Wat Phra Pathom Chedi Present By Teacher Jantana Khamanukul

Wat Phra Pathom Chedi

The origin of Wat Phra Pathom Chedi is Part of Thai folklore. Although the Buddha never stayed in Thailand, one story says that he once rested near the site of Wat Phra Pathom Chedi, and the original chedi was built to honor this event. Another tale takes place near the time of the Buddha’s death. One of the Buddha’s disciples was looking desperately for methods to spread the Buddha’s teachings after his death so he asked the Buddha for a symbol of Dharma philosophy.

The Buddha had very few material possessions so he put together his worldly good, a teaching stick, begging bowl, and length of cloth, and built a stupa shape using the folded cloth as the base with the inverted bowl as the central dome and the stick as the spire. From this design came the original stupa. The name Wat Phra Pathom Chedi was given to the temple by King Rama IV which when translated to English means the first stupa ever built in Thailand.

History says the chedi was built as an act of atonement by the Phrya Phan. He was left alone at birth because of a prediction that he would one day murder his father, the Mon King. Phan was found by a village woman and raised to be a champion of the poor. Vowing to rid the Mon Kingdom of oppressive rule, Phan killed the King, and then, learning how he had fulfilled the prophecy, blamed his adoptive mother and killed her as well.

Whatever the true story of the original chedi are, it slowly fell apart, only to be rebuilt with khmer prang during the time the Khmers controlled region, between the 8th and 12th centuries. Once again, it was left alone in the jungle until King Rama IV discovered it on his pilgrimage to Nakhon Pathom during his monk hood nearly 1,000 years later. In 1853, King Rama IV started building the new chedi, with the remains of the old one inside. These original remains are still encased inside the present chedi

The new chedi is ih a different style from the one found by King Rama IV, Ceylonese style. King Rama IV didn’t live to see the chedis.being finished, but his successors covered it in golden brown tills fron China and continued to add statues and murals as well as buildings. The most recent restoration was finished, in 1981, when cracks in the dome discovered. The job cost 24 million bath to complete. The top of the stupa is crowned with a multi- pronged spire, called a nopasul. This represents the weapon of the God Indra. Above the nopasul is a crown, representing the royal emblem of King Rama IV.

The phre pathom chedi, at meters high,is the tallest Buddhist monument in the world. The original monument,buried within the massive orange-glazed dome, was elected in the early 6th century by Theravada Buddhistti, But in the early 11th Century the Khmer king, Suriyavarman I of Angkor, conguered the city and built a Brahman prang over the sanctuary. The Burmess of Bagan, under King Anawrwhta, destroyed the city in When the King IV built the new chedi over the original chedi he added four vihan,a bot,a replica of the origing chedi, asls and assorted prangs.

There is even a Chinese temple attached to the outer walls of the chedi, where an outdoor li-keh is sometimes performed. The ubosot of Wat Phra Pathom Chedi was built in the reign of King Rama VII to replace the one built by King Rama IV. The ubosot is in a simple style, perhaps to place the focus of the temple on the Great Stupa, rather than the obosot. The sema stones are quite unique. They are marked with an image of Thao Jatulokabal. Or the Four Guardian Spirits of the human world.

The princip Buddha image in the ubosot is made of white stone in the Dvaravati style. It is a seated image with two feet placed solidly on the ground in the attitude of preaching. It is one of only four images made of white stone from this period left in Thailand. There is a replica of the original stupa found by King Rama IV to the east of the Great Stupa. On the eastern side of the monument, in the bot, is a Dvaravati-style Buddha seated in a European pose similar to the one in Wat Phra Meru in Ayutthaya where it might have come from.

The wat surrounding the chedi enjoys the kingdom’s highest temple rank, Ratchavoramahavihan, one of only six temples so honored in Thailand and one of only two temples outside of Bangkok. King Rama VI’s ashes are inside the base of the Sukhothai-era Phra Ruang Rochanarit, a large standing Buddha image in the wat’s northern vihan. Also of interest are the many examples of Chinese sculpture carved from a greenish stone that came to Thailand as ballast in the bottom of 19th century Chinese junkets. There is also a museum opposite the bot which has some nice Dvaratavi sculpyures.

Done By 1.Padtama PituprakornnugolNo.27 2.RaveewanJindasing No.30 3.SujunyaNooin No.37 4.Sureepon SrifawattanaNo.40 5.Hathaichanok SamngamkaewNo.41 M. 5 / 8