Continuing with the legend of the saint Nagasena of India, after remaining in Pataliputra (present day Patna) for three hundred years, the Emerald Buddha image was taken to Sri Lanka to save it from a civil war.
•
The earliest legend narrated to the iconic emerald image of the Buddha is that of Nagasena, a saint in India who with the help of Hindu god, Vishnu and demigod Indra had the Emerald Buddha image made, 500 years after Buddha attained Nirvana, from the precious stone of Emerald.
•
While legend traces this statue to India, its rich historical records dates its finding in Cambodia in the 15th century, moved to Laos in the 16th century and then to Vientiane where it remained for 215 years, and finally to Thailand in the 18th century.
•
Considering the long history and Nagasena's (a Brahmin who became a Buddhist sage and lived about 150 BC) prophesy that the Emerald Buddha would bring "prosperity and pre-eminence to each country in which it resides", the Emerald Buddha deified in the Wat Phra Kaew is deeply revered and venerated in Thailand as the protector of the country.
•
Chao Phya Chakri (Chakri is a title) a renowned army general and associate of Taksin, in 1778, defeated the Vientiane and shifted the Emerald Buddha from Vientiane to Thonburi where it remained till Taksin's death.
Wat Tyler | Angkor Wat | Wat Mahathat | wat | Wat Tyler (band) | Wat Phnom | Noh Matta Wat! | Wat Pho | Wat Nong Pah Pong | Wat Chedi Luang | Wat Bowonniwet Vihara | Wat Arun | Wat | Phra Phrom | Chaloem Phra Kiat District, Nan | Chaloem Phra Kiat District | Wat Tham Krabok | Wat Si Muang | Wat's Dyke near Northop | Wat Phrik | Wat Phra Kaew | Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew | Wat Moha Montrey | Wat Hua Lamphong | Wat Chedi Liam | Wat Bakan | The Erawan shrine's Brahma (Phra phom | Angkor Wat (band) |
In 1930 Hem was selected as one of the artists to renovate the murals in Wat Phra Kaew (the Emerald Buddha temple) during Bangkok’s 150th anniversary celebrations.