David Clay Photography
Wat Phra Singh Buddha Image (Phra Buddha Sihing Chiang Mai)
Image characteristics: In the marnwichai, or overcoming evil, pose. Brass, varnished and gilded. Style: Early Chiang Saen.
Viharn Lai Kham (Wat Phra Singh) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 15th century "lion-style" Buddha image cast in Lanna.
The iconography of this style is thought to be similar to that of a long lost "Lion of Sakyas" which was the most sacred image of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya, India. The main features are the gem finial rising from the skull, a short shawl over the left shoulder extending to just above the nipple, the maravijaya hand posture and the vajasana (full-lotus) leg posture.
(Source: Exploring Chiang Mai, City, Valley & Mountains by Oliver Hargreave)
The New Year festival in Chiang Mai climaxes with the procession of the Phra Singha Buddha image through the city streets. According to legendary account, the image was made 700 years after the death of the Buddha in Sri Lanka by a naga king who had seen the Buddha when the Blessed One had visited the island. Perhaps because of its watery origin, devout Buddhists ascribe rain-making powers to the image; hence, in an act of sympathetic magic, the Phra Singha Buddha image is removed from the temple and processed around the city as a herald of the monsoon rains
(Source: The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia, Donald K. Swearer)
See more of my photographs at
Wat Phra Singh Buddha Image (Phra Buddha Sihing Chiang Mai)
Image characteristics: In the marnwichai, or overcoming evil, pose. Brass, varnished and gilded. Style: Early Chiang Saen.
Viharn Lai Kham (Wat Phra Singh) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 15th century "lion-style" Buddha image cast in Lanna.
The iconography of this style is thought to be similar to that of a long lost "Lion of Sakyas" which was the most sacred image of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya, India. The main features are the gem finial rising from the skull, a short shawl over the left shoulder extending to just above the nipple, the maravijaya hand posture and the vajasana (full-lotus) leg posture.
(Source: Exploring Chiang Mai, City, Valley & Mountains by Oliver Hargreave)
The New Year festival in Chiang Mai climaxes with the procession of the Phra Singha Buddha image through the city streets. According to legendary account, the image was made 700 years after the death of the Buddha in Sri Lanka by a naga king who had seen the Buddha when the Blessed One had visited the island. Perhaps because of its watery origin, devout Buddhists ascribe rain-making powers to the image; hence, in an act of sympathetic magic, the Phra Singha Buddha image is removed from the temple and processed around the city as a herald of the monsoon rains
(Source: The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia, Donald K. Swearer)
See more of my photographs at