Keua Nah (กือนา)

Name of the eight king of the Mengrai Dynasty ruling the ninth reign of the northern kingdom of Lan Na from 1355 to 1385. He reigned in a time of relative and long-lasting peace, of which he knew to make productive use. He brought on the Golden Age of Lan Na in 1367 and introduced the Sinhalese Langka Wong Order in Buddhism, which was considered a purer and a more egalitarian form than the previously introduced varieties from Haripunchai, Pegu and Ava. So he invited, inter alia, around 8,400 monks of an ancient sect from the time of Queen Chamadevi (fig.) to be ordained after the Langka Wong Creed. In 1369, he invited the Ceylonese monk Sumanathera to come to Chiang Mai with a relic of the Buddha, for which the king initially had Wat Suan Dok (fig.) built, yet, after the relic had miraculously doubled, another temple, i.e. Wat Doi Suthep was built and the original relic (map - fig.) was placed in the chedi thereof (fig.). King Keua Nah died in 1385 and was succeeded by his son Saen Meuang Ma (แสนเมืองมา), whose name means ‘One Hundred Thousand (or Many) Countries Came’ and refers to the fact that on the occasion of his birth many local rulers came to pay tribute to the King of Lan Na. Keua Nah's full name and title is Phaya Keua Nah Thammi Kraht Chao (พญากือนา ธรรมิกราชเจ้า). See also list of Thai kings. 回