Last Prince

[Narration]
The last prince of Dae Gaya was Prince Wolgwang. Because his mother was the princess of Silla, he was in a difficult situation when his father invaded his mother's home country. When Silla occupied Dae Gaya again, he wasn’t welcome.

According to the historic records of Korea, the last king of Dae Gaya was King Doseolji. Also, this name ‘Doseolji’ is also found on many epitaphs written by the king of Silla while he was traveling around his land. It is assumed that the person named Doseolji in this record was Prince Wolgwang. Let’s listen to a historian talk about this now.

[Historian]
“Right after the war, Prince Wolgwang was probably exiled to Silla.In this case, he cannot be regarded as the last king of Dae Gaya. But Silla could have given him the controlling power of the region after destroying Dae Gaya to calm the popular sentiment.”

Silla probably had strict control over Prince Wolgwang, who later became King Doseolji. Maybe that’s the reason why people say that later on Prince Wolgwang became a Buddhist monk.


Heritage of Buddhism

Let’s pay attention to pieces of heritage related to Buddhism in Goryeong. The multi-story stone pagoda of Ballyongsa is open for public viewing.

Ballyongsa is the most famous Buddhist temple in Goryeong. When the Yuan army of China stayed here for a bit in order to suppress Japan, the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty posted writing here warning soldiers not to damage the temple.

But the stone pagoda lost its body on each layer, and it was discovered with only roof stones stacked together.

Also, Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon is also related to Dae Gaya. Haeinsa is the most historically significant temple among those left in the ancient Dae Gaya region. There’s a small shrine in this temple. Although it’s different now, this shrine was for the goddess of the mountain, who was the heroine of Dae Gaya’s legend of birth.

A monk who was a descendant of the king of Dae Gaya built the gigantic structure of Haeinsa around this shrine.