Wat Prathong or Wat Phra Thong (Buried Golden Buddha Temple) (วัดพระทอง) (Thep Krasattri Municipality)

 temple, buddhist temple

From a historical marker at Wat Phra Thong:
This temple is known among the villagers as Wat Phra Phut or Wat Phra Lo, where approximately one cubit of Ketumala, the finial, of a golden Buddha's head, was told to have emerged from the ground. According to legend, this area used to be a pasture. One morning, a boy took his buffalo to graze here and tied it to the image's final, unaware of what it really was. The boy returned home, fell sick and died; so did his buffalo. At night the boy's father learned from him to dig out the image. Amazingly, the ones who were digging, but not the viewers, were stung by a swarm of hornets from the dug up earth. The ruler of Thalang learned of this miraculous incident and had a shelter built to cover the golden finial. Several years later, a white-clad ascetic or Chipakhao came to stop at Thalang. For fear that the golden finial would be cut and stolen, the ascetic and villagers prepared a cement mixture out of burnt shells and sand to cover the Buddha's head.
In the reign of King Rama I, southern Thailand was invaded by Burmese troops and Thalang was seized. the Burmese soldiers tried to dig out the image, wishing to take it back to their country. They were bitten by a swarm of tiny ants from the dug out earth. Hundreds of them fell sick and died while the reset set fire to the ants and continued digging as deep as the neck of the image. Fortunately, the ruler of Nakhon Si Thammarat led his army to successfully liberate the city. After that, a monk from Sukhothai came to stop at Thalang and persuaded the villagers to build a temple here to include a Kuti - the monks residence, Wihan - an image hall and Phra Ubosot - the ordination hall, with Phra Phut being the principal image. The Buddha's head was covered with a new image for religious performances.