Thai style Buddha, resin in silver color robes. The Emerald Buddha was created in India in 43 BC by Nagasena in the city of Pataliputra. Legends say it stayed in Pataliputra for 300 years, 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 & the Emerald Buddha, to support Buddhism in his country. These requests were granted, but the ship lost its way in a storm during the return voyage & landed in Cambodia. When the Thais captured Angkor Wat in 1432 (following the ravage of the bubonic plague), the Emerald Buddha was taken to Ayutthaya, Kamphaeng Phet, Laos & finally Chiang Rai, where the ruler of the city hid it. The statue surfaced in northern Thailand in the Lannathai kingdom in 1434. Lightning struck a pagoda in a temple in Chiang Rai, something became visible beneath the stucco. The Buddha was dug out, & 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 3 separate occasions, on going instead to Lampang. This was taken as a divine sign & 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. In 1779, the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri put down an insurrection, captured Vientiane & 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. Amulets protect a person from trouble & bring good luck.
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