Phra Borommathat Na Dun

The site lies near the ancient city of Nakhon Champasri. Wirot Chiwasukthaworn of Mahasarakham University describes a rounded rectangle about 1,500 m wide and 2,700 m long, with two earthen ramparts and a moat about 20 m wide between them. It grew in the Dvaravati culture of roughly the 7th–11th centuries AD; its moats were first dug to store water for farming, Buddhist shrines such as San Nang Khao stood inside, and a relic stupa stood outside the walls.

In roughly the 11th–13th centuries AD the city took on Khmer influence: the moats were extended east and west into a rectangle, and Ku Noi, a Hindu shrine, an eastern baray and the Nong Ei Lai pond were built. Ku Santarat is one of the 102 hospital chapels built under King Jayavarman VII. The city declined after the 13th century and was abandoned. The Nakhon Champasri museum in Na Dun displays Avalokiteshvara sculptures from Ku Santarat, pottery and bronze tools.

Ku Santarat is a key example of a hospital chapel. Wirot Chiwasukthaworn's 2013 study explains that its main sanctuary held three images, Bhaisajyaguru flanked by Surya-Vairocana and Candra-Vairocana, in Mahayana belief. A platform in front likely carried a wooden ritual pavilion, a library housed lesser deities, and the single eastern gopura held a standing four-armed Avalokiteshvara. He concludes the chapel served healing of the mind through prayer, while physical treatment took place in wooden buildings outside the enclosure wall.

The stupa's story began on 22 May 1979. Silpa Watthanatham says the find was in the rice field of Thongdi Pawaphuta, about 2 km from Ku Santarat and Nakhon Champasri. Eleven villagers began digging; then Fine Arts Unit 7 of Khon Kaen found the bronze spire, Bunchan Ketsaensi, a caretaker at the Na Dun land office, found the stupa body, and Thirayut Phlising of Ban Hua Sok found the gold lotus-petal base. Many terracotta votive tablets, known as "Phra Kru Na Dun", were found too. Naewna reports the brick floor and stupa lay about 6 m down.

Khaosod says the relics look like milky-white flakes, kept in three nested caskets of gold, silver and bronze inside a 24.4 cm miniature stupa. Jeerawan Sangpetch (Damrong Journal, 2010) notes the Na Dun relic chamber sits near the stupa's core, following Indian and Sri Lankan practice, with reliquary forms probably arriving via the Pyu of Myanmar. Some Na Dun votive tablets bear Mon and Khmer script on the back.

The find led to a dispute. Silpa Watthanatham says governor Wutthinan Phong-araya wanted to assemble the stupa and hold a celebration in front of the provincial hall, but Na Dun people distrusted officials, since ancient Buddha images taken from Ku Santarat had never been returned. On 15 July 1979 villagers set the stupa in front of the district office in protest; deputy governor Santi Manikan failed to negotiate, and the plan to take it to town was dropped that afternoon. Eight teachers were later investigated and four reprimanded, and on 26–27 August 50 villagers petitioned Prime Minister General Kriangsak Chomanan to build a chedi in Na Dun.

General Prem Tinsulanonda's government approved 7,580,000 baht; the Fine Arts Department designed the stupa and Siwakorn Ltd. Part. built it. Work began on 12 September 1985, with Prem laying the foundation stone, and finished in 1987, according to Silpa Watthanatham; Love Thailand gives the construction period as 1982–1986.

On 12 November 1987 His Majesty the King, then Crown Prince, presided on behalf of King Bhumibol over the enshrinement of the relics in the stupa, and the cabinet designated the site the Buddhist Park of Isan.

Today the grounds include an arboretum, herb garden, pavilions and ceremonial grounds. The Bangkok Post says the annual festival is held around Makha Bucha, when worshippers walk three times around the stupa with candles, alongside Isan singers and community stalls. Naewna mentions a local belief in directional offerings, such as the north for career and the east for health.

Local Buddhists still centre their rituals on the stupa. Khaosod (2017) reports meditation retreats four times a year, on Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha, Asalha Bucha and the start of Lent; in January 2017 a retreat and amulet consecration ran from 20 to 22 January with about 800 people, ahead of the stupa festival on 4–12 February.

Na Dun's antiquities once made headlines. MGR Online reported that on the night of 4–5 December 2009, 91 objects were stolen from Khon Kaen National Museum, including 55 terracotta votive tablets and 2 gold sheets from the Phra That Na Dun hoard, along with tablets from Fa Daet Song Yang and Dvaravati bronze Buddhas. Police arrested suspects and by 28 December 89 items had been recovered, with two Na Dun tablets still missing. Over 1,000 monks and Na Dun residents issued a statement demanding their return, and the temple committee made five demands, including moving all the objects to the Nakhon Champasri museum, while the Fine Arts Department's director-general insisted the displayed pieces were genuine.

Na Dun district also has Wat Photharam at Ban Dong Bang, an Isan sim whose outer walls are painted with the Sinxay epic; the Wikimedia Commons photographer notes the temple is about 100 years old, adding another chapter to Na Dun's art history after the Dvaravati and Khmer eras.

Khaosod (2021) adds detail on Wat Photharam at Ban Dong Bang, about 10 km from Na Dun town. The abbot says the temple dates from 1800, the sim was built in 1908, and its murals were painted by Nai Sing and Achan Sala in cool tones of blue, indigo, green and white. Inside are the Buddha's life, the Vessantara Jataka and Ramasura–Mekhala; outside are Sinxay, Vessantara and Phra Malai, with Tham-script captions and scenes of rice farming and net fishing. An east-wall figure of a tall man in a high hat and boots is thought to depict a Westerner. The ho chaek preaching hall, built in 1917 by Vietnamese craftsmen, has stucco Himmapan creatures, and the Fine Arts Department's 10th regional office has surveyed it for restoration.