The legend of Phra Boromma That Nakhon Sri Thammarat or the legend of the Buddha’s Relics of Nakhon Sri Thammarat is very important folk literature of the people of Nakhon Sri Thammarat and the southern Thai people. It is also known in various names such as “Tamnan Phra That Mueang Nakhon Sri Thammarat”, “Tamnan Phra Boromma That Mueang Nakhon”, “Tamnan Phra Boromma That Mueang Nakhon Chabap Klon Suat”, “Phra Nipphan Sot”, and “Phra Nipphan Sut”, for example. The version known as Phra Nipphan Sot or Phra Nipphan Sut, in particular, is very popular, with many different sub-versions, and is found in almost all provinces in southern Thailand. It is also related to the “Tamnan Mueang Nakhon Sri Thammarat” (the legend of the city of Nakhon Sri Thammarat).
p001Although each version of the Tamnan Phra Boromma That Nakhon Sri Thammarat offers different details and kinds of completeness, all of them share the same theme. They are historical records of the spread of Buddhism from India and Sri Lanka to southern Thailand, the center of which is in Nakhon Sri Thammarat. The legend records the development of Nakhon Sri Thammarat province where, buried under the Sai Kaeo Beach, the Buddha’s relics remain the center of faith.
The legend, as a text contributing to the maintenance of the Chedi (stupa) that contains the Buddha’s relics at Nakhon Sri Thammarat, has generated a constructive force that provides the province prosperity in religious as well as worldly affairs for several centuries to this day.