Wat Phutthaisawan
The Wat Phutthaisawan ( Thai วัด พุ ท ไธ ศ วร ร ย์ ) is a Buddhist temple complex ( Wat ) in the Ayutthaya Historical Park , central Thailand .
location
Wat Phutthaisawan is located on the south bank of the Mae Nam Chao Phraya ( Chao Phraya River ), south of the old town of Ayutthaya.
Building history
According to legend, Phra Chao U Thong, later King Ramathibodi I , set up camp here in the area of today's temple before he founded his capital Ayutthaya. He probably lived here until the completion of his palace, the Wang Luang , in 1353.
The Dutch merchant and chronicler Jeremias Van Vliet describes in his “Short History of the Kings of Siam” that King Ramathibodi I had three temples built, “which are still regarded as the most important in the kingdom: Nopphathat, which was the most sacred; Raeyjae Boenna,… and Watdoem ”, which meant Wat Mahathat , Wat Ratchabun (not identical to today's Wat Ratchaburana) and - possibly - Wat Phutthaisawan, as the historian David K. Wyatt assumed.
There are contradicting entries in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya ( Lit .: Cushman, 2000) about the establishment of Wat Phutthaisawan . The version Phan Chanthanumat from 1795 also establishes King U Thong as the founder of the temple, whereas Somdet Phra Phonnarat in his Sangitiyavamsa assumes King Naresuan (r. 1590-1605). Finally, the residents of Ayutthaya, who were brought to Burma as prisoners in 1767, speak in their Statement of the Residents of the Old Capital by King Songtham (r. 1611–1628), who had two monasteries built from his private budget, “about the To give monks the opportunity to study Pali ”, namely Wat Phutthaisawan and Wat Rattana Mahathat.
Professor Krairiksh compared the available chronicles with contemporary city maps and paintings and found that Wat Phutthaisawan was first marked in 1687 on the map of an (unknown) French engineer as Pagode de la feue Reine ("Monastery of the deceased Queen"). Nicolas Gervaise, who lived in Ayutthaya for four years from 1683, also mentions a monastery of this name. According to his records, a "new monastery was built in honor of the late queen," from which it can be concluded that King Narai built this temple in memory of his queen. The floor plan of the central prang, which was flanked by two smaller ones in the north and south, is reminiscent of a similar ensemble in Wat Mahathat in Lopburi, which was also built by King Narai in the 1660s. When King Boromakot showed Wat Phutthaisawan to a Sinhalese delegation of monks in 1750, it must have been a very important and impressive temple, as the visitor's travelogue shows.
In 1868 during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) , the prang was renovated with funds donated by the citizens of Ayutthaya.
Attractions
The most important building in the center of Putthawat is the prang , whose shape is reminiscent of a corn cob and which became the symbol of the monasteries from the early Ayutthaya period . The entrance in the north is accessible via a porch, on the roof of which there is a small chedi with 12 recessed corners . Inside there is a small chedi with a Buddha's footprint . To the north and south of the Prang there are two Mondops on the same platform today , obviously from more recent times, instead of the small prangs that were probably originally there. Mondops and Prang are surrounded by a square, inwardly open cloister ( Phra Rabieng ) , in which there are still numerous Buddha statues today.
To the west of the prang is the Ubosot , to the south of it two smaller Wihan . In the eastern part of the temple you can see the foundation walls of a kiln, the ruins of a larger viharn, as well as a viharn with a large reclining Buddha statue in addition to some smaller chedis .
The Sanghawat, the living area of the monks, is in the western part of the temple. This is also where the two-story former residence of the Supreme Patriarch is located . Inside are very faded wall paintings with stories from the life of the Buddha and the Jataka .
literature
- Elizabeth Moore et al. a .: Ancient Capitals of Thailand. River Books / Thames And Hudson, Bangkok 1996, ISBN 0-500-97429-2 .
- David K. Wyatt , Chris Baker , Dhiravat na Pombejra, Alfon van der Kraan: Van Vliet's Siam. Silkworm Books , Chiang Mai 2005, ISBN 974-9575-81-4 .
- Piriya Krairiksh: A Revised Dating of Ayudhya Architecture (II). In: Journal of the Siam Society , Volume 80, Issue 2. Bangkok 1992, ISSN 0857-7099 ; siamese-heritage.org (PDF; 1.4 MB) accessed on October 31, 2012.
- Richard D. Cushman (David K. Wyatt Ed.): The Royal Chronicles Of Ayutthaya. The Siam Society, Bangkok 2000, ISBN 974-8298-48-5 (literal translation and direct comparison of seven chronicles available today, from its founding to King Taksin).
- คู่มือ ท่องเที่ยว เรียน รู้ อยุธยา. Museum Press, Bangkok 2546 (2003), ISBN 974-92888-5-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Lit .: Wyatt, 2005
- ^ Lit .: Krairiksh, 1992
- ↑ PEPieris: An Account of King Kirti Sri's Embassy to Siam in 1672 Saka (1750 AD) . In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Ceylon Branch, Vol. XVIII, No. 54 (1903).
Coordinates: 14 ° 20 ′ 22 ″ N , 100 ° 33 ′ 35 ″ E