Phra Mongkhon Bophit or the Buddha of the Holy and Supremely Auspicious
Reverence was sculpted in 1538 in the reign of King Chairacha (r. 1534-1547) at Wat
Chi Chiang Sai. 1538 is generally accepted as the year that the image was built, based
on the Luang Prasoet version of the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya (Most of the other
versions put its construction at 880 of the Chulasakkarat era or somehow 20 years
As at the beginning of the reign of King Songtham (r. 1610/1611-1628), Wat Chi
Chiang laid in ruins, hit by lightening, the king had the large bronze cast Buddha image
moved westwards and had a mandapa (mondop or square roofed structure) built over
the structure to house it; Although the timing of the move of the Buddha image Phra
Mongkhon Bophit can be discussed.
The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya mention as date of the move of the statue 1603 (965
CS - year of the hare), but this date falls in the reign of King Naresuan. Jeremias
Van Vliet, a Dutch merchant writes in his “Description of the Kingdom of Siam” in 1638
“A few months ago the ruling king demolished the temple to its very base and had
a large copper heathen image which was located there pulled back several rods so
that another temple like the last could be built over the image.” Taken all the
versions above in account, the most plausible is the one from Van Vliet and the move of
the Buddha image has to be situated around 1637.