Wat Phra Boromathat Doi Suthep Chiang Mai

Base Of Wat Phra Boromathat Chedi

• Wat Phra Boromathat Doi Suthep on Doi Suthep National Park is 900 metres high up on the sacred mountain top of Doi Suthep with views overlooking the Ping River valley and National Park. This very popular and revered temple is well worth a visit.
• The founding of this wat is based on a Buddhist legend. In 1371 an elephant carrying the other half of the holy relic from the Wat Suan Dok (see above) proceeded to climb Doi Suthep. After three days it stopped on a flat piece of the mountain and died. This was considered an auspicious place to house the relic, so a seven metre high chedi was constructed to house the relic.
• Access to the temple was a long steep walk up the mountain, then another 200 steps up the staircase lined with naga. However in 1935 a mountain road was built by volunteers under the supervision of Khru Ba Srivichai, the most revered Lan Na monk of the 20th century.

Traditional Lan na Style Nagas On Entrance To Wat Doi Suthep

• On the lower terrace of the chedi, a statue stands in honour of the founding elephant. Another statue of the hermit Wasuthep stands draped in a tiger skin, in a niche. He was living on the mountain when the wat was founded and gave his name to it.
• There are also bells and gongs for the devotees to sound.
• Enormous Burmese style parasols stand on the four corners of the chedi.
• The inner sanctuary houses the magnificent gold plated chedi, which was augmented to its present size of 16 metres high by 12 metres diameter between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century.  It is surrounded by red and gold railings enclosing a walkway for devotees to perform the ritual of circumambulation.
• The corridors of the marbled courtyard contain Buddha images and murals of the life of Buddha. On either side of the chedi, east and west, are two viharns. Devotees receive blessings in the western viharn and use the shrines on the south and north side for prayer and to make merit.