Today part of the National Museum, the chapel was once the private chapel of the Uparaja, or Second King, the viceroy of Thailand (typically the king's younger brother). It was fitting that the second-most powerful Buddha image in the kingdom was under the care of the second-most powerful man.
Today, every year during the Songkran Festival, the Phra Puttha Sihing statue is taken out to Luang Prabang, the royal field outside of the nearby Grand Palace, where devotees can pour holy water on the statue in blessing.
After that, what we do know for sure is that the Phra Puttha Sihing was subsequently enshrined in the cities of Phitsonulok, Ayutthaya, Kampheng Phet, Chiang Rai, Ayutthaya again, and finally Chiang Mai, before finally being brought to Bangkok in 1795 with the establishment of the new Rattanakosin Kingdom by King Rama I.
Art history-wise, it's a fascinating statue. While the Buddha's posture is indeed a common Singhalese design, the Buddha sits upon a La Na (Kingdom of Chiang Mai) style lotus throne. Further complicating things are certain hints (such as the Buddha's full frame and facial features) at Sukothai iconography. It's possible that the statue was indeed cast in Sukothai or La Na with Singhalese influence.
One of the Phra Puttha Sihing statues, which looks identical to the one in Bangkok, is housed at Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai. I visited a few years ago, but didn't know about the history of the statue at the time.
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| Phra Singh (Phra Phuttha Sihing) |
Like many Buddha statues in Thailand, the Phra Puttha Sihing has quite a fascinating history, one mired in myth and legend.
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| The Buddhaisawan Chapel at the Wang Na (Front Palace) holds the Phra Putta Sihing |
Long ago, a king of Singhala (modern-day Sri Lanka, one of the countries which, like Thailand, practices Theravada Buddhism) had a dream of the Buddha sitting in meditation. Upon waking, he ordered the construction of a Buddha image in the posture from his dream. The statue was built in AD 157.
The statue's name, Phra Puttha Sihing, or "Lion Buddha", comes from the fact that the lion was the symbol of the Singhalese people, and still appears on the flag of present-day Sri Lanka.
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| interior of the chapel |
Shortly after, two rival kings in modern-day Thailand, the king of Sukothai (one of the earliest Thai kingdoms) and the king of Nakhon Si Thammarat (an Indic maritime empire based in far southern Thailand and present-day Sumatra) both wanted the statue, and both sent envoys to request it.
It's unknown who the Singhalese king decided to gift the statue to, but the legend goes that while the statue was en route to ancient Siam, the ship carrying it sank in a terrible shipwreck, but the Buddha image floated to shore on a piece of the wreckage, where it was then discovered.
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| visitors praying at the chapel |
After that, what we do know for sure is that the Phra Puttha Sihing was subsequently enshrined in the cities of Phitsonulok, Ayutthaya, Kampheng Phet, Chiang Rai, Ayutthaya again, and finally Chiang Mai, before finally being brought to Bangkok in 1795 with the establishment of the new Rattanakosin Kingdom by King Rama I.
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| the second-most important Buddha image in Thailand |
While Sukothai tended to cast statues in full, La Na style statues typically had a removable head plate, as does this one. An unusual feature, however, is the crystal flame atop the Buddha's head. Typically, this would have been cast as a part of the statue itself. All of this hints at a very special origin of the Buddha statue, but many of the answers are wrapped in mystery.
All very interesting!
But, there's more than one version of the story! In fact, there are no fewer than three Phra Buttha Sihing statues throughout Thailand, and each one is believed by some to be the true Phra Puttha Sihing. Is the statue in Bangkok the true, genuine original? The Bangkok National Museum seems to think so, and certain archaeological evidence seems to point to the current statue dating back to approximately the right year. In recent years, art historians discovered a small grain of rice left in offering inside the Buddha statue's removable head plate. Carbon dating did place it back to approximately the right time as the legend suggests, but like anything with such a long and winding history, it's impossible to know for sure.
And at the end of the day, does it really matter? After all, there's still a great story to be told regardless of what the true history is.
But what about the other two Phra Puttha Sihing statues? Well, today there is one in Chiang Mai and another in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai (North)
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| กสิณธร ราชโอรส, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Hor Phrabhut Sihing, Nakhon Si Thammarat (South)
The other statue, which looks different from the first two, is housed at the Hor Prabhut Sihing in Nakhon Si Thammarat in Thailand's far south. I've never been there, but next time I'm down south, I may make special effort to pay it a visit!
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| Panupong Roopyai, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
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