| WAT RACHA PRADITSATHAN (วัดราชประดิษฐาน) |
| This active temple is located on the city island on the corner of Chikun Road and U- Thong Road. It can be easily found near the bridge leading over Khlong Mueang to Wat Wong Khong. Wat Racha Praditsathan was located next to Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, which once separated it from Wat Tha Sai (on the opposite side of the canal). This canal has been filled in for the most part, leaving a small pond on the premises. Traces of a fortress (Pom Khao Pluak) and a water gate (Pratu Khao Pluak) can still be seen in situ. Wat Tha Sai has since been annexed by Wat Racha Praditsathan and is now considered a single temple. However, this report distinguishes the two temples as having their own unique histories, so readers should also visit the link for Wat Tha Sai to get a full picture of the architectural structures on site. As a fully functioning temple, Wat Racha Praditsathan has been given a modern ordination hall in the Rattanakosin style. This monastery is decorated with mirrored-tiles that have some elaborate decorations. The gable of the sermon hall dramatically portrays a Garuda carrying a four-armed figure while clutching two Naga in its talons. There is also a small Buddha footprint and a Luk Nimit ball, which enable visitors to make donations. The ordination hall is graced by double sema stones, which are perched on white pedestals with pink lotus flowers. Several gold-painted Buddha images sit on the altar inside. There are two old chedi on the northern side of the sermon hall. One has multiple layers with a bell-shaped crown. The second chedi is constructed in the “mango seed” style, which is the only one of its kind in the city. Wat Racha Praditsathan is closely associated with King Chakkraphat (r. 1548-1569), who served as a monk at this temple prior to accepting the throne. This story dates back to when Queen Regent Si Sudachan and Khun Worawongsa usurped the throne in 1548. Si Sudachan was a concubine of King Chairacha that became Queen Regent after his death. Her 11-year-old son, Yot Fa, was made King, but his reign was short lived. The Queen Regent had her own child executed at Wat Khok Phraya and appointed her lover, Khun Worawongsa as the new monarch. Meanwhile Prince Yot Fa’s uncle, Prince Thianracha (the future King Chakkraphat) sought political refuge by being ordained a monk at Wat Racha Praditsathan. Khun Worawongsa’s ill-fated reign would last only six weeks. A group of assassins ambushed him and Queen Regent Si Sudachan while the couple was having a recreational outing on Khlong Pla Mo. The two usurpers and their baby daughter were taken away to be executed and their corpses publicly displayed at Wat Raeng. The group of assassins then persuaded Prince Thianracha to leave the monk hood at Wat Racha Praditsathan in order to become King (Cushman 23-25). After accepting the throne, King Chakkraphat sent the younger brother of the 11-year- old King Yot Fa - Prince Si Sin - to Wat Racha Praditsathan to be raised as a novice monk (Cushman 41). However, as Prince Si Sin became older, he staged a rebellion in order to claim the throne for himself. Prince Si Sin and his supporters attacked the Royal Palace at the Sao Thong Chai gate. This surprise attack forced King Chakkraphat to flee the palace. Eventually, Prince Si Sin was killed in battle by gunfire. As a warning against future rebellions, the prince’s colleagues and some of their wives were executed in public and their bodies impaled and displayed next to the corpse of Prince Si Sin (Cushman 41- 42). [Sidenote: This temple is the site of the second accident experienced by a member of the Ayutthaya Historical Research. While seeking a photographic opportunity in front of this monastery, Tricky Vandenberg was struck by a motorcycle, leaving him with a severely damaged ankle that required hospitalization. As a result, AHR walking tours were cancelled for nearly three months while recuperating. The second injury of an AHR member took place in front of Wat Kuti Sung. While in the line of duty, Ken May was struck by a speeding motorcycle and left wounded by the side of the road with severe spinal damage. He was hospitalized for one month before he could walk again, and was forced to wear a back brace for three months afterward.] |
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| Addendum Wat Racha Praditsathan is indicated on a map drafted in the mid-19th century and on Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map of 1926. The mid-19th century map denominates the temple as Wat Pra and indicates the presence of a chedi. The Monastery of the Royal Installation (1), as Richard Cushman translated the name of this Siamese temple [1], is also mentioned in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya during the reign of King Phumintharacha (r. 1709-1733). At the end of his reign, preparations were made for the royal succession and the mostly - inevitable - fight for the throne. The old King had one of his sons designated as heir to the throne, without consent of his younger brother, the deputy king. The king ordered some defensive works done inside the capital all along Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak until Pratu Jin (The Chinese Gate) and one of the defensive stockades was established on the western bank of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak in front of Wat Racha Praditsathan and besides the Elephant Bridge. This stockade fell under the command of a certain Khun Si Khong Yot. The deputy king, living at the Front Palace, ordered the same defenses set up along the eastern bank of the canal. The son of the deputy king took the occasion to shoot and kill Khun Si Khong Yot in his stockade from the window of a house on the edge of the Pratu Khao Pluak Canal. It was the start of a bloody internal war of succession. Wat Racha Praditsathan is also mentioned in one of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab's writings. At the time the Burmese stood before the gates of Ayutthaya in 1767, the ex-King Uthumphon left the Pradu Rongtham Monastery and came to reside at Wat Racha Praditsathan. It was here that he was arrested at the fall of Ayutthaya and brought under guard at the fortification of Pho Sam Ton. [2] Wat Racha Praditsathan is located in Geo. Coord.: 14° 21' 45.24" N, 100° 34' 6.08" E. Footnotes: (1) Racha = royal; Praditsathan = to install. References: [1] Richard D. Cushman - The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya (2006) - page 413 / Source: Phan Canthanumat, British Museum, Reverend Phonnarat & Royal Autograph. [2] Prince Damrong Rajanubhab - Our Wars with the Burmese (1917) - White Lotus, Bangkok (2000) - page 161. |
| Addendum, maps & photographs by Tricky Vandenberg - January 2011 Updated March 2015 |
| (View from the north along U-Thong Rd) |
| (Quincunx on an 12-redented elevated base) |
| (View from the south) |
| (Decorated gable from the ubosot The God Vishnu on the Garuda) |
| (Double sema stones indicating former royal sponsoring) |
| (Funeral monument in situ) |
| (Detail of a 19th century map - Courtesy of the Sam Chao Phraya Museum - map is orientated S-N) |
| (Detail of Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map - Anno 1926) |
| (Detail of a 2007 Fine Arts Department GIS map - Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department - 3th Region) |
