Sacred to Thai Buddhists and housed in one of Thailand's most magnificent temples, the Emerald Buddha has been a part of Bangkok since shortly after the city's birth as a capital in 1782. Yet its origins are centuries earlier. Behind the tranquil repose of the Emerald Buddha in the Chapel Royal is a tale of the human struggle for power and human veneration of the divine, an adventure spanning at least half a millennium. Narula chronicles the famous image's legendary odyssey from mystical roots in India, to Sri Lanka and beyond, before following its sojourns in various sites in Thailand and Laos.