ISSUE 1 . MARCH 2017

Atipong Padanupong
Featured Artist
The grand demon Viroonhok rules the underwater world and is
the lord of nagas, as seen here exhibited in his headdress and
other attributes. He is follower of Shiva and visits him seven
times a year at Mount Kailash. Once he paid Shiva a visit while
Shiva was away, and performed prayers to Shiva while climbing
up Mount Kailash. The giant gecko laughed at his awkward
ascending posture, so he killed the gecko with his naga torque,
causing Mount Kailash to tilt. Upset, he left Kailash and never
appeared in the Ramakien storyline again.
Shiva later asked Tosakanth to put Mount Kailash back
straight, and rewarded him with Montho, who eventually
gave birth to Sita. Padanupong depicted Viroonhok as Shiva
worshipper, with shirtless, purplish skin. Just like in the
early years of Khon Sod (around 1930s) which some actors
only wore Thai-style pants without shirts. His beautiful
rendition of various snakes was done at the end of last year
as the calendar changed from Dragon to Snake year, to signify
auspicious beginning of a new cycle.
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