Emerald Buddha | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

The Emerald Buddha is the most sacred Buddha image in Thailand, which prior to 1939 was Siam. It rests in its own chapel within the Wat Phra Keo, the royal palace and temple complex in Bangkok. Carved out of green jasper, the image is 66 centimeters (26 inches) high and is in virasana

mudra (sitting with hands on the lap). The Emerald Buddha is an object of national veneration and is believed to protect Thailand. Its origins, however, are mysterious. The Chronicle of the Emerald Buddha, an anonymous text of unknown date, relates a legend suggesting that the Emerald Buddha was sculpted in India by Nagasena and the god Vishnu. The Chronicle tells that the image then traveled to Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. The Emerald Buddha was discovered, encased in stucco and inside a stupa (dome-shaped Buddhist shrine), in Chiang Rai, Siam, in 1434. The image later traveled to Lampang, Chiang Mai, and Vientiane. It was brought to Siam in 1778, after the Siamese army sacked Vientiane at the command of King Taksin, the expansionist ruler who united Siam. The Emerald Buddha was first brought to Thonburi and then, in 1784, to Bangkok, where it was installed in its current location by King Rama I when he moved the national capital to Bangkok. Rama I used the image to legitimize his reign. Successive members of the Chakri dynasty (1782–present) have used the image in a similar way. The most important ceremony associated with the Emerald Buddha is the dressing of the image, which takes place three times each year, marking the beginning of the hot, rainy, and cool seasons. The king of Thailand cleans the image and changes its headdress, and then prays while a royal attendant changes the image's garments. The Emerald Buddha is Bangkok's most important treasure and is part of the Thai language name of Bangkok.

Anonymous. (1932) Chronicle of the Emerald Buddha. Trans. by Camille Notton. Bangkok, Thailand: Bangkok Times Press.

Narula, Karen Schur. (1994) Voyage of the Emerald Buddha. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Oxford University Press.

Roeder, Eric. (1999) "The Origin and Significance of the Emerald Buddha." Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies 3, 1:15–34.

This is the complete article, containing 369 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).