[Page updated: 2 February 2025]
Many people see the name of this temple on our site and don’t know anything about it. Here is some information you might find helpful as you think about which pendants to buy.
Jatukam Ramathep pendants originated in this temple twenty-seven years ago. Most of the Jatukams we sell from Wat Mathathat were made in the Buddhist year 2550. This year we are coming up on 2557.
Jatukham Rammathep style pendants were incredibly popular in 2550. There were a number of stories that came out in the local Thailand media about people wearing Jatukam Ramathep pendants who were robbed at gun and knife-point, but who had extraordinary good luck as the bullets would not fire from the gun pointed at them, or the knife blade would not pierce their skin.
Thais attributed this protection to the powers of the Jatukam pendants and a mad dash to purchase Jatukams fueled the nation for a few years. There were many robberies by criminals looking to possess other people’s Jatukam amulets. Many deaths and injuries occurred during these robberies. So much so, that the supreme Buddhist patriarch (monk) in Thailand removed himself from the process and refused to provide sacred materials for the pendants any longer.
For some people this dropped the bottom out of the pendant craze, and for others, they just refocused on the original pendants only made in the city they originated, Nakhon Si Thammarat, in southern Thailand next to Surat Thani.
In 1987 the first Jatukam Ramathep pendants were developed and named for the two princes of the Srivijaya kingdom of southern Thailand (which also once included Malaysia). There are stories about the name being from the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, popular among Mahayana Buddhists of Malaysia and southern Thailand. The man starting these pendants was not a monk, but a highly revered police chief in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Khun Pan, or, Khun Phantarak Rajjadej. He believed that the Jatukam pendant he wore helped him solve a murder case.
Khun Pan died in the Buddhist year 2550. After he passed away on September 5, the Jatukam Ramathep pendants grew in popularity because of some stories I mentioned about people protected from harm that were wearing the amulets.
Wat Mahathat produced a number of special edition amulets, and some solid silver Khun Pan pendants (which we sell at ThaiAmuletStore.com) under the Jatukam Amulets section.
The Jatukam production didn’t stop there. Soon temples across the entire nation were consumed with producing as many different types of Jatukam pendants as possible. Simple clay pendants were selling for 3,000 to 5,000 Thai Baht. This is around $100 to $170 USD.
Many pendants were selling for 30,000 to 100,000 Thai Baht for special editions. For Thais to spend $1,000 to $3,000 USD on pendants is really something, but many Thais did so, even taking loans out to afford such amazing amulets. Estimates put sales of Jatukam Ramathep in 2007 at over $650 million dollars US.
The desire for these pendants went unchecked. In April of 2550 a woman was killed in a stampede to make reservations for a new batch of special Jatukam pendants being manufactured by the monks at the Wat Mahathat temple in Nakhon. As a result, Thailand’s supreme patriarch, Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, (secular – Charoen Khotchawat) stopped helping to create the powerful amulets.
Here is a Jatukam Ramathep amulet:
Reverse:
Here is our page for Jatukam Amulet sales >
Here is more info about Nakhon Si Thammarat’s temples, monks, and amulets >
Click one of the below Buddhist figures to learn more and find amulets:
The Buddha – Happy Buddha – Jinaraj Buddha – Somdej Buddha