The bells and incense smoke drifting over Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Ratchaworawihan are familiar to anyone who has made the trip up. For the people of Lanna, the mountain is more than a landmark. It is where the city keeps its faith, handed down through generations.
Fewer people know that inside the moat, at Wat Chomphu, stands a chedi more than 600 years old, often described as the twin of the one on the mountain. The two have a shared history.
The Wat Chomphu chedi is a bell-shaped Lanna structure, a scaled-down copy of the Doi Suthep original in form and proportion. It is covered in gilded copper sheeting and topped with an ornate tiered umbrella, much like the one up the hill.
Wallop Namwongprom, vice president of the Chiang Mai Provincial Cultural Council, said the story goes back to the reign of King Kue Na. The king enshrined an important relic on the back of an auspicious elephant and let the animal choose the spot, which is how the chedi on Doi Suthep came to be built.
Down on the flat ground, Wat Chomphu was founded around the same time, with the blessing of the king and senior monks, who allowed the architecture and its significance to be reproduced there. The idea was simple. Anyone who couldn’t manage the steep climb could still pay respects up close.
Locals describe the twin chedi as a living archive of Buddhism in the city, and say monks and villagers have looked after it ever since. For older residents and others who can’t easily get up the mountain, they say, worshipping at Wat Chomphu brings the same merit as the trip to the summit.
