Phra Phrom at the Erawan Shrine

The best-known Brahma outside India is Thai. When work on the Erawan Hotel in Bangkok in the 1950s was dogged by mishaps, an astrologer prescribed a shrine to Phra Phrom, the four-faced Brahma of Thai tradition, and it was consecrated on 9 November 1956. It became, and remains, one of the most visited shrines in the city, where dancers are hired to perform for answered prayers. Phra Phrom here is a guardian spirit in the Thai animist sense, folded into Buddhist practice; the four faces are commonly read as watching over career, love, wealth and health, one face for each concern, and the name also carries an echo of Mahabrahma of Buddhist cosmology.