Phra Somdej (Phra Somdet) amulets have been first made
by Most Venerable Somdej Phra Putthajarn (Ajarn Toe Prommarangsi)
that lived from 1788 to 1872
and was the Abbot of Wat Rakhang (Wat Rakhangkhositaram) in Bangkok.
This amulet is the "King of amulets", any Thai amulets collector has
to have
at least one (but often many more), and if someone have only ONE amulet,
more often than not it will be a Phra Somdej.
Contrary to other types of amulets, the Phra Somdej does not have ONE "power"
but it has them all, so it can protect its wearer, make him lucky,
charming, rich & so on...
There are many variations and type of Phra Somdej amulets,
here is a little selection from my personnal collection.
Picture of Venerable Luang Phor Toh (taken in 1867).
Another image of
Somdej Phra Putthajarn Toh.
Another version of the same picture.
Ancient medal of Luang Phor Toh.
The official temple shop at Wat Rakhang (in the early 2000's).
Short visit of Wat Rakhang in 2018.
Original Phra Somdej amulets blessed by Somdej Phra Putthajarn Toh are the "Holy
Grail"
of amulets collector, so you will often hear about them, but you will almost never see one.
Millions of fake "certified original Phra Somdej by LP Toh" are on the
market, often offered alongside a (fake) certificate of authenticity.
A genuine Phra Somdej by Luang Phor Toh cost several millions of
Euro, so please use your brain and dont go buy one for a few hundreds Euro on Eb*y...
From time to time, the Wat Rakhang offer certified old Phra Somdej
(they can be a 100 years old or more), like this
beautifull set where an old Phra Somdej
is offered with a Look Nimit sacred bead and a gold color portrait amulet
of Most Venerable Luang Phor Toh.
On an amulet market, a stand selling hundreds of fake Phra Somdej amulets.
Such amulets sold for 20 baht (0,5 euro) are made by the 1000's
and artificially made to look old.
An exceptionnal Phra Somdej amulet.
Rare Phra Somdej Gaïsser Roon Toon Ghow Tawai Lachit Nee
(Pim Jumbo) amulet,
blessed in 1986 in Wat Arun (Bangkok) during a special ceremony where 99
of the most famous Masters of the time were together.
Amongst the Masters present this day were :
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Pern.
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Koon.
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Kassem.
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Pae. - Most Vénérable Luang Phor Luang.
- Vénérable Luang Phor Pan.
- Most Vénérable Luang Phor Budh.
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Mee.
- Most Vénérable Luang Phor Jarun.
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Puth.
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Uthama.
- Most
Vénérable Luang Phor Waen.
- Master Phaya Sami (From Burma)
Many amongst those Masters were considered as Arahant,
and were known to have mystical powers.
Amongst the sacred ingredients used to make this amulet, one can find :
- Soil
from the place where the Buddha was born (Lumbini, Nepal)
- Soil from the place where the Buddha got enlightment ( Bodh Gaya, India)
.
- Leaves from the tree under wich the Buddha meditated.
- Soil from the place where the Buddha passed away (Kushinagar).
- Powder of ancient amulets Phra Somdej of LP Toh and Phra Somdej Keishayo.
- Powder from antique tiles from Wat Indrawiharn.
- Powder of amulets
of Wat Paknam (batch 1, 4 and 6).
- Relics of various Buddha disciples (Ananda, Mogdalyana, Rahual and others).
- Moss collected on various famous Chedi countaining relics of the Buddha.
- Several hundred sacred powders offered by over 100 different temples.
- A secret mix of 108 sacred plants and flowers.
- Some Cintramani
sacred beads (wish fullfiling jewel).
- Some bits of an antique Buddha statue old of 1500 years.
- A Sacred powder offered by a Lersi hermit.
- Powder of an antique slate covered with Yant.
- And several 100 other sacred ingredients offered by various Venerables.
The collecting of those ingredients and relics took over 25 years.
(there was in total over 200 different sacred ingredients),
and the consecration ceremonies were performed over a 3 years period.
Since it was issued in 1986, many miraculous story speak about this amulet
and it is one of the more thought after amulet in modern times.
The "official" batch of this amulet exist in two sizes
(Namely Pim Tamada & Pim Jumbo)
and both have at the back a little gold color medal with a map of Thailand.
But there exist also some "un-official" batches, made later by the
monks of Wat Arun
from left-over materials of the original batch in the late 1980's and also later in the 1990's.
Some of those amulets even have been molded with the original molds, but none of those
"un-official" batches has the gold color medal at the back (instead they can have some
takut in various places, or some yant and mineral relics).
They are still made of the same sacred materials (some time mixed with others in the later batches
as original materials were running out), and blessed by the same Masters.
Such "un-official" Phra Somdej Wat Arun amulets are of course much less costly
than
the original batch (wich is virtualy impossible to find and has prohibitive price tags)
and i can still sometime offer some.
A beautiful example of "un-official" Phra Somdej Kaisser blessed in Wat Arun
in the late 1980's from original ingredients. Please note that this particular batch has 3 Takut on its lower part,
that were not present on the "official" batch of Phra Somdej Kaisser
. The most stunningly beautiful multicolor Phra Somdej amulets ever made
were blessed by Venerable Luang Phor Pae (1905-1999) of Wat Pikulthong. The early batches of those amulets are nowaday impossible to get
and have prohitive prices, but i can from time to time offer some of the late batches
at reasonable prices on
my online shop.
Another very famous Phra Somdej amulet is the Phra Somdej blessed
by Most Venerable Luang Phor Daeng (1878 - 1973) of Wat Khao Bandai It. This amulet exist in 3 colors : Red, Yellow and Black
(mixed colors amulets do exist, like half red / Half black, but they are rare).
The original amulets blessed by LP Daeng are nowaday impossible to get, but his temple still issue
some Phra Somdej following his rituals and those can still be found at fairly low
prices.
Modern 12 levels Phra Somdej amulet.
Tradition has it that the more "levels" (steps under the Buddha
throne), the more powerful
the Pha Somdej amulet is. Minimum number is 3, but as far as i know maximum number is 24 !
A very beautiful Phra Somdej amulet made of Rainbow Lek Lai.
