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Information about Emerald Buddha

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Emerald Buddha
The Emerald Buddha (Thai: พระแก้วมรกต - Phra Kaew Morakot, or official name พระพุทธมหามณีรัตนปฏิมากร - Phra Phuttha Maha Mani Ratana Patimakorn) is the palladium (Thai: ขวัญเมือง kwan meuang; colloquially มิ่งเมีอง ming meuang) of the Kingdom of Thailand, a figurine of the sitting Buddha, made of green jade (rather than emerald), clothed in gold, and about 45 cm tall. It is kept in the Chapel of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

History

According to legend, the Emerald Buddha was created in India in 43 BC by Nagasena in the city of Pataliputra (today Patna). The legends state that after remaining in Pataliputra for three hundred years, it was taken to Sri Lanka to save it from a civil war. In 457, King Anuruth of Burma sent a mission to Ceylon to ask for Buddhist scriptures and the Emerald Buddha, in order to support Buddhism in his country. These requests were granted, but the ship lost its way in a storm during the return voyage and landed in Cambodia. When the Thais captured Angkor Wat (following the ravage of the bubonic plague), the Emerald Buddha went to Ayutthaya (Cambodian historians record this as a gift to the Siamese King), Kamphaeng Phet, Laos and finally Chiang Rai, where the ruler of the city hid it. However, some art historians describe the Emerald Buddha as belonging to the Chiang Saen Style of the 15th Century AD, which would mean it is actually of Lannathai origin.

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Closeup of Emerald Buddha


Historical sources indicate that the statue surfaced in northern Thailand in the Lannathai kingdom in 1434. One account of its discovery tells that lightning struck a pagoda in a temple in Chiang Rai, after which something became visible beneath the stucco. The Buddha was dug out and the people believed the figurine to be made of emerald, hence its name. King Sam Fang Kaen of Lannathai wanted it in his capital, Chiang Mai, but the elephant carrying it insisted, on three separate occasions, on going instead to Lampang. This was taken as a divine sign and the Emerald Buddha stayed in Lampang until 1468, when it was finally moved to Chiang Mai, where it was kept at Wat Chedi Luang.

The Emerald Buddha remained in Chiang Mai until 1552, when it was taken to Luang Prabang, then the capital of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. Some years earlier, the crown prince of Lan Xang, Setthathirath, had been invited to occupy the vacant throne of Lannathai. However, Prince Setthathirath also became king of Lan Xang when his father, Photisarath, died. He returned home, taking the revered Buddha figure with him. In 1564, King Setthathirath moved it to his new capital at Vientiane. NOTE: Setthathirath was of Lao, Thai and Lanna heritage, so was a Prince of Ayuttaya & Chiang Mai as well as the crown prince of Luang Prabang. Thai history records that Setthathirath removed the image without authority when the government of Chiang Mai fell into strife.

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Ubosoth outside decorations closeup


In 1779, the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri put down an insurrection, captured Vientiane and returned the Emerald Buddha to Siam, taking it with him to Thonburi. After he became King Rama I of Thailand, he moved the Emerald Buddha with great ceremony to its current home in Wat Phra Kaew on March 22, 1784. It is now kept in the main building of the temple, the Ubosoth.

Gold clothing

The Emerald Buddha itself is simply the jade statue, but it is adorned with garments made of gold. There are three different sets of gold clothing, which are changed by the King of Thailand in a ceremony at the changing of the seasons - in the 1st Waning of Lunar Months 4, 8 and 12 (around March, July and November). The three sets of gold garments correspond to Thailand's hot season, rainy season, and cool season. The two sets of gold clothing not in use at any given time are kept on display in the nearby Pavilion of Regalia, Royal Decorations and Thai Coins on the grounds of the Grand Palace, where the public may view them.

Images


Emerald Buddha in rainy season attire

Ubosoth outside decorations closeup




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Official language of: Thailand
Regulated by: The Royal Institute
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ISO 639-1: th
ISO 639-2: tha
ISO 639-3: tha

Thai (
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palladium was an image of immemorial antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend, especially the one that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy. It features in Graeco-Roman works such as the Aeneid.
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Thai}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Thailand
Regulated by: The Royal Institute
Language codes
ISO 639-1: th
ISO 639-2: tha
ISO 639-3: tha

Thai (
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Anthem
Phleng Chat
Royal anthem
Phleng Sansoen Phra Barami

Capital
(and largest city) Bangkok [1]

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Figurine (a diminutive form of the word figure) is a statuette that represents a human, deity, or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone.
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buddha   (help info ) (Sanskrit: Awakened) is any being who has become fully awakened (enlightened), and has experienced Nirvana.
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JADE was the codename given by US codebreakers to a Japanese cipher machine. The Imperial Japanese Navy used the machine for communications from late 1942 until 1944. JADE was similar to another cipher machine, CORAL, with the main difference that JADE was used to encipher messages
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Emeralds are a variety of the mineral beryl, colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium.[1]. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5 - 8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness.
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GOLD refers to one of the following:
  • GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade).
  • GOLD (parser) is an open source BNF parser.

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Wat Phra Kaew (English Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Thai: วัดพระแก้ว; full official name Wat Phra Sri Rattana Satsadaram, Thai:
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Grand Palace (Thai: พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang) is a complex of buildings in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Bangkok
กรุงเทพมหานค?
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon
A BTS skytrain passing the Sathon area of Bangkok.
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1st century BC - 1st century
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Nāgasena was a Buddhist sage who lived about 150 BCE. His answers to questions about Buddhism posed by Menander I (Pali: Milinda), the Indo-Greek king of northwestern India, are recorded in the Milinda Pañha.
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Coordinates: Paṭnā pronunciation   (help info )
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There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. Buddhists place varying value on them; attitudes range from worship of the text itself, to dismissal of some texts as falsification of the ineffable truth.
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Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built for King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. The largest and best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre
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Ayutthaya (full name Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Thai: พระนครศรีอยุธยา; also spelled "Ayudhya") city is the capital of Ayutthaya province in Thailand.
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Kamphaeng Phet is a town (thesaban mueang) in northern Thailand, capital of the Kamphaeng Phet Province. It covers the complete tambon Nai Mueang of the Mueang Kamphaeng Phet district. As of 2005 it has a population of 30,114.
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Motto
ສັນຕິພາບ ເອກະລາດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ເອກະພາບ
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Chiang Rai (Thai: เชียงราย; locally (Kham Muang) Ciang Hai; (Lao) also Xieng Hai) is a city in Amphoe Mueang, Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand.
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Lanna (English One Million Thai Rice Fields, Thai: ล้านนา) was a kingdom in the north of Thailand around the city of Chiang Mai. It consisted of several partly independent city-states.
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Anthem
Phleng Chat
Royal anthem
Phleng Sansoen Phra Barami

Capital
(and largest city) Bangkok [1]

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A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in China, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist, and were often located in or
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Stucco is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water which is applied wet, and hardens when it dries. It is used as a coating for walls and ceilings and for decoration. In Europe the term render is more commonly used.
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