The story of the statue’s past has been passed down for generations, now transforming into a folk tale for the district’s residents.
The story first began when a severe storm hit the district many years ago.
After the storm had passed, the son of a local farmer emerged from shelter along with his buffalo.
Looking around, he saw the damage to the area was extensive. Rice paddies were flooded, trees had fallen, and everywhere was covered in mud and water.
Carefully walking around, the boy began searching for the stick he used to tie up his buffalo, to prevent it from running away.
As he wandered the area, he gave up his search, and instead began looking for something to replace the stick with. His head turned to what looked like a stick protruding from the ground near a small canal. Its base was as big as a tree stump, and it was covered in mud. The boy tied the buffalo to the stick before returning home.
When he arrived home, he suddenly died.
The boy’s father, a farmer, suspecting something was amiss, went back to the site where his son’s buffalo was tied up. The buffalo had died as well.
Looking at the stick made him fearful, so he left and that night had a strange dream. In the dream, an unidentifiable person said to him: “Your son died because he tied his buffalo to the stick.”
The next day the farmer returned to the site with his neighbour and they began digging the mud that covered the base of the “stick”. They found half a golden Buddha statue, and discovered the “stick” the boy believed he had found was actually part of the Buddha’s head. The farmer soon realised that his son died because he disrespected the Buddha statue by tying the beast to it.
But this is not the end of the tales relating to the well-known Buddha statue.
After the discovery of the statue, many villagers came to visit the site to pay their respects. They assumed that the other half of the statue was below the ground, so they started digging. But no matter how hard they dug up the dirt, there was always something in the way. Ants and hornets regularly arose from the ground to attack those who were digging.
After several attacks, the villagers left the statue half buried in the ground.
They called it Pra-Pud, which means ‘sprouting Buddha statue’, and built a shelter to protect it.
Pra-Pud is now one of the most famous statues in Phuket, and many people stop at Thalang district to pay their respects to it. But its history will always be remembered by those who live in the area.