Bangkok, Thailand - Bangkok's most popular religious site--the shrine to the four-headed Hindu God Brahma at the Erawan corner--was destroyed early Tuesday by a mentally-ill street person who was later beaten to death by as yet-unidentified persons.
The body of the unidentified man believed to be the desecrator was found about 100 metres away.
Thousands of Bangkokians--from vendors, bus and taxi drivers to bankers, businessmen and politicians--look to the Erawan Shrine for personal solace and answers to their prayers.
A shocked caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he was "appalled" by the incident and said he would instruct the Ministry of Culture to quickly restore the statue, beloved by millions of the Bangkok public for fifty years.
The mentally-ill man used a hammer to shatter Bangkok's most revered 'popular religion' image, a shrine which traditionally helped barren women have children, the unemployed find job, lovers to resolve their quandaries and those confronted by impossible burdens to find relief.
The traditions, the 'home' of a Hindu deity whom hundreds of thousands of Bangkok residents in the past half-century believed to have answered their prayers -- the four-headed statue of the Hindu god Brahma – was Bangkok's most accessible and successful local shrine.
According to a witness who is a flower seller, the man broke into the shrine when it was closed early Tuesday morning and destroyed the statue of the god with hammer before running away.
People who saw the incident followed him and attacked him. The man died at the spot.
Police said they were tracking persons suspected to be involved in the killing to bring them to trial.
The Brahma statue, located next to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in the shopping area downtown, was built in 1956.
Both locals and foreign tourists, particularly visitors from Asia, flocked to visit the shrine to worship the god every day and to make offerings when their wishes were granted.