Wat Rachathiwat
Wat Rachathiwat ( Thai : วัด ราชา ธิ วา ส วิหาร , full name: Wat Rachathiwat Wihan Ratchaworawihan , วัด ราชา ธิ วา สวิหาร ราชวรวิหาร) is a Buddhist temple ( Wat ) in the Dusit district of Bangkok , the capital of Thailand . It is a Royal Second Class Temple .
history
Wat Rachathiwat is said to have been founded before the Ayutthaya period . In the 18th century it was called Wat Samorai ( วัด สมอ ราย - anchor stone temple ) due to its location on the banks of the Mae Nam Chao Phraya . Both King Puttha Yotfa Chulalok (Rama I) and King Phuttaloetla Naphalai (Rama II) were ordained as monks here, as tradition also required of kings .
At a time when it was impossible to foresee that Prince Mongkut would ever become king, at the age of 20, like his father and grandfather, he was ordained a monk at Wat Samorai. At that time the temple was far from the city in a forest, here lived Buddhist "forest monks" ( Aranyawasi - คณะ อรัญ ญ วาสี - in contrast to the group of city monks Kamawasi - คณะ คามวาสี ), who, according to the Ceylonese tradition, preferred quiet forest areas in order to be undisturbed To be able to practice meditation. Prince Mongkut initially spent a few years here studying the Pali language and meditation . After extensive pilgrimages across the country, he was appointed abbot of Wat Bowonniwet . After he was crowned king on May 15, 1851 (he is now known in the West as King Mongkut (Rama IV)) , he gave the Ankerstein Temple its current name: Wat Rachathiwat , which means "Monastery of the Royal Residence".
Attractions
- Phra Ubosot ( พระ อุโบสถ - Ordination Hall ) - Prince Naris restored the Ordination Hall in Khmer style. The wall painting of the interior walls was done as a fresco by the Italian artist Prof. Carlo Rigoli ( นาย คา ร์ โล ริ โก ลี ) - a type that is not normally used in Thailand. They represent excerpts from the Wessantara- Jataka (Thai: พระ เวสสันดร ชาดก - Wetsandon-Chadok ), which is very popular in Thailand .
- Phra Chedi ( พระ เจดีย์ ) - directly east of the Ubosot, built in the reign of King Mongkut. Buddha statues with different hand positions ( mudra ) in Srivijaya style sit in four niches in the four cardinal directions . They come from Borobudur on Java and were given to King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) as a gift in 1896 . Around the base of the chedi are 30 Khmer-style lion figures.
- Phra Wihan ( พระ วิหาร - Assembly Hall ) - a small building with the plan of a Greek cross , directly east of the Phra Chedi.
- Sala Kan Prian ( ศาลา การ เปรียญ - Study Hall ) - the large wooden building in Ayutthaya style was also restored and enlarged by Prince Naris. The prince was inspired by the design of the study hall of Wat Yai Suwannaram in Phetchaburi . At the time it was praised as “Asia's largest and most beautiful teak building”.
literature
- A study of architecture of Wat Rachathiwasrachaworawiharn - Master's thesis by Akarapan Pansamrit in Thai, Silpakorn University , Bangkok 2002, ISBN 974-653-566-3 (Thai; online )
- AB Griswold : King Mongkut Of Siam . The Asia Society, New York 1961, distributed by The Siam Society Bangkok (without ISBN)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wooden treasures by Pichaya Svasti (in English; PDF file; 251 kB)
Web links
- Temple homepage (in Thai)
- More details about Wat Rachathiwat (private page; in Thai)
Coordinates: 13 ° 46 ′ 31.4 " N , 100 ° 30 ′ 11.9" E