Wat Lokayasutharam
The Wat Lokayasutharam ( Thai วัด โลก ย สุธา ราม - Temple of Earth , another notation: "Wat Lokayasutha"; also known as "Wat Phra Non", Thai: วัด พระ นอน - Temple of the Reclining Buddha ) is a Buddhist temple ( Wat ) in Ayutthaya Historical Park in central Thailand .
location
Wat Lokayasutharam is located in the northwest of the island of Ayutthaya, southwest of the "Old Palace" ( Wang Luang ) and west of Wat Phra Sri Sanphet , beyond the Khlong Tho. Wat Worachetharam joins directly to the north.
Building history
There is no record of when this temple was founded in the chronicles . Style elements of the Buddha statue indicate a middle Ayutthaya period .
Attractions
The huge reclining Buddha statue is the main attraction of this temple. It is about 40 meters long and 8 meters high and is made of bricks and mortar . The statue does not face east-west as usual, but north-south. The head rests on four lotus buds and is supported by the right hand.
Originally the statue was probably in a viharn , of which only the foundations of 24 octagonal columns can be seen.
The statue was restored in 1954 by the Fine Arts Department (for example: Akademie der Künste ), the funds for this were donated by the Alcoholic Beverage Factory . In 1989 the statue was renovated again in his honor by the family of former Prime Minister Thawal Thamrong Navaswadhi .
The foundation walls of an ubosot can also be seen on the temple grounds, with a chedi at each of the four corners . A gallery ( Phra Rabieng ) was arranged around the ubosot , of which only the foundations can still be guessed. The Thai Fine Arts Department has in excavations heads of Buddha statues made of sandstone found, now in the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum are located.
iconography
Reclining Buddha statues (Thai: พระพุทธ ไสยาสน์ - read: [pʰrá pʰút-tʰá săi-jâːt] ) of this size often do not depict the Buddha entering Parinibbana , but rather they refer to a legend from the life of the Buddha:
When the Buddha was once in an ashram in Sravasti, the giant (Thai: ยักษ์ - Yak ) asked Asurindarahu (Thai: อ สุร อิน ดะ ราหุ ) for an audience with the Buddha. Since the giant was very proud of his size, he did not want to bow to the Buddha. So the Buddha manifested himself many times larger than the giant. In addition, he shows the imagined the realm of the Devata in one of the upper heavens, which were again larger than the Buddha. Ashamed, Asurindarahu paid homage to the Buddha.
literature
- Elizabeth Moore: Ancient Capitals of Thailand . Bangkok 1996. ISBN 0-500-97429-2 .
- Chaiwat Worachetwarawat: Interesting Temples and Ruins in Ayutthaya . Rajabhat Institute Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya 2001 (without ISBN).
- KI Matics: Gestures of the Buddha . Bangkok 2001. ISBN 974-346-796-3 .
Web links
- http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/thailand/ayutthaya/wat-lokaya-sutha.php Short description of Wat Lokayasutharam with pictures (in English)
Coordinates: 14 ° 21 ′ 20 ″ N , 100 ° 33 ′ 9 ″ E