Wat Phra Buddhabat, Saraburi, Central Thailand

The Buddha's Footprint is found at Wat Phra Buddhabat in Saraburi Province, 20 kms. from the town of Lop Buri on the Saraburi - Lopburi route. It is a very important shrine for Buddhist people, for the Footprint appears on a natural rock surface while the Buddha's footprints commonly found in many temples are imitations executed in various materials ranging from wood to metal. Wat Phra Buddhabat is a royal temple of the first class rank, the same as Wat Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhon Pathom province.

The Footprint was first discovered in the reign of King Song Tham (1610 - 1628). A group of monks went on a pilgrimage to Ceylon to worship the Buddha's Footprint at Mount Sumanakut. They were told by the Ceylonese monks that one of the Lord Buddha's Footprint might be found in Thailand. On hearing this, the king ordered his officials in all parts of the kingdom to look for it for the location of the Footprint had not been identified.
Meantime, in a distant area of Saraburi, a hunter while trailing a wounded deer to this hilly part found a large, curiously shaped hollow in a rock with water in the hollow. The shape of the hollow resembles the footprint of a very large man. The hunter therefore reported his finding to the town governor who, having verified it, sent word to the capital. King Song Tham came himself to examine it and saw the appropriate signs of a Buddha's Footprint. Thus the site was declared a Buddhist shrine and a mondop was built over the Footprint while the land around the Footprint was made into a town named "Parantapa" or "Muang Khied Khin". The hill on which the Footprint was found was renamed Mount Suwan Banphot or Mount Satjaphan Khiri.

The Buddha's Footprint is a natural impression in limestone rock that resembles a very large footprint. It is 50 cms. wide, 150 cms. long and 30 cms. deep. The present mondop covering the Footprint was built by King Rama I. It was built to replace the one of the Ayutthaya time that was destroyed by fire when some Chinese brigands, seizing the opportunity while Ayutthaya was under siege to rob the temple of valuable objects, set fire to the mondop in order to melt down the gold in the canopy over the Footprint.