Wat Traimit…The Golden Buddha

For our last visit, Mrs Bear led me on a walk to Chinatown and a visit to the Golden Buddha. This is an interesting story… Take a look at the photos and notice that Buddha’s head is more egg shaped. This style is thought to have come from India around the 14th century. It was relocated to Asia, and at some point, totally covered in a stucco to prevent its theft. The story goes that, somehow, the people forgot about the true Golden Buddha underneath. Eventually, one of the kings brought various Buddhas to the declared capitol of Bangkok, and this one was assigned to a lesser temple. By the way, Chinese inhabitants of the city were originally living in the area taken over to build the Palace…They were then moved a couple miles to Chinatown’s current location.

Eventually, a new chamber was built to house this Clay Buddha…During the relocation, they dropped it…Pueces of clay fell off, exposing the golden statue inside. The move was obviously suspended while the outer layer was removed to fully reveal the Golden Buddha, whose true grandeur was lost for over two hundred years !!!