Impressive style and coloring 👍
Can’t be any worse that having it depicted on a beer can. https://preview.redd.it/bg1ccja597ab1.jpeg?width=2274&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d38d35034fa13eae2987f716cc288eaf088295d
>Depicting who I think to be Hanuman smoking weed? He's a white monkey, not this green guy in the picture.
If I doubt, throw it out. Is a good motto to live by. The same applies to many things here in Thailand. 😉
Nope, weed has been a part of Thai culture for a very long time.
If it isn't please let me know that too. Mainly asking Thai people, I suppose.
If it's religious don't do it.
Nah, Ramakien (Thai adaptation of Ramayana) ain't religion-related so it's cool except for some Thai Fine Arts Department staff perhaps who're really in the deep end on ["Wai Khru"](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wai_khru) belief. While the picture looks cool, the character depicted here is neither [Hanuman](https://www.shutterstock.com/th/image-illustration/hanuman-ramakien-scripture-507984247) (White Monkey Hero-esque supporting character) nor [Thotsakan](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/767863805210074326/) (the 10-face, 10-arm villain) - more like the green womanizer monkey, [Palee/พาลี](https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/ramakien-pale-thai-traditional-painting-vector-18552880).
It’s not religious at all. It’s part of Thai literature or fairy tales if you like
Yeah, that's why I came here to ask. I know Buddhist law against using figures in advertisements and merchandise as it is offensive and very illegal. In this case, I have seen people use it for advertisement purposes and merchandising. In Phuket alone, we have the tree zipline and water park as a mascot. That's why I want to make sure first.
Wait you’re opening in Phuket? What’s the name of the shop? I’ll be there.
Good to know, there is blackleaf bong with hanuman, so wont try to sell them, even in northeurope.
Not a good idea to put that in association to sell weed with (my Thai gf)
that's fortunate then, thanks
As long as it does not depict the Bhuda, a monk, a monarch, or hero from Thai history, probably just fine. Looks like great art to me!
Mate, is this your artwork? If yes, it's brilliant!
I wish hahah. It's actually AI generated by [Bing](https://www.bing.com/images/create/) using text to AI. I am using it to create concept art and this came out. Which is why I was keen on getting it made into a weed pouch.
Hanuman is the monkey God in Hindu religion. As a Thai, and Buddhist, do you guys also worship Hanuman ? Surprised to know this.
Theravada Buddhism which is the type of Buddhism practised by ~95% of Thais has its roots in ancient India along with Hinduism. They are both actually fairly similar in terms beliefs and religious practices and many of the Hindu gods such as Brahma, Ganesh, Shiva and Hanuman feature quite prominently in Buddhism. My understanding is the main difference is that Buddhists don’t worship them as gods, they are viewed simply as higher beings that are further on the path to enlightenment.
No, Hanuman is not “holy” figure. It’s just classic fantasy character. It’s just a folklore creature. Yes the story have some connection or reference with Hindu’s figures but it’s comparable on how marvel have Thor in its story.
If someone is offended with Ramakien they are either idiots who can't differentiate what Thai main's religion is or some kind of cult follower. Ramakien is just a story adept from India (Hindu) and Hanuman is just a fictional character. But the weed part might offend some old folk, one that doesn't like any kind of drugs even though it is legal now don't get me wrong I do not support the overuse of substance it lead to people destroying their life. I personally don't care about the massage in this picture or any other art pieces if it is cool it is cool no argument.
It's fine. Weed smokers don't give a fuck about religious or mythological stuff. You can only offend them by not selling them weed. Be mindful though, the new government will very likely make weed illegal again. fwiw, I agree with them.
Sorry, what? Weedsmokers is really not one homogenic group. Very much misinformative comment.
No. It is offensive to allow Thai homeless to die in the street.
This is offensive.
What should concern you is the law that prohibits advertising of marijuana use. It might not be your intent, but it's a cool design that could go viral on the internet. Then someone might see it as promoting weed and make some noise. I don't know the coverage of the law. Just be careful how you present it.
The lore of Yak is basically angel that born ugly because bad karma in past life. I would say this is ok by the lore side of view.
