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By Marie Moon
Thai history books paint a bloodthirsty picture of the Burmese
armies during their invasions of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. It is
written that during these assaults they savagely destroyed royal
monuments and temples, important manuscripts and religious sculptures,
desecrating all things sacred to the Thai people. Sukhothai and
Ayutthaya both have ancient sites baring the scars of these dark
days; almost all of the Buddha images have been decapitated and
many precious items of gold were seized and taken back to Burma.
The violence did not stop Thai artisans from producing religious
icons, for them, the very process of carving a Buddha image was
of profound religious importance; it was a spiritual act of devotion.
In order to protect their works from the ravages of the invading
armies, artisans invented ingenious ways to disguise their immaculate
creations as modest statues. The most well known example of this
form of protective make-under, now resides in Bangkok's Wat Traimit
Wittayaram Voraviharn.
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In a modest little temple on the outskirts of Chinatown sits the
largest golden Buddha image in the world. Sculpted in the Sukhothai
design, it is composed of five and a half tonnes of pure gold. Little
else is known about this 700 year old Buddha image, including who
decided to hide the lustrous gold statue under an ordinary stucco
covering, but the deception proved to be very successful. In fact,
it seems that the image was forgotten about for hundreds of years.
Long after the Burmese had been driven from Thai territory, after
Bangkok became the capital of Thailand and even after the Second
World War, this brilliant gold Buddha remained hidden.
Being of impressive size, the statue was installed as the principle
Buddha image at Wat Phrayakrai during the reign of King Rama III,
however the temple eventually became deserted and the image was
abandoned once again.
In 1931 the East Asiatic Company received permission to extend
its operations into the land upon which Wat Phrayakrai rested, however
before any development could be commenced, new homes needed to be
found for the sacred images in the temple.
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The Buddha image, still totally concealed by the plaster covering,
was moved by the Ecclesiastical Commission to Wat Traimit Witthayaram,
where it rested for another twenty years until a potentially tragic
accident brought new attention to the statue. Under the supervision
of the late abbot Phra Visutha-thibordee, a new temple building
had been constructed to house the statue and while the Buddha was
being moved by crane, the unthinkable happened. To the horror of
all those present, the Buddha broke loose from its bonds and crashed
down to the ground. The scene must have been intense, the sacrilege,
unforgivable, but as Phra Visutha-thibordee and the other on-lookers
swooped in to assess the damage, they made what must have seemed
like a truly miraculous discovery. The Buddha had not been damaged;
rather some of the stucco had broken off revealing the gleaming
golden mass beneath.
The solid gold image is awesome, measuring almost five metres in
height, just less than four metres in width and weighing approximately
five and a half tonnes. The Sukhothai Traimit Golden Buddha shines
with brilliance and draws crowds of visitors each day. The temple
itself is quite small but charming and well worth a visit if only
to view this national treasure. The temple building that houses
the Sukhothai Traimit Golden Buddha is open each day from 8:00am
to 5:00pm and can be found close to the intersection of Yaowarat
Road and Charoen Krung Rd near Hualamphong Railway Station. The
entrance fee is 20 baht for visitors and free for Thai nationals.
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