Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao (วัดพระแก้วดอนเต้า), i.e. the ‘Temple of the Jeweled
Buddha on the highland of palm fruits’, is the name of a temple in Lampang that
was commissioned by King Anantayot and where between 1436 and 1468 the Emerald
Buddha was housed. Legend tells that a senior monk of the temple one day found
an emerald stone in a watermelon that he consequently carved into a precious
Buddha image. Since a watermelon in northern Thai dialect is called ‘mahk tao’,
it became the etymological origin of the temple's name. The temple's
architecture is a mixture of styles and influences from Haripunchai, Burma and
modern Thailand, with images and art in Mandalay and Lan Na styles, among others.
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