Wat Phra Singh

You enter through a tall gate at the western end of the old city. Ahead, white walls and golden roofs rise above the trees. Monks in orange robes move across the wide courtyard. This is Wat Phra Singh, one of the most respected temples in all of northern Thailand.

The temple was built in 1345. King Phayu, the fifth ruler of the Mangrai line, ordered its construction. He had brought the ashes of his father here from the north, and he raised a chedi to hold them. In its early days the temple carried a different name. People called it Wat Lee Chiang Phra, after the market that once stood before its gates.

The name you know it by today came later. In 1367 the temple received a sacred Buddha image called the Phra Buddha Sihing. The figure is believed to have come from Sri Lanka. It is counted as the second most important Buddha image in all of Thailand. The temple took its name from this revered statue.

Cross the courtyard toward a small, elegant building near the back. This is the Viharn Lai Kham. It is the true treasure of the grounds. It was built in the early nineteenth century, between 1815 and 1821, in the pure Lanna style of the north. Its wooden front is carved and covered with gold with great care. Stop for a moment to take in the fine work above the doors.

Step inside. Let your eyes adjust to the soft light. At the far end sits the Phra Buddha Sihing, calm and golden. People come from far away to bow before it. The smell of melting candle wax and fresh flowers fills the small hall. During the Songkran festival in April, the image is carried through the streets so that everyone may pour water over it for blessing.

Now look at the walls around you. They are covered with painted murals, and they are some of the finest in the country. The scenes show daily life in the north from long ago. You can see how people dressed, how they wore their hair, how they worked and traveled. The colors have faded with time, yet the figures still feel alive. Look for the patterns inked on the men's bodies, and for small, honest moments of village life.

These murals are more than religious art. They are a window into the world of the nineteenth century. The artists painted what they saw around them. Markets, houses, animals, and clothing all appear in careful detail. When the Fine Arts Department repaired the building for the seven hundredth anniversary of Chiang Mai, they worked to protect these scenes for the future.

Step back outside and walk toward the golden chedi behind the viharn. It is round and broad, covered in metal that glows in the sun. This is the structure King Phayu raised for his father's ashes, rebuilt and enlarged over the centuries. Walk around it slowly, in the same direction the worshippers go, keeping it on your right. A ring of small bells skirts its base and stirs in the breeze.

Look also for the temple's library, the ho trai. It stands raised on a high stone base, well above the ground. In the past, this kept the fragile palm-leaf manuscripts safe from floods and from insects. The base is decorated with figures of guardian spirits. The fine wooden room above held the temple's most precious texts.

The whole temple is a teaching school as well as a place of worship. Wat Phra Singh holds a high royal rank in the Thai Buddhist order. Young men come here to study and to be ordained as monks. As you walk, you may pass them carrying books, or sweeping the stone paths in the early light. Their quiet work is part of the life of the temple, repeated every single day.

Find a quiet spot in the shade and pause for a while. Listen to the soft sounds of the place. Bells move in the wind at the corners of the roofs. Somewhere a low voice is chanting. The smell of incense and candle wax hangs in the warm air. For a moment, the centuries seem to fold together.

Before you go, look once more at the Viharn Lai Kham. Hold in your mind the calm golden Buddha within, and the painted world that surrounds it on every wall. In this one small building, faith and daily life were set down side by side, and kept for all the years that followed.