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Geography:
The Buddha's Footprint is found at Wat
Ph ra Phuttabat 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 Phuttabat is a royal temple of
the first class rank, the same as Wat Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhon
Pathom province.
History:
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. |
