Ban Laemphrathat is a village (muban

Muban

Muban is the lowest administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as village, they are the subdivision of tambon. As of 2008, there are 74944 administrative villages in Thailand. As of the 1990 census, the average village consisted of 144 households or 746 persons.A muban does not...

) in the Nakhon Pa Mak

Nakhon Pa Mak

Nakhon Pa Mak is a rural subdistrict in the Bang Krathum district of Phitsanulok Province, Thailand.-Etymology:The first element nakhon means town or city. The second element pa means forest. The third element mak means betel palm...

 subdistrict of Amphoe Bang Krathum

Amphoe Bang Krathum

-Etymology:The first element bang means village or settlement. The second element krathum means bur-flower tree .-Geography:...

 District of Phitsanulok Province

Phitsanulok Province

Phitsanulok is a provinces of Thailand, located in the north. Neighboring provinces are Loei, Phetchabun, Phichit, Kamphaeng Phet, Sukhothai, Uttaradit. In the north-east it also has a short border with Xaignabouli of Laos....

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

.

Etymology

This village takes the name from its temple Wat Laemphrathat (Thai: วัดแหลมพระธาตุ). The first element wat (Thai: วัด) means temple. The second element laem (Thai: แหลม) means sharp or pointy. The third element phra (Thai: พระ) means monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

 or image of Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

. The Fourth element that (Thai: ธาตุ) means essence. As a whole, the temple's name loosely translates to Temple of the Sharp Buddha Relic, and accordingly the name of the town village means Village of the Sharp Buddha Relic.

Wat Laemphrathat

This Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 Buddhist temple is said to enshrine a relic

Relic

In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...

of the Buddha. It is also the location of one of Nakhon Pa Mak's four elementary schools, Wat Laemphrathat School.

External links

• Wat Laemphrathat on WebWat.net (Thai)