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Just north of the Royal Residence of the Maha Monthian from which there is a connecting gate lies The Chapel Royal of The Emerald Buddha. It consists of all the architectural features of the monastery without however the residential quarter, for monks do not live here. The Assembly Hall, or Ubosoth, serves as the monarch's private chapel. Hence the partition on either side of the main altar intended as a retiring room,which is never to be found anywhere else but the only other chapel royal, that of the King of Thonburi, which serves now as the Assembly Hall of the monastery of Arun within the former grounds of the palace of that king. The “Emerald Buddha” is carved from a block of jade. It is an object of national veneration and crowds come to pay respect to the memory of the Buddha and His Teachings on certain days of the weeks when it is open to the public.
The Emerald Buddha sits high up on an altar of gold designed to represent the traditional aerial chariot (Busabok, Sk. Pushpaka) attributed to Hindu gods on the murals of this country. The effigy was first discovered in Chiang Rai in 1464, brought down to Lampang where it remained till King Tilok of Lannathai brought it to Chiang Mai, his capital, where it was fitly enshrined.
Later on, there occurred a vacancy in the Lannathai line of succesion and King Chaichetta of Luang Prabang, whose mother was a Chiang Mai Princess, was invited to fill it. He however returned to his nativeland in Luang Prabang after a comparatively short rule here, taking the palladium with him back to his capital. Then King Chaichetta moved his capital to a newly built town of Viang Chan taking the Emerald Buddha again with him.
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It remained there for a long time till the King of Thonburi sent a punitive expedition under Chao Phraya Chakri to Viang Chan which brought back with it the famous effigy of which the King of Thonburi was very proud. When King Rama I built the city of Bangkok with the Chapel Royal and the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha was installed with pomp and ceremony in the chapel. In front of the high altar Rama III set up two newly cast standing images of the Lord in dedication to his predecessors on the throne, which were named Phra Phuttha Yod Fa Chula Lok and Phra Phuttha Loetla Sulalai.
At that time it was deemed impolite to refer to elders by their personal names. Rama I was usually spoken of as the Initial Reign, Rama II as the Middle Reign and Rama III, the Present Reign. Obviously such a nomenclature could not last and by Royal Decree the founder of the dynasty was to be referred to as His Majesty of the image of Phra Phuttha Yod Fa Chula Lok and his successor as His Majesty of the image of Phra Phutta Loetla Sulalai. Rama VI decreed the expediency of referring to his predecessors simply as Rama with due ordinal numbers because all of his predecessors bore the name Rama among other names in the full official Style and Tille. There is one other effigy, the Samphutthapanni Buddha image, held in high veneration and placed in front of the high altar, that was cast by King Mongkut, Rama IV, when he was a monk. The murals within this building are:
(1) above the window frames the traditional life-story of the Buddha commencing with the south west corner on the right of the high altar where is depicted his birth, childhood, youth and renunciation in search of Truth; On the east wall fronting the high altar the temptation and enlightenment,the figure underneath the Buddha's seat being that of Mother Earth; continuing thence along the north wall the mission and death with its immediate consequence till we reach the north-west corner of the wall. At the back is painted the middle-aged conception of the universe.
(2) Between the windows are depicted some of the so-called birth-stories.
(3) Behind the window panels are murals illustrating Proverbs in rhyme.
(4) The panels of the doors contain exquisite inlaid work in mother-of-pearl. They all depict episodes from the Ramakien. (The Thai version of the Ramayana)
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