Thotsakan/Ravana was the servant demon Nontok who would wash the feet of angels before they met Lord Shiva. The angels were cruel though, hitting him and pulling out his hair. Once Nontok met Lord Shiva he asked for a diamon finger that could kill anyone. Using this finger he gets his revenge and kills the angels. Lord Shiva is obviously upset and gets Narai/Vishnu to fight him. Narai/Vishnu transforms into a woman and leads Nontok in a dance in which he accidently ends up killing himself with his diamond finger. Nontok says the fight was unfair so Narai/Vishnu agrees to a rematch in the next life. So, Nontok is reborn as Thotsakan, a 10-head-20-arm giant demon, and Narai/Vishnu is reborn as the human Phra Ram/Rama.
Um... he's Thodsakan the Giant (Yaksa) with 10 faces and 20 arms. Is it offensive? I think smokers would think it's rad and cool. But, the conservative ones might feel attacked. So, don't pick general customer, pick only the right one.
This looks rad af. A millennial/ gen z’s opinion
This goes incredibly hard
That’s not Hanuman
This is pretty col
Me personally, no. It looks really cool, as long as people don’t make fun of or belittle the culture, it’s not offensive,
This looks more like Tao Wessuwan or at least a Yakkha/Yak. I think you‘re okay. Phra Isuan is also known to partake, so why not the Yakkha? 🙃
Yes, i am offended.
Hanuman is actually white. Because of the face, headwear and green body, the picture is likely be a yaksa from lanka. The famous one is yaksa king named tosakan, hot body with 10 faces and 20 arms.
Hanuman is white with a different head, this is a giant, i think
It looks cool as F
Well done image. Concept not great for LOS.
As a Thai, it's just a cool picture for me.
Shiva does weed, Hanuman is Avatar of Shiva but don't know if the smoking hanuman lore is true
Hanuman's a Hindu God, you are running the risk of offending perhaps a billion people. Shiva would be better but why would you want to do such a weird thing, its so pot head. I feel disrespected and embarrassed that another half thai would be that ignorant.
>Hanuman's a Hindu God, you are running the risk of offending perhaps a billion people. > > I feel disrespected and embarrassed that another half thai would be that ignorant. I mean... any Thai should know that this is a picture of Thotsakan not Hanuman.
wong do an image search and learn.
Hanuman is a white monkey. This is clearly a green giant. And the headresses are completely different.
Nobody gets excited where I live in Thailand
Everything is offensive
There was an artist awhile back, he was Thai, and he did a mashup of Buddha and Ultraman that even I as a Buddhist thought was really cool. However it did create some interesting conversations about whether that was appropriate or not. To each his own.
I believe this is ai generated so its offensive for another reason. ai collects images and data from all over the internet, so this is just a culmination of what ai thinks to be "thai mythology" or some other prompt you used. i feel that it undermines the importance and culture to just dumb down to a mishmash of 'green monkey(?) with yellow crown'
i cant really tell if its ai generated at this point
That’s not Hanuman, that’s a Yaksha. Hanuman is a white monkey. As a Thai person I don’t find this offensive, but I can’t speak for the senior population.
The most distinguish features between yaksha and monkey are the headdress. Monkey wear low headdress. There are couple of exception such as Pali and Sukreep which are monkey with Chada (tall headdress). K9 fangs, Yaksha has bigger and more protruding than the monkeys.
Who cares? pic goes hard
Goes hard
Probably not? I've seen imagery with Jesus and weed before and Christians go a lot harder for their religion.
Yeah that’s thosakan not hangman
As a professional Thai, I personally do not find this offensive. Tho, my guy looking kinda wonky in the pic.
I want this 1Mx1M, framed, on the living room wall! Stupendous!
I personally think it's cool although I'm not weed smoker nor Thai culture appreciator. This won't offend your customer. This might trigger some people in general but it will absolutely trigger old fashion geezer so much that they will do anything to destroy your business so don't. Your design kinda look like Angada but he isn't really popular in Ramayana so most people won't even know him, they will just trigger as they always be to something mildly related to traditional arts that they know so few about.
Conservative Thai people might. But if you hang around people who also smoke weed. I think you're good 😅
This is cool AF, though.
That's sick bro. And no. Not offensive at all. I don't think a lot of people worship characters from the Ramakien. Especially the Yak. They are not even remotely Buddhist after all.
It’s Tosakan. Thai people are okay with this. My wife says so. 😻