Palad khik

The Thai name for a penis amulet is palad khik (ปลัดขิก), which means "honorable surrogate penis." These small charms, averaging less than 2” in length, are worn by boys and men on a waist-string under the clothes, off-center from the real penis, in the hope that they will attract and absorb any magical injury directed toward the generative organs. It is not uncommon for a man to wear several palad khiks at one time, one to increase gambling luck, for instance, another to attract women, and a third for invulnerability from bullets and knives.

The palad khik amulet is said to have originated in the Siva linga of India and to have been imported to Thailand by Cambodian monks in the 8th century AD. Early styles of palad khik bear inscribed invocations, entreaties, and praises to Siva; later ones combine these with interlineated invocations and praises to Buddha; modern ones bear uniformly Buddhist inscriptions.

Palad khik amulets carved from wood, bone, or horn are made by monks who specialize in their manufacture, and the efficacy of a given amulet is dependant on the charisma and reputation of its creator. The lettering of the inscriptions is a matter of serious ritual and can take several days to complete. Cast metal palad khiks do not always bear inscriptions, but they may carry the additional symbolism embodied in an animal holding the penis.

The Thai people believed in ghosts and spirits (and they still do today). And, these bad spirits were always ready to take away their beloved sons before they became men. With little medical knowledge back then, young boys, and girls, often died young due to different illnesses that could not be cured. Once reaching manhood, they would have acquired some immune system to protect them from the illnesses. People believed that it was the bad spirits that took the lives of the boys. So, to fool these spirits, a wood carving in the shape of the adult circumcised penis was tied to the waste of a male child, letting it dangle in front of the boy's uncircumcised penis. The spirits and ghost would then believe that the boy is actually a man, and not take his life away.

Over time, men took to wearing the carvings around their neck as charms, to protect them against the spirits as well as bad luck. These charms are known in Thai as "Palad Khik." All of these wooden penises would have gone through some kind of blessing ceremony to give it "power" to protect the wearer against evil, as can be seen with the sacred carvings on them. After Buddhism has entered the land, some of the monks held these ceremonies themselves, similar to the ceremony to legitimize and "powerize" buddhist amulets that can be seen to this day.

When King Rama I came to the throne in 1782, the practice was downplayed as many foreigners had entered Siam by then. The king did not want the foreign visitors to be shocked by the practice. The practice nearly saw its end of days during the premiership of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram (1942-1944), who found it to be a greatly embarrasing practice, the penis worship was to be abolished and the monuments tore down. Many Thais were abhorred at the administration's un-Thainess, so many monuments were hidden away. Today, one can find a few of these places of worship left.