Paper short abstract:

A Lanna story of the origin of the 'Emerald Buddha' of Lampang highlights issues around the role of women in the life of Buddhist monasteries and in monastic depictions of history. Ultimately, it draws attention to the Buddha image as being both the Buddha and an object crafted out of materials.

Paper long abstract:

The Emerald Buddha image, enshrined in Bangkok, is renowned as Thailand's palladium. However, there is another 'Emerald Buddha,' in Lampang, northern Thailand, which some assert is the original Emerald Buddha and the Bangkok image a copy. While the Bangkok statue is said to have been created by Nāgasena, the monk who famously parried Milinda's questions in ancient India, the Lampang statue originated locally. According to monastic manuscripts, a laywoman named Suchada (Pali: Sujātā) found a beautiful melon which she donated to a monk. Inside the melon was a large emerald. The god Indra carved the emerald into a Buddha statue. Crowds streamed to venerate it. However, events turned badly, and Suchada was wrongfully executed. Suchada has been honored with an early-19th-century monastery named for her and two contemporary statues erected at Wat Phra Kaeo Don Tao. She is an unusual example of a Thai laywoman who has become an object of monastic veneration. Her story provides an interesting comparison to other monastic manuscripts which recount idealized lineages of sponsors of powerful statues. Suchada's story suggests the effects of gender values in that idealization. It also raises questions about the parameters of the roles of laywomen, who have been key supporters of monastic life even as women have often been seen as obstacles to monastic development. The story also draws attention to the Buddha image as being both the Buddha and an object crafted out of physical materials by human agency.