This amulet of Kruba Sivichai is released by Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple in Chang Mai Province. Kruba Sivichai was a Thai Buddhist monk born in 1878 to a humble peasant family in the village of Ban Pang, in Lamphun Province of northern Thailand. Early accounts suggest that on the particular day that he was born, there was a massive thunderstorm and rain and was thus given the name of Thunder (Phra Kruba Sivichai is his holy name). Given the context of his birth, may around his village accredited him as a person having merit. As a child, Kruba Sivichai has been described to have compassion to all beings. Previous biographies cite that as a child, he would release the animals that his father caught for cooking and beg his father not to hit the animal as they would hurt. Kruba Sivichai is best known for the building of many temples during his time, his charismatic and personal character, and his political conflict with local authorities.
Kruba Sivichai had done many good deeds to Buddhism. His goodness could hardly fade away from the northern peoples' minds and especially for his many construction and renovation works. It seems that there were no other monks in this region who had done such thing like Kruba Sivichai. He was the spiritual leader of over 5,000 true believers and disciples, inspiring them to build an 11 km steep road that leads up to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai. From an early age, Kruba Sivichai expressed a serious interest in Buddhism as the believed that his family's present state of poverty was a consequence in his previous life. He was ordained as a novice at the age of 18 at the local temple in the village of Ban Pang. Kruba Sivichai was ordained as a monk in 1899 at Wat Ban Hong Luang and went on to study with his first teacher Kruba Khattiya at Wat Bang Pan. As a student Kruba Sivichai was known to have great respect and reverence towards the science of magic and spells.
Additionally, Kruba Sivichai gained a reputation for his asceticism. His generosity and compassion were evident to everyone around him. One of his biographers Sanga Suphapha said the following: He showed compassion and mercy towards anyone who appealed to him. He did nothing useful to himself. He was not a monk of rank, but only a monk of the people; as a result, he was always moving about, doing useful things wherever he went. They were things that led Buddhists to rejoice that a monk with the full heart of a Bodhisattva had been born into the world. The Kruba Siwichai died near the age of 61 in his home village at Wat Ban Pang on 21 February 1939. He died out of exhaustion and sickness which were largely influenced by a long battle with hemorrhoids. His body was cremated in 1946. Early accounts record that on the day of his cremation the sky became suddenly dark with unexpectedly heavy unexpected rain although it was not the rainy season.
