Mae Nak Phra Khanong

Mae Nak Phra Khanong

Mae Nak shrine offerings in the inner sanctum: Portraits of the spirit and folded dresses.
Grouping	Legendary creature Tutelary deity
Sub grouping	Undead
Other name(s)	Mae Nak, Nang Nak
Country	Thailand
Region	Southeast Asia

Shrine to Mae Nak Phra Khanong, Wat Mahabut

Inside the Mae Nak Phra Khanong shrine compound, the canal side

Mae Nak Phra Khanong Shrine, offerings of lotus buds and releasing of live fishes, Phra Khanong canal

Mae Nak Phra Khanong (Thai: แม่นากพระโขนง,^[1] meaning 'Lady Nak of Phra Khanong'), or simply Mae Nak (Thai: แม่นาก, 'Lady Nak') or Nang Nak (Thai: นางนาก, 'Miss Nak'), is a well-known Thai female ghost. According to local folklore the story is based on events that took place during the reign of King Rama IV.^[2]

The legend[]

The story is about a beautiful young woman named Nak, who lived on the banks of the Phra Khanong Canal, and her undying love for her husband, Mak.

When Nak is pregnant, Mak is conscripted and sent to war (in some versions of the story the Kengtung Wars, while others are not specific), where he is seriously wounded. While he is being nursed back to health in central Bangkok, Nak and their child both die during a difficult childbirth. When Mak returns home, however, he finds his loving wife and child waiting for him. Neighbors who try to warn him that he is living with a ghost are all killed.

One day, as Nak is preparing nam phrik, she drops a lime off the porch. In her haste to retrieve it, she stretches her arm to pick it up from the ground below. Mak sees it and at last realizes his wife is a ghost. Terrified, he tries to find a way to flee without alarming her.

That night, Mak says he has to go downstairs to urinate. He then runs away into the night.

Discovering her husband has fled, Nak pursues him. Mak sees her and conceals himself behind a Blumea balsamifera (Thai: หนาด; pronounced Nat) bush.^[3] According to folklore, ghosts are afraid of the sticky Blumea leaves. Mak then runs to Wat Mahabut temple, which a ghost cannot enter, as it is holy ground.

In her grief, Nak terrorizes the people of Phra Khanong, furious at them for causing Mak to leave her. However, Nak's ghost is captured by a powerful exorcist. Confining her in an earthen jar, he throws it into the canal.

There are differing versions of the rest of the story. In one, an old couple new to Phra Khanong finds the jar while fishing; in another two fishermen dredge up the jar. Nak is freed when they opened it.

Nak is conquered again by the venerable monk Somdet Phra Phutthachan (To Phrommarangsi). The learned monk confines her spirit in the bone of her forehead and binds it in his waistband. Legend says the waistband is currently in the possession of the royal family. Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse, Prince of Chumphon, also claimed to have had the relic.^[4] In an alternative version, the monk assured Nak that in a future life she would be reunited with her beloved husband, and thus she voluntarily departed for the afterlife.

A shrine dedicated to Nak is at Wat Mahabut. In 1997, the shrine was relocated to the nearby Suan Luang District of modern Bangkok.

An alternative account[]

Anek Nawikamul, a Thai historian, researched the story and found an article in the Siam Praphet newspaper written by K.S.R. Kularb, dated March 10, 1899. Kularb claimed the story of Mae Nak was based on the life of Amdaeng Nak (อำแดงนาก, 'Mrs Nak'), daughter of a Tambon Phra Khanong leader named Khun Si. Amdaeng Nak died while she was pregnant. Her son, worried that his father might remarry and his inheritance shared with his step-mother, invented the ghost story. He dressed in women's clothing and threw rocks at passing boats to make people think Nak's ghost had done it. Kularb also suggested that Nak's husband was named Chum, not Mak.^[5][6]

The Mae Nak Shrine[]

The shrine of Mae Nak stands next to Klong Phra Khanong, at Wat Mahabut, a large temple on Soi 77 off Sukhumvit Road (On Nut Road). The shrine is a low building under large trees with a roof that encompasses the tree trunks. The main shrine has several minor shrines around it.^[7]

Offerings[]

A statue of Mae Nak and her infant form the centerpiece of the shrine. Devotees often make offerings, accompanied by a request for help, generally by women seeking easy childbirth or for their husband to be exempted from military conscription.^[8] Offerings are usually lengths of colored cloth, wrapped around the trunk of the Bo tree. Other offerings include fruit, lotuses, and incense sticks.

