Rubbing of a relief at Wat Phra Chettuphon (Wat Pho), depicting the monkey hero Hanuman finding the demon king Ravana sleeping with his wife, whom Hanuman mistakes for the heroine Sita, a scene from the Thai version of the Ramayana

One of Bangkok's most important Buddhist temples has 152 marble reliefs depicting scenes from the Thai version of the epic of Rama. It may seem surprising that a Buddhist temple has depictions of this supposedly Hindu epic. In fact, though, the Rama story had centuries earlier been interpreted in Buddhist terms, and finding it in a Buddhist context in Siam is not unusual.

This is a rubbing of one of the reliefs. Rama's wife has been abducted by the demon king of Lanka. The heroic monkey Hanuman has been sent to find her. He discovers a beautiful woman sleeping with the demon king, and, assuming that she is Rama's wife, flies into a rage. Soon, though, he realizes that the woman with the king is the king's own wife.

Making rubbings of these reliefs was forbidden after 1965. The "rubbings" sold these days are made from copies, not from the original reliefs.