An astrologer recommended building a shrine to the four-faced Hindu god Brahma, known locally as Phra Phrom. Local legend states that once the shrine went up, the problems beset workers stopped and devotees have flock there ever since.
Such shrines are not unusual in Buddhist majority Thailand, a nation which has forged a syncretic relationship with animist and Hindu traditions.
Shrines to the Hindu gods Ganesha and Shiva can be found just a few hundred metres away from the Erawan while Thais have their own version of the Ramayana epic -- the Ramakien.