The Emerald Buddha's Eventful History

Visiting Thailand, a country where Buddhism has flourished for more than one thousand years, you will not be astonished to see a large number of Buddhist monasteries and Buddha images. In lists of tourist attractions in Bangkok, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaeo) is the most prominent place where all tourists must pay a visit because it houses the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred Buddha image of Thailand.

In spite of the Buddha image's significance, very few people, even the Thais, know about its long eventful history. The image had gone through long journeys before being enshrined in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok. Those journeys give explanations why there are several temples with the same name Wat Phra Kaeo in the North of Thailand.

For travellers who are interested in history or Buddhism, paying homage to historical sites or temples housing or involved in the journeys of the Emerald Buddha is well worthwhile. Moreover, going to these ancient temples will allow you to appreciate the splendour of their ancient architecture, sculpture and paintings as well.

The journeys of the Emerald Buddha

Historical evidences of the Emerald Buddha have been discovered in both written records and archaeological facts. As for the written records, there are several ancient documents mentioning the Emerald Buddha. From these, historians drew conclusions that the image was built in 43 B.C. by Phra Nagasena Thera in Pataliputtara Town (today's Patana State of India). After that, Phra Kaeo was moved to be enshrined in numerous significant cities as will be described below.

In A.D. 257, a war broke out in India, so the Emerald Buddha found his way to Ceylon. Then in A.D. 457, King Anurut the Great of the Pukam Kingdom dispatched a group of high-ranking Buddhist monks to Ceylon to ask for the bestowal of the image. The request was granted and the image was transferred in a junk. On the way, a storm drove the junk to Kamphuchea (today's Cambodia). A flood hit the town afterwards, thus Phra Kaeo was moved to Inthapat town in Angkor Wat. Later on, Phra Kaeo was brought to Ayutthaya (the former capital of Thailand A.D.1350-1767) in the reign of King U-thong (1350-1369).

In the reign of King Ramesuan (1369-1370) of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the Emerald Buddha was moved to the Wachira Prakan Kingdom (today's Kamphaeng Phet). Then in A.D. 1391, the image found its way to Chiang Rai, where it was covered with layers of plaster and was put in a stupa in a temple by Chao Mahaphrom. After that, the stupa was struck by a thunderbolt and Phra Kaeo, mistaken for an ordinary Buddha statue, was placed among many others in a vihara. A few months later, the stucco covering the nose of the statue came off. Seeing that the inside was in bright green, the abbot of the temple had the coverings of the whole object removed. It was then known to everybody that it was made of a single piece of jade pure and flawless. The image became known as Phra Kaeo Morakot, meaning the Emerald Buddha, and the temple housing it was known as Wat Phra Kaeo.

King Samfangkaen of Chiang Mai sent a convoy to bring the Emerald Buddha to his capital in A.D. 1436.

However, when the party came to a junction where three roads met, the elephant carrying the image became excited and ran towards Lampang instead of Chiang Mai as intended. The beast was calmed down but again it became frightened when it was taken back to the junction. It was replaced with a tame one but the same thing happened again. Therefore, the Buddha image was carried to a temple especially built in Lampang named Wat Phra Kaeo Dontao Suchadaram, where the image was kept for 32 years until A.D.1468.

After King Tilokkarat was enthroned in that year, he moved the Emerald Buddha to Chiang Mai. Then in A.D. 1551, the king died without an heir. Prince Chaiyachetta of Laos, whose mother was the daughter of a former king of Chiang Mai, was chosen by the nobles and the high priests to be the next ruler.

The next year Prince Chaiyachetta's father died and the Prince's younger brothers vied with each other for the throne. The prince was called back to Luang Prabang, the capital of Laos, to suppress the strife. Uncertain of his own future, the prince took the Emerald Buddha with him when going back to Laos, on the pretext of providing opportunities for his relatives there to worship it.

Prince Chaiyachetta became King of Laos after reestablishing order in the country. He could not and did not return to Chiang Mai, because the nobles of Chiang Mai had in the meantime invited Meku of Muang Nai, who was of the royal blood, to be their new king, for fear that Chiang Mai would become a vassal state of Laos.

And the Emerald Buddha was kept in Luang Prabang for 12 years.

In A.D. 1564, King Chaiyachetta moved his capital to Vientiane to avoid confrontation with the neighbouring Kingdom of Mon, which was emerging as a new power. He again took the Emerald Buddha along. It was placed there for the next 214 years.

Finally, in A.D.1779, the Emerald Buddha was brought back to Thailand safe and sound, by none other than the founder of the present Chakri Dynasty of Thailand himself, Chao Phraya Chakri (later King Rama I). At that time Phra Kaeo was housed at the Temple of Dawn.

When Chao Phraya Chakri became king and established Bangkok as capital in A.D.1782, he ordered the construction of Wat Phra Kaeo within the compound of his palace to house the Emerald Buddha up to the present time.