Toys for her child and portraits of the ghost are displayed in the shrine's inner sanctum. A collection of fine dresses offered to her are displayed behind her statue.

Offerings are also made at Phra Khanong Canal, where fish purchased live at markets are brought in buckets to the edge of the canal and freed. Stalls at the shrine sell toys, fish, lotus buds, incense sticks, and garlands for those who wish to make an offering.^{[7][8][9][10]}

In popular culture[]

Mae Nak's story has enjoyed sustained popularity because her undying devotion to her husband inspires people of all ages. Prince Damrong, a son of King Mongkut, revealed that when he was a child, he kept asking Wat Phra Kaeo visitors who was the most popular person in their opinion, and most people answered "Mae Nak".^[11]

The story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong is also the subject of many films, television series, and printed media.^[12] Among these are:

• Mae Nak Phra Khanong, a 1959 Thai film^[13]
• Mae Nak Khuen Chip, 1960 Thai film^[14]
• Winyan Rak Mae Nak Phra Khanong, a 1962 Thai film^[15]
• Mae Nak Khanong Rak, 1968 Thai film^[16]
• Mae Nak Phra Nakhon, a 1970 Thai film^[17]
• Mae Nak Phra Khanong, 1973 Thai film^[18]
• Mae Nak Alawat, 1973 Thai film^[19]
• Mae Nak Amerika, 1975 Thai film^[20]
• Mae Nak Buk Tokiao, 1976 Thai film^[21]
• Mae Nak Phra Khanong, 1978 Thai film^[22]
• Sannya Chai Mae Nak Phra Khanong (RTGS: San-ya Chai Mae Nak Phra Khanong), 1992 Thai film^[23]
  

  "The Siam Prabheth", real document the time and after Mae Nak Phra Khanong was alive
• Mae Nak Choe Phi Pop (Mae Nak meets Phi Pop), 1992 Thai TV series^[24]
• Nang Nak, a 1999 film by Thai director Nonzee Nimibutr^[25][26]
• Ghost of Mae Nak, a 2005 Thai film by British director ^[27]
• Mae Naak, (แม่นาก) an opera composed by Somtow Sucharitkul. It premiered in 2003 and was revived in 2005 by the Bangkok Opera, with soprano Nancy Yuen performing the title role and baritone Kyu Won Han as Mak in both productions. It was restaged again in 2011 in Bangkok and London.
• Nak (นาค), a Thai 2008 computer animated film.^[28][29]
• , a 2009 musical directed by Takonkiet Viravan and starring Myria Benedetti and .^[30]
• Mae Nak Patha Pop Sam Tua, a 2011 comedy.^[31]
• Mae Nak 3D, a 2012 Thai film
• Pee Mak, (พี่มาก..พระโขนง), a 2013 comedy horror Thai film by GMM Tai Hub^[32]
• Make Me Shudder 2 (Shudder Me Mae Nak), a 2014 Thai film^[33]

Representations of Mae Nak, sometimes humorous,^[34][35] are very common in Thai comic books.^[36] and animated cartoons.^[37]

See also[]

• Ghosts in Thai culture
• Lang Suir
• Tai Thong Klom
• Churel

References[]

Further reading[]

• Chutima Pragatwutisarn (ชุติมา ประกาศวุฒิสาร), Evil Woman in a Beautiful Body: Femininity and the Crisis of Modernity in Thai Society, Chulalongkorn University, 2010

External links[]

• Mae nak phra khanong