Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

3031 sites15 countries4 traditions30 centuries
Early medieval · Buddhist · Thailand

Wat Phra That Phanom

That Phanom, Nakhon Phanom · 16.9434°, 104.7260°

Buddha (Phra Uranghathat, the breast-bone relic)MonLao stupa form with Dvaravati, Khmer and Cham elements
Sacred since
600 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
7th–8th c. earliest structure; later rebuilt
Mon

History & significance

The chief Buddhist stupa of northeastern Thailand, standing near the Mekong in That Phanom district and enshrining what tradition holds to be the Buddha's breast bone; archaeology dates the earliest structure on the site to the 7th or 8th century, and the pagoda has been restored in modern times with royal Thai patronage.

Sthala katha — the traditional account

What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.

The That Phanom Chronicle says the Buddha asked Mahakasyapa to carry his breast-bone relic to Phu Kamphra after his death, and that the disciple with five hundred arhats raised the stupa over it there.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Mon