Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Ayutthya

In my itinearary, I had not planned of visiting this wat. Our driver told us that this wat should be seen. We were running out of time and had to return to Bangkok but then thought of making a quick visit to this place. I am happy we did that.
The wat is exquisite, must have been grandest at its peak. It was very different from the ones we had visited earlier during the day.

model of the wat from the Chao Phrya side

view from Chao Phraya side

This was the actual entrance. Water transport was very common at that time so it was easy to access the wat.

model from the west side

view from west side

This now is the entrance. At first glimpse it resembles Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The prang style is almost the same.

Some historical background:

• King Prasat Thong ruled from 1630 to 1650. Just after being sworn in as the king, he ordered a wat to be built in honor of his foster mother who lived at that place. The construction probably took 20 years to complete.
• there are two identical chedis, one is said to in honor of King Prasat Thong's mother, the other one probably his father, but nothing definite is known about the other one.
• Building a memorial or chedi in honor of someone was a way to gain merits by kings.
• It was almost after a period of 200 years that Khmer architecture wa revived with the building of a prang. Before this the prang is said to be constructed at Rachaburana.
• the wat was a place for royal ceremonies and also funerals of deceased royal family members only.

information on the wat

 stucco relief panel on a meru

False windows, something like lattice work was earlier seen in Wat Mahathat also.

stucco relief panel and false window on side

Passing the merus with fast disappearing stucco panels, we enter the gallery in the center of which is the quincunx. Main prang surrounded by four smaller ones in the four inter-cardinal directions.

The central or the main prang is 35 meter high and stands on a platform

Steep staircases on each of the four cardinal sides lead to the center of prang. The entrance on east side only opens into a chamber where relics were enshrined.

main prang with a smaller one

a small prang

The central prang is surrounded by four smaller prangs on four inter cardinal directions. The main prang representing Mount Meru, around which the universe revolves. The small prangs represent the four major continents.

If you look at the above picture closely, you would notice small holes on the surface. The holes were made by nails which secured tin sheets covered by gold. In this manner the five prangs were  covered with gold. One can imagine how beautiful the place must have looked at that time.

The gallery:
Surrounding the quincunx is a gallery which has four merus on four corners and four in between them.

a corner meru

There are four such corner merus. Inside each are seated two images of Buddha adjacent to each other in bhumisparsh mudra, sitting posture. The images face the galleries.The ceiling is black painted wood.

There is only one image of Buddha in the middle meru.

Image of Buddha with a crown in one of the merus

another image of Buddha with a crown in another meru

an idea of the stucco work at the Buddha image pedestal

seated Buddha images throughout the gallery

 view of gallery with a row of Buddha images

corner meru

All along the walls are images of 104 sitting Buddhas facing the main prang in Bhumisparsh mudra or "victory over Mara" posture.

The gallery shows marks of pillars indicating that it was covered at one point of time.

corner and middle meru

Then there are images of Buddha on either side of meru with their back to the main prang. So there are 8x2 Buddha images.

Ubosoth:
A flight of steps leads to ordination hall or the ubosot or ubosoth.

 side view of ubosoth

Only the floor of ubosoth remains now.

 front view

actual entrance to monastery from Chao Phrya river

Chedis:

On either side of ubosoth, close to river Chao Phrya stand two identical chedis. They are not situated on a platform. It is assumed that one of the chedi might contain the ashes of King Prasat Thong's mother as the temple was built in honor of her. The other might have the ashes of his fathers, but it is a mere speculation.

Mural paintings:

When I was reading the information board, I came to know that there were mural paintings also. I looked with deep concentration and found very faint paintings. They seem to be disappearing fast. I have put the picture by the archeology department alongside mine.

The wat was deserted in 1767 after the Burmese invasion. Restoration began much later in 1987 and it was opened to public in 1992. Since it is situated so close to the river, it suffered severe damage during the flooding in 2012.

entrance ticket:
It is a part of Ayutthya Historical Park, and the entrance is 50 Baht.

Some more wats to visit Wat Rachaburana, Ayutthya, Wat Yaichai Mongkol, Ayutthya, Wat Mahathat, Ayutthya, Wat Sri Sanphet,Ayutthya