Phra That Na Dun

Terrain

General Condition

Location of Phra That Na Dun It is an alternating undulating plain. no river flows There are few mixed deciduous forests left.

Conditions in the past look like a grove that is abundant with many kinds of wildlife. It has a fertile location. suitable for agriculture able to settle by relying on the Dune swamp as a source of consumption At present, the Doon swamp is north of Ban Nam Dun. Therefore, it is called Ban Nong Doon or Ban Na Dun)

Height above mean sea level

Waterway

Siew River, Huai Loeng, Huai Wang Ka Hung, Huai Kut Khae Nak, Lam Haed, Mun River, Chi River

Geological conditions

Location of Phra That Na Dun It is an alternating undulating plain. no river flows There are some mixed deciduous forests left. Most of the soil characteristics are sandy soil. In the dry season, no water can be stored. Some places have saline soils, which are abundant in the east and south.

The terrain is clay rock. in the Maha Sarakham Stone category Korat Stone Group

Archaeological Era

era/culture

Archaeological age

Types of archaeological sites

archaeological essence

Phra That Na Dun is located in Kok Dong Keng area. The area of ​​the khok is approximately 902 rai. Phra That Na Dun style is a chedi on a square base. The bottom floor is the royal courtyard. There were 40 high relief sculptures carrying devils around, the other two bases being high bases in the lift layout. At the center of the four sides are pierced arches enshrining a standing Buddha image. The walls are decorated with images of amulets unearthed in this area. The upper part of the second and third tiers is decorated with a corner pagoda. Next up is a large bell. The top is a lotus flower, a part, and a leaf, a form of Phra That Na Dun. Modeled from a bronze stupa containing the Buddha's relics. and has a form of base applied from religious places in the Dvaravati period Phra That Na Dun is 35.7 meters wide and 50.5 meters high.

Phra That Na Dun was built in the year 1985-1986 by the Fine Arts Department and the government at that time to contain the Buddha's relics obtained from a small bronze chedi (Currently exhibited in the Khon Kaen National Museum) found in the land of Mr. Thongdee Pawaputa, about 2 kilometers northeast of the Buddha image.

For reasons not to build the Na Dun relics on the excavated site Because the land that was excavated was a small area of ​​land where people had to buy more soil and fill it up again. As for the place where Phra That Na Dun is enshrined, it is a high hill, spacious and able to expand many buildings (Weerapong Singbancha and others 1996 :73)

The creation of Phra That Na Dun originated from On May 22, 1979, a group of people excavated a clay amulet in the field of Mr. Thongdee Pawabhuta, a villager in Ban Na Dun. received a large number of different prints News of the excavation of the terracotta amulets has spread. causing a lot of people who know the news to come and excavate And the Fine Arts Unit 7, Khon Kaen has come to excavate the ancient monuments in the area where the amulet was found to maintain the original condition of the ancient site. But because a large number of people have competed for the print. Officials had to stop the operation and let the people continue to dig for the printing. Until June 8, 1979, a stupa containing the Buddha's relics was excavated. and brought it to Na Dun District The government recognizes the importance of ancient sites. These antiquities have therefore proceeded to build Phra That Na Dun to contain the Buddha's relics (Weerapong Singbancha and others 1996 :26)

The nature of Mr. Thongdee Pawabhuta's land is a mound with a stream of Na Dun Creek, 200 meters away, flowing to the east. The mound is oval, about 10 meters wide, about 14 meters long, about 1.15 meters high from the original ground level. The soil surface is black soil similar to a charcoal kiln. There is a canal enclosed on all four sides. The archaeological site found after excavation consists of a square laterite base. The length is 6 meters on each side. There are laterite stacked in 5 layers, about 90 centimeters high. There are large bricks mixed in.

Ancient artifacts that were unearthed were clay prints, approximately 1,000 pieces and 18,257 pieces of broken prints, bronze stupas, gold leaf fragments, clay molds. The inscription on the back of the terracotta amulet It is an inscription that uses the ancient Khmer script (Pallava) and the ancient Mon, the same type that is used to inscribe the Yethmma spell. The designs found in the Dvaravati period archaeological sites in the central region (Weerapong Singbancha and others 1996 :60-61). and shows the influence from the central Dvaravati culture which spread to the northeastern region along with Theravada Buddhism. However, some characteristics still show its relevance to India. as well as the Khmer culture in the pre-Phra Nakhon and Phra Nakhon The amulet was created in Theravada Buddhism. At the same time, there are also traces of the ideas of Mahayana Buddhism (Mayuree Weeraprasert 1987:96).

At the location of Phra That Na Dun It is the location of a large ancient community called Nakhon Champasri, a community that flourished around the 13th-15th Buddhist centuries, contemporary with Dvaravati culture. There is an oval city plan. position in the north-south orientation surrounded by ditches There is a ditch in the middle of the city. But now the ditches inside and outside the city intermittently missing turned into a small swamp Found archaeological sites both inside the city and outside the city of 25 bodies and found important artifacts. Dvaravati-style bronze stupa containing the Buddha's relics and many other antiques, including fragments of various shapes of pottery medicine grinding tool Buddha images and clay tablets Some amulets are inscribed with Pallava characters in the ancient Mon language. It is also found that there has been a continuous development in the Khmer culture period. During the 18th Buddhist century, as appeared in Ku Santarat archaeological site and antiques in the category of sculptures, idols and inscriptions (Department of Fine Arts 1991 :79)