Wat Phra Thong (or Wat Prathong), meaning ‘Golden Buddha Image Temple is a very old temple with an incredible legend behind it, the kind of story that irresistibly attracts people. It’s not very big or impressive, but everyone first wants to see the…
Wat Phra Thong (or Wat Prathong), meaning ‘Golden Buddha Image Temple is a very old temple with an incredible legend behind it, the kind of story that irresistibly attracts people. It’s not very big or impressive, but everyone first wants to see the famous half-buried golden Buddha.
A long time ago in Thalang, a boy tied the rope of his buffalo to a piece of wood sticking out of the pasture ground. This was a ‘finial’, the conical shape at the top of a very large Buddha image almost entirely buried. The boy became ill and soon died, as well as his buffalo. Following a dream he had, the boy’s father went to have a look at this stick to find out what it was. Villagers tried to free the statue, but the diggers were attacked by swarms of hornets coming out from the dug-up earth, while the spectators were left unharmed.
Later, during the invasion of Thalang town by the Burmese Army, Burmese soldiers tried to excavate the statue to take it back to Burma. But this time, they were attacked and bitten by swarms of tiny ants from the dug earth. Hundred of Burmese soldiers fell ill and died. The remaining soldiers set the ants on fire but could not dig deeper than the statue’s neck when the ruler of Nakhon Si Thammarat eventually liberated the city.
Finally, in 1750, a monk from Sukhothai convinced the villagers that building the temple around the Buddha image was better. The original Buddha head was covered with a new image for religious performances, which explains the perfect condition of the current half statue.
Today the ground of Wat Phra Thong consists of several temples and even a museum displaying items from the tin mining era, mostly given by locals. Wat Phra Thong is open daily from 8 am to 5.30 pm.
The temple is small but very unique. The Buddha and story is interesting and worth a short stop to explore.
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