You’ve probably walked past them, posed for a photo on the way to check-in. The towering, fanged, brilliantly colourful giants across Suvarnabhumi’s fourth-floor departure hall have watched over travellers for two decades. They may look like elaborate airport decorations, but there’s much more to them .
Each of the 12 statues is a named character from the Ramakien, Thailand’s national epic and retelling of the Indian Ramayana. These giants – known as yak, or Yaksha – appear on both sides of the war between the noble Phra Ram and the ten-headed demon king Tosakan. Tosakan’s abduction of Phra Ram’s wife, Sida, sets off a battle involving armies, magic weapons and supernatural powers .
Suvarnabhumi’s statues are replicas of figures at Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. In Thai belief, giants like these have long guarded temple gates, keeping evil spirits from crossing the threshold. Airports of Thailand placed them at the airport in the same protective tradition, watching over travellers as they depart and return home .
Face colour, weapon and posture identify each giant, along with a distinct rank and backstory. Walk the row from one end of the departure hall to the other and it becomes a roll call of the Ramakien’s giant cast .
At the centre of the hall, green-faced, many-headed Tosakan is king of Longka and leader of the giant army. His obsession with Phra Ram’s wife, Sida, starts the war, while his ten heads make him the row’s most recognisable figure. Beside him, white-faced Sahatsadecha, depicted with a thousand faces of his own, commands vast forces in Longka’s defence. Together they make this the busiest photo spot in the terminal .
Toward one end of the hall, red-faced Suriyaphop wields a spear said to blaze like the sun, joining the fight as Longka’s forces grow desperate. Beside him is green-faced Indrachit, Tosakan’s son and one of the epic’s deadliest fighters, a master of invisibility and magic weapons who inflicts some of the war’s heaviest losses before his downfall.
A little further along, light-green-faced Mangkhonkan is a warrior king who throws his army behind Longka in the war's later stages. Beside him stands Virunjambang, a giant with a blackish-white body, son of Phya Toos, ruler of Chakuek City, and a nephew of Tosakan. In the epic he disguises himself as a tiny water insect and hides inside an air bubble to evade capture – but Hanuman finds him out and kills him anyway.
Midway down the hall, dark-purple-faced Asakanmala is a giant king whose severed limbs grow back, making him especially difficult to defeat. White-faced Chakkrawat, ruler of a neighbouring kingdom, stands beside him as an ally drawn into Tosakan’s war.
Further on, pale-purple Maiyarap rules the underworld and tries to abduct Hanuman by pulling him underground. Purple-blue Virulhok, another underworld ruler, guards the southern reaches of giant territory as one of Tosakan's loyal commanders.
Toward the far end of the hall, twin brothers with elephant-like snouts close out the row: red-brown Tosakirithon and green-faced Tosakirivan. Their different colours make the pair easy to tell apart despite their matching forms.
Discover Time Out original video
