Throughout its long and complicated history, the Emerald Buddha - the sacred royal palladium of the Kingdom of Thailand and considered to be the holiest and most powerful Buddha image in the country - has changed hands numerous times. Over the centuries, it's resided in the kingdom of La Na (Chiang Mai), Laos, and all throughout Thailand.
One of the art history posts that I'm especially proud of is my post about the Life of the Buddha as told by the Murals in the Buddhaisawan Chapel. Check it out if you're interested!
Phra Phuttha Maha Mani Rattana Patimakon, the legendary statue known as the "Emerald Buddha" is the royal palladium of the Kingdom of Thailand. Considered by Thai Buddhists to be the holy of holies and the most important and powerful religions relic in all of Thailand, the Emerald Buddha is so revered that it can be approached by none but the king himself.
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| Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
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The Phra Kaew: The Emerald Buddha
Three times a year with the changing of the seasons, the King of Thailand oversees an ancient ceremony in which the Emerald Buddha is ritually dressed in one of three unique seasonal outfits made of gold and gems. (Two of these, the outfits of the hot and rainy seasons were ordered by King Rama I, while the third, for cool season, was added later by King Rama III). As seen in the photos above, the three outfits reflect not only the seasons of Southeast Asia, but also aspects of the Life of the Buddha. From left to right, the outfits are:
Hot Season: Golden royal regalia embedded with precious stones. The Buddha wears a golden crown similar to that of the King of Thailand, a royal sash, and various armbands and pendants. Before he achieved enlightenment, the Buddha was a prince, and a very powerful one at that.
Rainy Season: In the rainy season, the monks enter a period called the "Rains Retreat", in which they return to their home temples for a period of meditation known as "Buddhist Lent". The Buddha here is wrapped in a golden monk's robe which is draped across one shoulder.
Cool Season: The Buddha is given a golden crown studded with diamonds, and a shawl of woven gold studded with gems and diamonds is draped across his shoulders, covering the monk's robes of the rainy season and representing the cooler weather of the winter.
What is the Emerald Buddha? Where did it come from? Why is it so important?
There are so many legends surrounding this ancient artifact that the true history has been lost to time. In this post, I'm going to share both the facts and the legends, and talk a bit about some of the various temples that have once called themselves home to the legendary Emerald Buddha.
Myths and Legends
Somewhere in India
Nobody is quite sure where the Emerald Buddha came from, but legend tells that it originated in India, the homeland of the Buddha himself. According to the legend, the Emerald Buddha was crafted in the year 43 BC by an Indian saint named Nagasena with the help of the Hindu gods Vishnu and Indra upon the 500th anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment.
Somewhere in Sri Lanka
After residing in the Indian city of Pataliputra for three centuries, it was smuggled out of the country into Sri Lanka to protect it from a violent civil war which was raging in India.
Angkor
In the year 457, King Anuruth of Burma sent envoys to present-day Sri Lanka requesting Buddhist scriptures to help spread the faith within his kingdom. The King of Sri Lanka offered the Emerald Buddha as a gift, but it was lost in a terrible shipwreck on the way to Burma. The statue somehow made its way to the ancient city of Angkor, where it was rediscovered and enshrined for centuries before disappearing into the mists of time once again.
Ayutthaya, Kampheng Phet, Laos, Northern Thailand
Hints of the Emerald Buddha arose in the ancient kingdoms of Ayutthaya, Kampheng Phet, Laos, and Lanna, though they were little more than whispers. It seemed as if the powerful Emerald Buddha had been lost forever until one fateful day in 1434.
What we know for sure
Wat Phra Kaew, Chiang Rai
The first real record of the Emerald Buddha that can be totally verified has it showing up after being missing for centuries. The Emerald Buddha was rediscovered in the northern city of Chiang Rai when a bolt of lightening struck a stone chedi, cracking it open and revealing a stucco image of the Buddha inside. Upon closer inspection, it was found that the stucco was covering a dazzling green Buddha image. The discovery of the Emerald Buddha is very similar to that of the Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit in Bangkok.
Wat Phra Kaeo Don Tao, Lampang
The king of La Na wanted to take the Emerald Buddha to his capital in Chiang Mai, however the elephants carrying the statue on three occasions insisted on traveling to the northern city of Lampang. Taking this as a sign, the king decided to enshrine the Emerald Buddha at a temple in Lampang for 32 years.
Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai
Eventually, however, the Emerald Buddha did get moved to Chiang Mai, where it was enshrined inside a towering chedi called Wat Chedi Luang. I visited this temple a few years ago, and it's really remarkable! It's a huge stone tower which is crumbling a bit now, but still retains much of its historic glory.
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| Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai, Thailand |
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Vat Mai (?), Luang Prabang (Laos)
In 1552 due to some odd circumstances involving bloodlines, marriages, and political alliances, the King of La Na also assumed the throne of the Kingdom of Luang Prabang. The Emerald Buddha was taken to the holy city and royal capital (also called Luang Prabang). I had trouble finding exactly where the Emerald Buddha was kept, but I found at least one source suggesting Vat Mai, the oldest temple in the city.
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| Vat Mai, Luang Prabang, Laos |
Haw Phra Kaew, Vientiane (Laos)
The Emerald Buddha was subsequently housed at the Haw Phra Kaew, the "House of the Emerald Buddha", an old wooden temple in Vientiane, Laos, and one of the most important Buddhist temples in the country. It was kept there for 214 years, and many Laotian people believe that Laos still holds the claim of the Emerald Buddha. The temple has a very conspicuous area where the statue is missing from, and signs and pamphlets speak of how it was taken by Siam and rightly belongs to Laos.
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| Haw Phra Bang, Vientiane, Laos |
>>https://michaeldesrosiers.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-weekend-in-vientiane-300th-post.html
Wat Arun, Thonburi
Later, it was moved south to Vientiane (also in Laos, and today the current capital) when General Chakri (later to become King Rama I of Thailand) put down an insurrection in Siam's vassal state and conquered Vientiane. He adopted the Emerald Buddha as the royal palladium of his new kingdom, and brought it to Thonburi, the short-lived capital of Siam after the fall of Ayutthaya. It was kept at Wat Arun for a very short period of time.
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| Wat Arun, Thonburi, Thailand |
Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok
Finally, the Emerald Buddha was moved to Wat Phra Kaew and the Chapel of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok's Grand Palace complex, where it resides today.
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| Wat Phra Kaew, the Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand |
The long and storied history of the Emerald Buddha makes for a fascinating story. While it's difficult to tell exactly what is fact and what is fiction, the fact remains that the statue is an extraordinarily important symbol of Thailand, and a central part of Thai religion and culture to this day.
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