The Curious Journey of the Emerald Buddha
The Emerald Buddha is often characterized as the most holy image in all of Southeast Asia. Enshrined at Wat Phra Kaew on the grounds of Thailand’s Grand Palace, the statue is believed to be the protector (or palladium) of Thai society. With its mythical origins and supposed supernatural powers, the statue has for centuries been a focus of devotion for millions of Buddhists. Beyond its ritual significance, however, the Emerald Buddha also reflects a dialogue between civilizations – both in its physical appearance and storied past. Here we explore this ancient cultural dialogue, diving into the legendary past of the Emerald Buddha and exploring how and why it continues to resonate as a cultural icon even today.
The Emerald Buddha
Much about the Emerald Buddha is shrouded in mystery. This includes even the material it is made of. The term “emerald” – somewhat confusingly – refers only to the color of the Buddha. Legend has it that the Emerald Buddha is made from a giant chunk of Jade, though some suspect it is actually carved from jasper.
Presuming it is jade (as most believe), shaping it into a Buddha image of such size would have been extraordinarily difficult. Jade is too hard to be sculpted with conventional instruments. Rather, traditional artisans would first cover it with an abrasive paste, usually containing crushed stones, then shape it using stone and metal tools – a laborious and technically complex process.
The sculpture itself incorporates much of the traditional iconography typical of Buddha images. The body is smooth, even swollen, infused as it were with divine Prana – the breath of life. The statue’s tranquil expression with its half-closed eyes suggests transcendence – a being no longer troubled by worldly attachments. He sits at ease, right leg comfortably placed on top of the left. A balanced composition, the figure approximates the shape of an equilateral triangle. It is a well-crafted work, presenting a figure both relaxed and dignified and made all the more impressive by the challenging material from which it is made.
The Chronicles of the Emerald Buddha
What makes the Emerald Buddha truly extraordinary, however, is not its craftsmanship or even its ethereal pale green finish. Rather, it is the mythology which surrounds it. This mythology is recorded in the Chronicles of the Emerald Buddha, which tell of an epic journey beginning with the Emerald Buddha’s divine creation in ancient India and running all the way up to its surprise rediscovery amidst the ruins of a stupa over 1,500 years later. Reminiscent of Homer’s Odyssey, the Chronicles of the Emerald Buddha are a fantastic tale, full of adventure and mystery.
The story begins with the sage Nagasena, who lived in Pataliputra, India around 150 BC. According to the Chronicles, Nagasena asked the Gods Visnu and Indra to make an image of the Buddha for use in worship. Not content with just any image, Nagasena asked that it be chiseled from precious stone so that it might last forever.
Visnu and Indra, who admired Nagasena, agreed to help and travelled to Mount Velu to seek out a stone worthy of the task. At Mount Velu, they encountered a race of demons who guarded the mountain’s treasures as jealously as “the Kings of Siam guard their white elephants.” Undeterred by the demons’ ferocity, Indra explains the purpose for which the stone is needed – the crafting of a Buddha image of such grandeur that it would inspire all who look upon it. The demons, who revered Buddha, obliged providing a large jade stone, “the most precious of their treasures.”
The stone acquired, Visnu himself sculpts the image and then turns it over to Nagasena, who places it in a temple with a golden roof. Enshrined in the new temple, thousands make the pilgrimage to Pataliputra to pay homage to the magnificent Buddha.
But Nagasena, we are told, understood that the Emerald Buddha would not remain in India forever. He foretold that it would continue its journey eastward, where it would be revered in the 5 lands of Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand; a prophecy the Chronicles suggest would take over a thousand years to fulfill.
From Sri Lanka to Angkor
The Chronicles note that around 300 years after Nagasena’s death, Pataliputra became engulfed in a civil war. Worried for the security of the Emerald Buddha, the King sent the statue to Sri Lanka for safekeeping. However, after the conflict ended, the King never returned for it. Thus it remained in Sri Lanka, where it was highly esteemed for over 200 years.
