Wat Chedi Luang at Chiangmai, Thailand
Wat chedi Luang is a Buddhist Stupa or a tower located in Chiang Mai, the cultural centre of Thailand located near the border of Burma. It was the highest structure in the royal kingdom of Thailand and it was built around the 14th to 15th century AD. One fine day around 1544 by one account it collapsed for reasons unknown or let us say, reasons that the Thai kingdom did not want to talk about. So in all probability it must be a structural design problem that laid the grand stupa to crumble around. Another version has the chedi destroyed during cannon fire around the 18th century in a recapture by the Thai rulers from the Burmese occupiers.
That is history.
In its present day avatar the remains of the ruined brick chedi rise to about 60 feet in height and its base is about 144 feet in a square disposition. From this it is easy to envision how grand the stupa must have been and how much reverence would have been bestowed by the genteel Buddhist followers to the Kings and the priests and the religion.
Each of the 4 sides has a grand stairway leading to nowhere now and the railings are huge nagas( serpentine cobras ) as is to be seen in many grand temples in Thailand. Midway on the base there are five elephants and like the nagas , 4 of these are restored by funds received from UNESCO and the Japanese benefactors. Only one of the elephants is from the original ruins. The restoration work is kind of patchy as no one has any records whatsoever and that is intriguing and points to the fact that thr records have been suppressed.
Be that as it may, you can see the UNESCO brick work and English alphabets on a closer scrutiny. No the Buddhist builders did not have the English alphabet in 1391-1445. I have marked the area on the image.
_DSC3556 nef ver 2
Wat Chedi Luang at Chiangmai, Thailand
Wat chedi Luang is a Buddhist Stupa or a tower located in Chiang Mai, the cultural centre of Thailand located near the border of Burma. It was the highest structure in the royal kingdom of Thailand and it was built around the 14th to 15th century AD. One fine day around 1544 by one account it collapsed for reasons unknown or let us say, reasons that the Thai kingdom did not want to talk about. So in all probability it must be a structural design problem that laid the grand stupa to crumble around. Another version has the chedi destroyed during cannon fire around the 18th century in a recapture by the Thai rulers from the Burmese occupiers.
That is history.
In its present day avatar the remains of the ruined brick chedi rise to about 60 feet in height and its base is about 144 feet in a square disposition. From this it is easy to envision how grand the stupa must have been and how much reverence would have been bestowed by the genteel Buddhist followers to the Kings and the priests and the religion.
Each of the 4 sides has a grand stairway leading to nowhere now and the railings are huge nagas( serpentine cobras ) as is to be seen in many grand temples in Thailand. Midway on the base there are five elephants and like the nagas , 4 of these are restored by funds received from UNESCO and the Japanese benefactors. Only one of the elephants is from the original ruins. The restoration work is kind of patchy as no one has any records whatsoever and that is intriguing and points to the fact that thr records have been suppressed.
Be that as it may, you can see the UNESCO brick work and English alphabets on a closer scrutiny. No the Buddhist builders did not have the English alphabet in 1391-1445. I have marked the area on the image.
_DSC3556 nef ver 2