The tradition of constructing a Buddhist temple in the precincts of the Royal Palace has existed in Thailand since the Sukhothai period (l240 - 1438 A.D.). When King Rama I (1782-1809) of Bangkok established the city of Bangkok, or Ratanakosin, as his capital in 1782 A.D., he had the Temple of the Emerald Buddha constructed in the eastern section of the Royal Palace in order to install the Emerald Buddha, which he had obtained from the city of Vientiane in Laos. The construction took two years to finis h and the famous image was transferred from Thonburi to the present site in 1784.
The construction of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in the First Reign can be divided into two periods. During the first the boundaries of the Temple on the north and the cast were even more limiting than at the present time. The temple compound was e nclosed by galleries (no. 22 on the plan, at the back), and in the south was built the ubosoth (the ordination hall, no. I) enshrining the Emerald Buddha as its main image. Other construction, as we shall see, was to follow.
The History of the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is in reality carved From a large piece of green jade. According to a reliable chronicle, in 1434 A.D. lightning struck a chedi in Chiengrai in northern Thailand and a Buddha statue covered with s tucco was found inside. The image was brought into the abbot's residence and one day he noticed that the stucco on the nose had flaked off and the image inside was green in color. He removed all the stucco and found the Emerald Buddha. (The word emerald here only means "green colored" in Thai.)
People then flocked to worship this precious statue. At that time the town of Chiengrai was under the rule of the king of Chiengmai. The latter, King Samfangkaen, sent an elephant to bring the Emerald Buddha to Chiengmai, but each time the elephant arrived at the junction with the road to the city of Lampang, it ran to that town. The king sent an elephant out three times and each time the same incident occurred, so he thought that the spirits guarding the Emerald Buddha wanted to stay in lampang. T hus the Emerald Buddha was allowed to