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In
1424 A.D. King Intharachathirat passed away. His two sons,
Chao Aye Phraya who reigned over Suphanburi, and Chao Yi Phraya
who reigned over Sanburi, met in battle as each desired the
throne. This took place at the approach to the Pa-Than bridge
and ended with the death of both sons. A third son, Chao Sam
Phraya came down from Phitsanulok and acceded to the throne
where upon he declared his intention to organize a funeral
for his father and his two brothers. Afterwards he ordered
the building of a wat, namely Wat Ratchaburana, at the site
of the cremation and at the place where his brothers fought
and died he had two chedis created in which to keep their
ashes.
In
September of 1957 A.D. looter dug into a two-level crypt inside
the main prang (Khmer type tower) and stole a great quantity
of valuable material. Police arrested some of these looters.
The Fine Arts Department proceeded to excavate the site and
found Buddha images and many artifacts made of gold. Among
these were a large number of votive tablets made of gold and
lead. In 1958 A.D. the Fine Arts Department built a stairway
so that one could go down into the crypt and look at the mural
paintings which were also found there. Since the Buddha images
and votive tablets discovered in the crypt were very numerous,
the ministers of the goverment approved giving some of them
to people who had contributed to the building of the Chao
Sam Phraya Nation Museum, much of the collection in which
was found at Wat Ratchaburana.
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