| WAT WORAPHO (วัดวรโพธิ์) |
| Wat Worapho is located on the city island on the corner of U-Thong Road and Khlong Tho. It is directly west of the Royal Palace, but can only be entered via U-Thong Road. It is an active monastery with monks. The name "Wat Worapho" is also commonly applied to a restored ruin situated in the protected park just south of this monastery. This deserted temple was originally named Wat Rakhang, and it now belongs to the Fine Arts Department. In contrast, Wat Worapho is an active site that provides clerical services to the lay community. The two places are also separated by a fence and a significant distance. Therefore, for the sake of research, the two monasteries are considered separate entities. The name Wat Worapho is applied to this small but active monastery; however, the link to Wat Rakhang should also be viewed for additional historical details. Wat Worapho is currently under construction. Its primary feature is a sermon hall with the usual number of sema stones. This ubosot has a large, gold-painted, meditating Buddha image situated in a glass niche at its entrance. Its wooden doors and windows are covered with black lacquer and gold-painted images of Siamese figurines or geometric designs. Inside the ubosot are a large number of Buddha images. The walls of this sermon hall are colorfully painted with murals depicting Buddha’s life. Wat Worapho also has several living quarters for monks, a small bell tower, and a crematorium. Most of the structures in situ are in the process of being built or renovated. It is unclear when this temple was built, but the older ruin near it is associated with King Songtham. The King served as a high ranking monk at Wat Rakhang under the title of Phra Phimontham Anantapricha. He was revered as a Buddhist scholar, which enabled him to form a clique of nobles and disciples. This support allowed him to leave the monkhood to claim the throne from the one-eyed King Si Saowaphak (Kasetsiri & Wright 195). The name Wat Worapho derives from renewed diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka during the reign of King Borommakot (1733-1758). At this time, the Buddhist religion in Sri Lanka was suffering and there was a severe shortage of monks. Therefore, the Siamese king fostered ties by sending forth monks and clerics to ordain noble youths and perpetuate Buddhism. They were taken to Sri Lanka by a Dutch merchant on a ship named Olankha. King Borommakot received the Singhalese embassy and presented them with gifts and appropriate rewards. The Singhalese prostrated themselves before the King and rendered homage. When the ship was ready and loaded with articles of royal tribute, the Thai embassy along with 14 holy clerics departed (Cushman 452). It is generally believed that the Singhalese embassy presented King Borommakot with a special tree in gratitude for sending these Siamese monks. This tree was planted and the King changed the monastery’s name to Wat Worapho. Wat Worapho appears on Phraya Boran Rachathanin’s 1926 map as a small square. There is evidence that there might have been early attempts to set up a monastery on the site of Wat Rakhang; however, as the modern city grew, Wat Worapho was pushed to its current location beside U-Thong Road. In the late 1950s, a road was constructed by Field Marshall Phibunsongkram that passed in front of the old site (Amatyakul 45-46). As a result, Wat Worapho was split from the Wat Rakhang and shifted northward. The monastery is not listed in the 1957 FAD Guide to Ayodaya, but in the vicinity there were the Suriyat Wariwora Building and the Song Pu Building. A teacher training school for men was located west of the monastery. Wat Worapho appears on Jane Bunnag’s 1973 map of monk’s alms routes, and the monks at this monastery walked on a route leading past the old distillery into the area that would later become Queen Sri Nakharin Park. She notes that the owners of the private school were not expected to pay rent to the monastery but were required to do helpful tasks such as reheat rice for the eleven o’clock meal and provide supplementary food when food supplies were inefficient (Bunnag 122). Wat Worapho received the majority of its funds from donations made by the Yellow Bus Company in Bangkok (Bunnag 206). This monastery has managed to survive to present times, and it may become more popular after the current renovations are finished. |
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| Text & photographs by Ken May - September 2009 |
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| (View of the ordination hall or ubosot) |
| (One of the doors of the ubosot) |
| (Inside the ordination hall) |
| Addendum Wat Worapho is not indicated on Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map drafted in 1926, but on that spot he marks a silk factory. It figures in the same way on the FAD 1974 map, but on the FAD 1993 map the location is indicated as a temple site. Based on the FAD 2007 map, which does not indicate the place as an archaeological location, Wat Worapho must be a modern temple. Wat Worapho is situated in geographical coordinates: 14° 21' 32.31" N, 100° 33' 17.87" E. |
| Addendum & maps by Tricky Vandenberg March 2016 |
| (Detail of Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map - Anno 1926) |
| (Detail of a 1993 Fine Arts Department map - Courtesy Khun Supot Prommanot, Director of the 3th Regional Office of Fine Arts) |
