|
 Located
north of Thalang and about 20 km from Phuket Town, Wat Phra Thong is the oldest temple on the island and was created when
Thalang was still Phuket's capital.
This shrine encloses a golden statue of Buddha that sprang
up from beneath the earth long ago. The story is of a young
boy who tied his buffalo to what he thought was a post It
was in an area at that time given over to the raising of animals.
After doing so, he fell down in agony and died.
The father of the boy dreamed that the reason his son had
died was for he sin of tying a filthy buffalo to a sacred
object, that what the boy thought was a post was in reality
the golden peak of the Buddha's conical cap.
He told his neighbors the dream and they all went out to
dig up the statue but had no success. Later, at the time of
Thao Thep Kasatri's heroic defense against the Burmese in
1785, the invaders tried to succeed where the villagers had
failed their intention was to take the statue back to Burma.
Sacred objects and slaves were then the most sought after
spoil for armies. Holy statues brought good luck to their
possessors and the slaves were used for work and to populate
places that lacked inhabitants a frequent problem for rulers
in Southeast Asia who had a great deal of land but very few
subjects.
The Burmese, however, were unable to retrieve the golden
Buddha despite several attempts. They were finally driven
off by a swarm of angry hornets.
After this the villagers decided to protect their miraculous
statue by covering the part that stuck up from the ground
with a plaster cast of Buddha's head and shoulders' which
is the way it is today. Located north of the traffic light
on the outskirts of Thalang Town. A large sign shows the entrance.
How to get there: Wat Pratong is Located north of
the traffic light on the outskirts of Thalang town. A large
sign shows the entrance. 2 min form traffic light Wat Pratong
is on the right. |
