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Wat Chedi Kiri Wihan

Wat Chedi Kiri Wihan

WatChediKhiriWihan was formerly called Wat Pa Kaew, built in 976 during the reign of Chao Fa Ham Kuman of MueangLablae. Having a strong faith in Buddhism, he decided to build a Chedi to promote the Buddhism. He went to see Phra Chao Ruengthaithirat, the King of Yonoknakhon, in order to ask him for Buddha’s relics from Phra That Doi Tung in Chiang Rai province. The Buddha’s relics from Doi Tung was then enshrined in the Chedi of Wat Pa Kaew which is the first Chedi in Lablae district that has Buddha’s relics. It is said that the blaze will be seen over the Chedi in every Buddhist holy day.Later, WatPakaew was abandoned and the chedi was broken as the time went by. In 1910, SomdetPhramahasamanachaoKromphrayaWachirayanWarorot, visited Northern provinces and stayed at WatThungIang near Wat Pa kaew. He saw the old chedi in Wat Pa Kaew, so he asked PhraKhruThammathitiwongKhiriKhet, the abbot of WatThungIang at that time, about this old chedi. The abbot told him that the temple he asked about had been abandoned for a long time and was called Wat Pa Kaew. SomdetPhramahasamanachaoKromphrayaWachirayanWarorot suggested the abbot renovate the temple and move to stay there because he thought that the temple was in a good location and must be an important temple in the old times as it had a chedi. The temple was later named WatChediKhiriWihan.After that, the abbot and his companions renovated the temple and the chedi in 1911. The chedi is Lanna-Thai Lue style with 4 small chedis on each side. It has 10 meters diameter and 26 meters length. During the renovation of the old ubosot, they found a stone plate which was later sent to be kept in the national museum. They also built a sermon hall for the temple. On December, 20, 1978, SomdetPhraAriyaWongsakhottayan, the Buddhist Supreme Patriarch at that time, went to stay at this temple. Therefore, the temple built a residence for him and named it “Tamnak Khirirom”.