Bueng Phra Ram, named after Wat Phra Ram in its vicinity, is in the centre of Ayutthaya in the Historical Park. The former marsh is one of the 95 sites on the listing compiled in 1987 CE to be registered as UNESCO World Heritage in December 1991 CE. The site, called in the old documents ‘Dong Sano’ or sometimes ‘Nong Sano’ (1), has been largely altered over the years. Bueng Phra Ram was restored, deepened, and turned into a park in the period 1956-1957 CE during the time of Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram. [1]
Bueng Phra Ram is mentioned in the oldest foreign chronicle by the Dutch VOC merchant Jeremias Van Vliet. The latter describes in the "Short History of the Kings of Siam - 1640" the birth of Ayutthaya in this place. Remark that he mentions the existence of a city prior:
"Meanwhile, he received information about the island where the city of Ayutthaya is built and appeared surprised that such a beautiful site was not inhabited nor built upon. But he met a hermit (called Rishi by the Siamese) who informed him that previously, there was a city there called Ayutthaya. But how it declined, he had no knowledge and added that no other city could be rebuilt there. The reason was that at a place Wo Talenkang (2), now in the middle of the city, there was a pool in which there was a voracious dragon, called Nagaraja (3) by the Siamese, who on being disturbed blew poisonous saliva from his mouth. This brought about such an epidemic that everybody around there died of the stench. Thao U Thong asked the rishi whether the dragon could not be killed and the marsh filled in. The rishi answered that this would not be a remedy, but that a rishi (like him in every respect) should be thrown in. Thus Thao U Thong had the whole country searched to find such a person. The rishi further declared that Thao U Thong, after killing the dragon and filling in the marsh, should do three things if he wanted to live in that place in health: shoot an arrow and catch it again in his quiver smear his body daily with cow dung and blow on a horn every day, just as the Brahman priests do when they go to their temples or places of devotion.”
Thao U Thong said that he knew how to fulfil these conditions and went with a perahu to the middle of the river, shot an arrow upstream, and as the arrow came down, the quiver went to the water and received the arrow. In place of cow dung, he covered his body with rice meal every day mixed with a little seruijs, saying that the rice could not grow unless the land had been fertilised. By this, he meant that the cow dung is also part of the rice. About the blowing of the horn, he had sirib leaves rolled close together and ate it as pinang, which had some similarities with the blowing of horns. The rishi replied, "Since thou hast made the arrow return to thee, thy people shall be united with each other and thy kingdom freed from internal wars. “Secondly, because thou so cunningly applied the cow dung, thou and thy people shall suffer little from smallpox. 'Thirdly and finally, because thou has rolled the sirib which had a likeness horn, the gods shall have great love for you and bring you great fortune.”
In the meantime, the messengers sent out returned to Thao U Thong the tidings that a rishi like that which they were ordered to look for could not be found. Thao U Thong kept this message secret, went to speak the rishi at the mouth of the marsh where the dragon was, and without warning threw him in and filled in the marsh. Since then, the dragon has never again appeared, and the land has been free from epidemics. Then Thao U Thong began to re-establish the city on the fifth day of the waxing fourth moon (in our reckoning being the month of March) in the year of the Tiger and called it Ayutthaya." [2]