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Phra KhunPhaen is very famous among Thai males as it is
believed that the amulet brings not only good luck and protection but also
tremendous charm for the wearer. Ladies would unconditionally
be infatuated by the wearer. Wives would forbid their husband of wearing
it. Nevertheless, the figure of Phra Khunphaen is no other than
Buddha himself. It is named after a charismatic hero who
lived in the 16th century. He was intelligent, handsome and has never
been defeated either in
battles or love affairs - KhunPhaen, is just another name of this peculiar piece of amulet. Antique Phra KhunPhaen are mainly from three temples at two different
places, Wat Bankrang
and Wat PhraRoop at Suphanburi and Wat Yaichaimonkoon at Ayuthaya.
They were made almost during the same period. Their differences are:
1. Wat BanKrang - in few shapes, but are mainly in triangular
shape, octagon shape and leaf shape. They also come in two
different sizes --- single and twin.
2. Wat PhraRoop - in oval shape
3. Wat YaichaiMonkoon - mainly in octagon shape with thin
layer of glaze over it.
Recent research shows evidence that Phra KhunPhaen of Wat
Bankrang and Wat Yai were specially made to commemorate the victorious war
against the invasion of Burmese army by King Naresuan during late
16th century.
In late 1940's , PhraKru Apassilakhun was the abbot of Wat Bankrang.
He had noticed since he was a kid that there were no more antique Phra
KhunPhaen remaining in the old Chedi. He realised that this was a
great loss to the Thai people and he decided to remake Phra KhunPhaen.
During that time, antique Phra KhunPhaen had brought some miracles to the
wearer and became very popular. But it was almost impossible to find one
genuine piece and the owner would not even sell it for a cow. Some locals
decided to make their own. Hence at that time, Phra KhunPhaen not made by
Wat Bankrang were available. Upon seeing this, Phra Kru
Apassilakhun was more determined to remake an even better Phra KhunPhaen.
He gathered all the old fragment pieces that he had collected since
young and relics from other temples. He mixed these with many sacred powders, soil
from different holy land and other special ingredients. With all
these elements, the new Phra KhunPhaen was made. After the making, he invited many top monks of that time and conducted 2
great consecration rites before placing them back to the same Chedi
where the old pieces were found. These great amulets were named
Rhun JongAnser - King Cobra Batch. It was not until 1968, when Thai
army was sent to fight in Vietnam that 4,000 pieces were then first taken
out from the Chedi to be given to these soldiers. The morale rose
high. Soldiers who wore it found that Phra KhunPhaen were very helpful
and they started to demand for more. Since then the Chedi was
reopened few more times and Phra KhunPhaen Wat BanKrang became very popular, fakes
also started to flood the market.
There are only 3 legitimate Singapore disciples of late Phra Kru
Apassilakhun Wat BanKrang. Namely Mr. Tony Yeo
who is the proud owner of the Phra KhunPhaen pim SongPhunyai shown above,
that was given to him when he was ordained as a monk there,
Mr. Quek Lee Eng, another successful businessman and lastly author
myself.
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