What God Is Phra Phrom
(Four-Faced Buddha)?
The Four-Faced Buddha is in charge of all things in the world, so the four faces are different from each other. The four sides represent career, love, wealth and health. The front seeks career and business, the left seeks marriage, the right seeks health, and the rear seeks wealth. On the other hand, the four faces of the Four-Faced Buddha also represent loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. All believers who pray for ascension to heaven must diligently practice these four virtues.
The image of the Four-Faced Buddha in Thailand is not fixed. Judging from the number of faces and hands, most of them are with 4 faces and 8 hands. From the 3rd to the 6th century, the shape of Brahma in India already had 4 heads and 4 hands, but the ancient artifacts in Indochina showed that until the Dharabharat period of the 6th to 11th centuries, the Brahma believed by the locals was only with 1 face and 2 hands. Until the 12-13 century, it was mostly with 4 faces and 4 hands.
Therefore, the Brahma statues in Thailand now have 4 faces and 4 hands and 1 face with 2 hands image. Occasionally, you can see 5 faces and 8 hands. This is the image of the Five-Faced Brahma in the Indian legend. 4 faces facing a direction each, and the fifth face is facing the sky.
Hinduism believed that Brahma, who was infatuated with the Goddess Of Wisdom created by himself, also named Shatarupa, a goddess with unparalleled beauty, in order to stare at Shatarupa conveniently, Brahma, who originally had only a face, grew out 5 faces. Shatarupa felt inappropriate, so she often turned to Brahma's left, right, behind and even flew to the top to avoid Brahma's gaze.
Later on, Brahma offended Shiva, the god of destruction, for some reason, when Vishnu asked Brahma who created the universe. Brahma replied: "He was the supreme creator who created the universe, so Vishnu should also worship him."
Brahma's words made Shiva angry, because Shiva believed that he was the supreme creator who created the universe, and the angry Shiva incarnated as Bhairava (Bhairava - meaning terrifying slayer). In a fit of rage, Shiva used the flame emanating from the third eye on his forehead to burn the side of Brahma looking upward, and cut off the head with the nail of his left thumb, so Brahma was left with only The 4 faces that we commonly seeing now. Brahma and Shiva were at conflict for a long time, but they eventually reconciled.
(Additional note: The aforementioned myth belongs to the Shiva sect in the post-Vedic era. In order to establish the status of Shiva as the main god, the sect myth of how Brahma originally had five heads and was turned into four heads by Shiva was derived. Other myths mentioned that Brahma is the Four-Faced Buddha).
Sacred Artifact
As for the sacred objects in the hands of the Four-Faced Buddha, there are these kinds of objects. Each hand holds different sacred objects, such as flags, scriptures, conch shell, Dharma wheels, scepters, water bottles, beads, etc. The sitting posture is basically a half-crooked sitting posture, that is, sitting cross-legged with one leg. Usually, the right leg is crossed, and occasionally the left leg is crossed.
Four-Faced Buddha's Sacred have their meanings:
Commanding Flag： Represents almighty power.
Scripture: It represents the omnipresence and wisdom of Buddhism.
Conch： Represents joy, wealth and happiness.
Dharma Wheels： It represents eliminating disasters, subduing demons, and eliminating troubles.
Scepter: Represents power.
Bottle: Represents requests will be responded.
Beads： Represents practices.
Handprint： Represents good luck and peace.
Mirror： Represents self-examination and self-consciousness.
