Thai Buddhist Temple Murals

Temple murals were originally a way of bringing the teachings of the Buddha to illiterate lay folk. Traditionally, the west (associated with death) wall of a viharn will feature scenes of beings in other realms as described in the Thai Buddhist text Traiphum Phra Ruang (Three Worlds Cosmology), the east wall will feature a mural of the Buddha subduing Mara prior to his enlightenment, and the lower side walls will be covered with scenes from the Jataka Tales (stories of the Buddha's previous lives) while the upper walls will feature celestials and benign demons facing the principal Buddha image.

Although many temple murals depict episodes from the Buddha's former lives, they often contain peripheral scenes from contemporary village life to make them relevant to local people. Some of these scenes are humorous, bawdy, and occasionally somewhat erotic in nature.