The Emerald Buddha

The Emerald Buddha is a figurine of a sittingrequest was granted, however the ship that was
Budha, that is the is the palladium of the Kingdombrining the Buddha to Burma, became lost in a
of Thailand. The Buddha is made of green jade,storm and ended up in Cambodia. The Buddha
suprisingly not of emerald, clothed in gold ismade it's way through several hands after that:
approximately 45 cm tall. The Buddha is kept inAyutthaya, Kamphaeng Phet, Lao and finally
the Chapel of the Emerald Buddha, which isChiang Rai. It was finally in Chiang Rai that the
located on the grounds of the Grand Palace inruler of the city hid it.
Bangkok.It wasn't until 1434 that sources indicate the
Legend tells that that the Emerald Buddha wasresurfacing of the statue in Northern Thailand.
created in Pataliputra, India, which is now the cityThere is one story about the discovery: "lightning
of Patna in 43 BCE by Nagasena. Other greatstruck a pagoda in a temple in Chiang Rai, after
historians beleive that it belongs to the Chiangwhich something became visible under the stucco.
Saen Style of the 15th century. The legend saysThe Emerald Buddha was dug out and the people
that, it remained in Pataliputra for 300 hundredthought the figurine was made from emerald,
years, until it was taken to Sri Lanka to save ithence its current name.
from a civil war. It was then in 457, that King"Although, the Buddha is just a simple jade statue,
Anuruth of Burma sent out orders to Ceylon toit is dressed with garments that are made of fine
ask for the Emerald Budha and Buddhistgold. The Buddha's clothing are changed by the
scriptures. These actions took place by the king,King of Thailand, to celebrate the chaning of
to try and support Buddhism in his country. Thisseasons.