 Thai
Buddhist > Temples > Wat
Phra Buddhabat
The Buddha's Footprint
is found at Wat Phra Buddhabat in Saraburi Province, 20 kms. from the
town of Lop Buri on the Saraburi - Lopburi route. It is a very important
shrine for Buddhist people, for the Footprint appears on a natural rock
surface while the Buddha's footprints commonly found in many temples
are imitations executed in various materials ranging from wood to metal.
Wat
Phra Buddhabat is a royal temple of
the first class rank, the same as Wat Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhon Pathom
province.
The
Footprint was first discovered in the reign of King Song Tham (1610
- 1628). A group of monks went on a pilgrimage to Ceylon to worship
the Buddha's Footprint at Mount Sumanakut. They were told by the Ceylonese
monks that one of the Lord Buddha's Footprint might be found in Thailand.
On hearing this, the king ordered his officials in all parts of the
kingdom to look for it for the location of the Footprint had not been
identified.
Meantime,
in a distant area of Saraburi, a hunter while trailing a wounded deer
to this hilly part found a large, curiously shaped hollow in a rock
with water in the hollow. The shape of the hollow resembles the footprint
of a very large man. The hunter therefore reported his finding to
the town governor who, having verified it, sent word to the capital.
King Song Tham came himself to examine it and saw the appropriate
signs of a Buddha's Footprint. Thus the site was declared a Buddhist
shrine and a mondop was built over the Footprint while the land around
the Footprint was made into a town named "Parantapa" or
"Muang Khied Khin". The hill on which the Footprint was
found was renamed Mount Suwan Banphot or Mount Satjaphan Khiri.
The
Buddha's Footprint is a natural impression in limestone rock that
resembles a very large footprint. It is 50 cms. wide, 150 cms. long
and 30 cms. deep. The present mondop covering the Footprint was built
by King Rama I. It was built to replace the one of the Ayutthaya time
that was destroyed by fire when some Chinese brigands, seizing the
opportunity while Ayutthaya was under siege to rob the temple of valuable
objects, set fire to the mondop in order to melt down the gold in
the canopy over the Footprint.
Location:
Saraburi,
Central Thailand.
Spelling: The
name of the temple is sometimes spelled as Wat Phra Phuttabat
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