The next leg of the journey came at the instigation of the legendary King Anwratha, who from his seat in Bagan founded the nation of Burma. According to the Chronicles, the King sent a group of monks to Sri Lanka to request copies of the Buddhist scriptures and, naturally, the statue of the Emerald Buddha. The King wanted these, we are told, to support his efforts to establish Therevada Buddhism in his kingdom. The request was granted, and two ships were dispatched back to Burma – one carrying the scriptures and the other carrying the Emerald Buddha.
However, in a navigational mystery, the ships were blown off course, somehow traversing the Straits of Malacca and the Gulf of Thailand to wind up on the shores of modern-day Cambodia, then ruled by the Khmer kings of Angkor. Anwratha demanded the return of the sacred objects, and though he would receive the scriptures from the first boat, the Emerald Buddha remained in Angkor.
A Bolt of Lightning: The Emerald Buddha’s Rediscovery in Thailand
According to the Chronicles, the Emerald Buddha would remain in Angkor for several centuries until a great flood struck the city. This, we are told, was divine retribution for the King’s ordering the drowning of a child. To save the Emerald Buddha, a monk smuggled the statue northward, where it found its way to Ayutthaya, then the capital of Thailand, before eventually being taken onward to Chiang Rai. For reasons unknown, the rulers of Chiang Rai covered the Emerald Buddha in stucco and hid it away in a temple, where it remained for decades and was eventually forgotten.
It wasn’t until 1434 that the statue was again discovered. According to the Chronicles, in that year a bolt of lightning struck a stupa, causing it to tumble. Inside, the monks noticed a statue and placed it within the temple sanctuary. Eventually, the plaster on the nose of the statue chipped away, revealing the precious green stone underneath. The monks removed the rest of the stucco and were shocked to discover the luminous jade statue.
From this momentous rediscovery, the Emerald Buddha leaves the mythical past and enters into the historical record. Though its subsequent journey becomes better documented, its onward travel is equally fantastic.
Lanna and Lan Xang
Following the Emerald Buddha’s discovery, the King of Lanna (who ruled Chiang Rai) ordered the statue be brought to his capital in Chiang Mai. However, at a road juncture, the elephant carrying the statue turned away from Chaing Mai and instead charged toward the town of Lampang further to the south. Another elephant was brought in, and it too attempted to take the Buddha to Lampang. The King took this as a sign and allowed the statue to be brought to Lampang, where it remained for over three decades.
When the King died and his son ascended the throne, a new attempt was made to bring the Emerald Buddha to Chiang Mai. This time, the elephants proved more pliable, and the statue was successfully enshrined in Chiang Mai in 1468. There it would remain for the next 83 years.
It wasn’t until 1551 that the statue was moved again – this time to Luang Prabang in Laos. It was brought there by King Setthathirath. Setthathirath had grown up in Laos. His mother, the daughter of the King of Lanna, had been married to the King of Lan Xang (now Laos) to secure an alliance between the two kingdoms. However, when the King of Lanna died without an heir, Setthathirath was invited back to Chiang Mai to take the throne.
A few years after being installed as King in Chiag Mai, Setthathirath’s father, the King of Lan Xang, died as well. Setthathirath decided to make a play for the throne and unite the two kingdoms. He returned to Luang Prabang with the Emerald Buddha and – after subduing his rivals – successfully assumed the throne of Lan Xang. However, while in Laos, another claimant to the throne seized power in Lanna, ending Setthathirath’s short reign in Chiang Mai. Setthathirath attempted to reclaim the throne of Lanna but was unable to.
When the Burmese invaded Lanna in 1556, Setthathirath abandoned efforts to retake his old home. To protect his new kingdom from the Burmese, Sethathirath moved his capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1563. A year later, he brought the Emerald Buddha to Vientiane, where it would remain for over 200 years.
The Emerald Buddha and the Founding of Bangkok
Though the Lao were able to protect the Emerald Buddha from the Burmese, a resurgent Thailand presented a new threat. In 1778, a Thai army captured Vientiane and took the Emerald Buddha to their new capital in Thonburi (near modern day Bangkok), where the statue was placed in Wat Arun on the shores of the Chao Phraya river.
