Friday, August 6, 2010

legend in asia

The Legend of Cham Thewi
Once upon a time, Suthewa, a hermit of Burapha Nakhon, inadvertently found a baby girl borne by a lotus flower. He took care of the baby until she grew up to be a maiden. The hermit was worried that the people would think that she was his wife. He then placed her on a bamboo raft floating along the Raming River. Fortunately the King of Lavo discovered her. He took care of her and brought her up as foster – daughter. Upon maturity, she was wedded to the King’s son, Prince Kamphotcha.
In the meantime, Burapha Nakhon was stricken by calamity because the King had failed to fulfill the ten virtues of any incumbent king. In fact, the guardian deity was angry, inspiring flood and inundation that resulted in the death of large numbers of people and animals. In response to this, Suthewa, the hermit, invited another hermit, Sukthanta, to found a new city named Hariphunchai (now known as Lamphun Province) and requested the King of Lavo to appoint Princess Cham Thewi to the new throne of Hariphunchai. Cham Thewi was very pleased and agreed to take the crown, especially since she could meet Suthewa again. Prince Kamphotcha refused to come with her, saying that Suthewa wanted to meet her alone. On her way to Hariphunchai the procession passed along the Raming River and many places were named in honour of Cham Thewi, who had passed the waterway before. Those names have survived to this day, for instance, “Ban Tak” is believed to be the place where Princess, Cham Thewi driedher clothes after taking a bath and “Sam Ngao District” is the place where the Princess while pregnant, stayed by the river and when the sun shone on the Princess, it cast shadows of three persons.

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