Friday, November 25, 2016

Legend of Ai Khai

Legend has it that Ai Khai was a young novice monk following LP Thuad on his pilgrimage. When LP Thuad came to Wat Chedi, Si Chon district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, he ordered Ai Khai to stay there and look after the temple on his behalf. Not long after that, Ai Khai died when he was still a boy and his spirit has lived there ever since as a guardian. Ai Khai's spirit always keeps an eye on the temple; whoever goes in without permission or breaks into to the compound to steal things will be frightened away by him. 
The power of Ai Khai is widely known in Nakhon Si Thammarat and other provinces. People said that during World War II, he frightened the invading foreign soldiers, making sure that they ran away without thinking.
Because of the strong power of Ai Khai's spirit, in 2525 BE (1982 CE) people came together to build a statue of Ai Khai using Mai Takian wood (Mai Takian is a spirit inhabited tree in Thai belief) and invited his spirit to reside in the statue. That made Ai Khai's statue especially efficacious, because his spirit will help people with whatever things they pray for. Everyday, many devotees come to worship and make offerings to Ai Khai. They like to make a wish to Ai Khai's statue and many of them had their wish fulfilled; for example they win lottery prizes or find their missing things. That caused Ai Khai's spirit to become very famous.