Thotsakan (ทศกัณฐ์)

The green giant of Wat Arun was not always so calm and harmless. There was a time when he and his companion leveled a whole Bangkok district.

If the legend is to be believed, one of the giants of Wat Pho urgently needed money. He crossed the Chao Phraya to his friend Thotsakan of Wat Arun and borrowed a large sum, promising to pay it all back on time. But when the time came to settle the bill, the giant of Wat Pho refused. Enraged, the green-faced Thotsakan of the ten faces (thotsa = ten; look closely, the other faces stack in the crown) set off for Wat Pho to take his money back by force.

A fierce, devastating fight broke out between the giants of the two temples. They smashed everything in their path, tore out trees and flattened buildings. The whole riverside quarter was left destroyed and trampled flat. Seeing the chaos, a hermit, furious that the giants had forgotten their sacred duty to protect people, stepped in and stopped the fight.

This legend gave its name to a real Bangkok district: Tha Tien pier, “the leveled” or “the cleared pier.” Thotsakan is a yák, a temple guardian, and the demon king of the Ramakien.