However, political turmoil continued to rock the Thai kingdom. In 1782, the general Phutthayotfa Chulalok (now known as Rama I), overthrew the king and took the crown for himself. In the process, he founded the Chakri dynasty, which – 9 generations later – continues to rule Thailand.
In establishing his dynasty, Rama I sought to elevate the Emerald Buddha, with its ethereal luster and mythical past, as a symbol of the new era he hoped to establish. He built an elaborate temple complex on the grounds of the new Grand Palace to house the Emerald Buddha. This temple was to be the beating heart of Rama I’s new capital, now referred to as Bangkok
In 1784, in a grand ceremony, the statue was relocated across the river to its new home, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (or Wat Phra Kaew). Here it remains today, steps away from the Supreme Court, Ministry of Defense, and the Grand Palace – the most powerful institutions in modern Thailand.
The Emerald Buddha and Royal Ritual
Critically, Rama I did not just enshrine the Emerald Buddha in a gilded temple. He also put it at the heart of royal ritual – the most prominent example being the seasonal changes of the Emerald Buddha’s ceremonial attire. Twice a year, at the beginning of summer and of winter, Rama I would personally lead a grand ceremony in which he would change the Buddha’s clothing to match the appropriate season. Later, Rama III added a third ceremony (complete with its own costume) to mark the beginning of the rainy season.
The seasonal clothes changing ceremony continues up to the present day, though now often a senior royal will change the Buddha’s costume in lieu of the King. This and other ceremonies conducted in the presence of the Emerald Buddha interweaves a variety of themes:
- the King’s homage to the Emerald Buddha underscores the monarchy’s virtue;
- the monarch’s custodianship of the images emphasizes its role as chief patron of Thai Buddhism;
- and by associating itself with the protector of the Thai nation (as the Emerald Buddha is believed to be), the monarchy too becomes essential to the safety of the entire country.
Separating Fact from Fiction
Now that we’ve finished this walk through of the Emerald Buddha’s history, we can reflect on what it all means. Perhaps the most obvious question is how much of the Emerald Buddha’s mythological past – as documented in the Chronicles of the Emerald Buddha -actually happened.
Here, most present-day scholars are skeptical. These scholars point to the Emerald Buddha’s stylistic features, which are similar to other 15th century Buddha images known to have been crafted in and around present day Chiang Mai. This, incidentally, was also around the same time the Chronicles are believed to have been written.
However, some dispute this conclusion. Some scholars argue the Emerald Buddha’s pose is more characteristic of earlier Sri Lankan art than that of Northern Thailand. Moreover, multiple versions of the Chronicles of the Emerald Buddha exist throughout Southeast Asia, suggesting an earlier version of the text may have existed in India. These arguments leave open the possibility that the Emerald Buddha may be far older than most scholars presently believe. Or perhaps, there was an earlier Emerald Buddha of which the present is a copy.
True or not, what I find most remarkable about the Emerald Buddha is the degree to which its story mirrors that of the broader region. Buddhism and the iconography of Buddhist art both emerged in the subcontinent before making their way throughout Southeast Asia, winning adherents as it travelled along the region’s trade routes. Here, it took on new layers of meaning, with local societies adapting the religion to their own needs and interests.
If the Emerald Buddha is taken as a symbol for Buddhism more broadly, than this is exactly what the Chronicles describe. From a stone guarded by demons, crafted by gods, hauled thousands of miles around the region, lost and then found, the Emerald Buddha is as much a symbol as it is a physical object. It is in many ways the culmination of traditions thousands of years old spanning multiple civilizations.
Sources/Further Reading
- Roeder, Eric; The Origin and Significance of the Emerald Buddha; Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 3 Fall 1999.
- Suksri, Naengnoi; Chakrabongse, Narisa; Limpabandhu, Thanit (2013); The Grand Palace and Old Bangkok; River Books
- Kossak, Steven, and Edith W. Watts; 2001; The Art of South and Southeast Asia: A Resource for Educators; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Behrendt, Kurt A; How to Read Buddhist Art; Metropolitan museum of art, 2019.
- For more on Wat Phra Kaew, see Artifact’s Quick Guide to Bangkok Temples.