Phra That Kham Kaen Temple (Chetiyabhumi Temple)

Phra That Kham Kaen is one of the sacred places of the city with a long history, along with Khon Kaen Province. It can be said that if you don't come here, it's like you haven't even been here. Importantly, it is also in the provincial emblem and motto. Just this alone confirms how important this place is to this province. Phra That Kham Kaen was originally called "Phra That Ban Kham" and is located in Wat Ban Kham. There are two main legends about the establishment of Wat Ban Kham, as follows: Legend 1 says that when Phra That Phanom was being built, Phraya Lang Khiao or Moriya Kasat, the ruler of Mori (in present-day Cambodia), traveled with 9 arhats in order to enshrine Phra Angkhan That in Phra That Phanom. Along the way, they stopped overnight at Don Makham, which is the current location of the temple. They placed Phra Angkhan That on a large, dead tamarind stump, leaving only the core of a tree. The next morning, they continued their journey to the place where Phra That Phanom was built, but it turned out that Phra That Phanom had already been completed. Phraya Lang Khiao wanted to bring Phra Angkhanthat back to the city as before, but when he returned along the same route, he found that the tamarind stump where Phra Angkhanthat had been placed had grown and sprouted new branches until it was green and lush. So he built a chedi to cover the tamarind tree and enshrined Phra Angkhanthat inside, giving it the name Phra That Kham Kaen. He also built a temple as a place for the nine Arahants to stay and built houses and settle in the area. Later, the nine Arahants passed away. The townspeople took their relics and enshrined them in a small chedi, which was located to the east of the current Ubosot. Later, the people called the large chedi the Nine Great Relics, while the smaller chedi was called the Eight Relics. Legend 2: Originally, this place was a deserted area. Later, when villagers began to clear the land and claim land for farming and living, the villagers found a dead tamarind stump with only the core remaining. However, it later appeared that the core of the tamarind tree had sprout leaves and flowers, which looked strange. And found that if anyone went to do something that was insulting or disrespecting the tamarind tree stump, that person would be in trouble. The villagers therefore respected and worshipped it and joined together to build a pagoda to cover the tamarind tree stump, along with enshrining the 9 teachings of the Lord Buddha in it. Therefore, the pagoda that was built was called the Nine Buddhas or the Ban Kham pagoda. Later, it became Phra That Kham Kaen and the temple's name was changed to Wat Chetiyabhumi in the year 1955. Currently, Phra That Kham Kaen has been renovated by the Fine Arts Department and the scenery has been improved until it is beautiful, making the journey to pay homage to the pagoda much more convenient than before. There are also Buddha images of each day of birth at various points for people to go and pay homage to. Address: Wat Chetiyabhumi, Ban Kham, Village No. 1, Ban Kham Subdistrict, Nam Phong District, Khon Kaen Province #VisitKhonKaen #mind_madge #DriveAwayIfTiredThenTakeABreak #thailand #thailand #waitingforthedaytodepart #NortheastTeam