Four decades had passed since the city wall was discovered in a hidden chamber at Tha Phae Gate.
3 November 2023 at 17:39 PUBLISHED
CHIANG MAI: The Fine Arts Department has rediscovered an inscribed capital foundation at the Tha Phae Gate that had been hidden for more than 40 times.
The location of the inscribed stone had generated a lot of common attention, according to the department’s 7th Regional Office, which posted this week on its Facebook page.
Although it had not been seen in nearly four centuries, some people thought the monument had been kept in the Chiang Mai National Museum.
But, on Wednesday, departmental staff led by Therdsak Yenjura, the historical conservation unit’s producer, searched a place tucked away inside the Tha Phae Gate and discovered the relevant inscribed wall.
Representatives from the Lanna Inscriptions Database, the Chiang Mai University’s faculty of architecture and great art, as well as regional academics, all testified to the discovery.
The inscription’s primary purpose as a Chiang Mai city pillar shrine is indicated by scholars’ names like” Tha Phae Gate Inscription” or” Inthakhin Pillar Incscription.”
According to media reports, since the state’s founding, the monument has been interred alongside the Chiang Mai town pillar. The town column was being renovated from 1986 to 1987, so the monument had been taken down. Since then, the dedication has been hidden from view.
The Tha Phae Gate Inscription, according to the late epigrapher Prasert Na Nagara, shows a board of conventional numbers and numerology charts that were all written in picture writing in the Lanna Dhamma storyline.
The blessings bestowed on the area are described in the language of the reflected text. Indra, the Hindu deity, and khla, which means interest or post, combine to form the term Inthakhin. The dedication, according to Prof. Prasert, was a part of the Chiang Mai town pillar.
The writings had been difficult to decipher before the examination, but Chiang Mai Rajabhat University professor Ranu Wichasin discovered in 1986 that they were all written in reflection writing.
If and when the recently rediscovered monument will be on display to the government is not yet known.