Ku Chang Ku Ma, Lamphun
Two brick stupas said to hold the remains of Queen Chamthewi's war elephant and horse.
Ku Chang Ku Ma, Lamphun
Ku Chang Ku Ma - the elephant stupa and the horse stupa - stand on the northern edge of Lamphun and are among the oddest monuments in the north. Local tradition holds that the larger, bell-shaped brick ku contains the remains of Queen Chamthewi's war elephant, and the smaller one beside it those of her horse.
The elephant stupa is the more substantial: a rounded brick mass on a square base, weathered and partly restored, standing in a compound with a small shrine. It is treated as a working place of veneration rather than an archaeological site - offerings are left, and the elephant is credited with protective power.
The monuments are unattended and free to visit, a short distance from Wat Phra That Hariphunchai in the middle of town.
- Wat Chamthewi, Lamphun — Two stepped brick chedis of the Mon period, one holding sixty standing Buddhas in tiered niches.
- Wat Phra That Hariphunchai, Lamphun — The royal temple of the Mon kingdom of Hariphunchai, and the model for northern Thai chedis.
