The White Elephants Monument in Chiang Mai commemorates two royal pages who heroically served Phaya Saen Meuang Ma (fig.) during the Lan Na Period, by carrying him to safety amid threats from the Sukhothai army, when he was wounded.

In gratitude, the king rewarded them with the titles Khun Chang Sai and Khun Chang Khwa, meaning ‘Nobleman of the Left Elephant’ and ‘Nobleman of the Right Elephant’, respectively, and they were symbolized by statues of White Elephants which were placed on either side of the northern city gate.

This construction led to the renaming of the northern moat gate from Pratu Hua Wiang, i.e. ‘Gate at the Head of the Walled City’, to its current name, Pratu Chang Pheuak, which translates to ‘Gate of the White Elephant(s)’.

In the early Rattanakosin Period, Chao Kawila (fig.), enhanced the monument by erecting new, almost life-sized elephant statues, each placed in an arched pavilion. The elephant facing north stands 2.40 meters tall and was named Phaya Prahb Chakrawahn or ‘Ruler that Conquers the Cosmos’, i.e. the planes and realms in which all beings can be reborn, consisting of both vertical and horizontal cosmologies.

Whilst the elephant facing west has a height of 2.48 meters and was named Phaya Prahb Meuang Maan Meuang Yak, i.e. ‘Ruler that Conquers the Land of Mara and the Land of Giants’. The names of the elephants are indicated by plaques over the niches of their respective pavilions. In 1996, the monument was restored for the occasion of the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Chiang Mai City.