WAT BOT DAENG





Wat Bot Daeng, or the Monastery of the Red Ordination Hall, is a restored ruin of a chedi located off Ayutthaya's city island in the eastern area, in the Khlong Suan Phlu Sub-district. The chedi can be accessed via the Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon compound in an area called Ban Thanon Than on old maps.


The remaining stupa is a large bell-shaped chedi. The dome, or anda, rests on a large octagonal multi-layered base. Above the dome are a square harmika (the throne) and an incomplete tapering conical spire or ‘chatra’. The colonnade between the throne and the umbrella, typical for Ayutthaya architecture, is missing.


The architectural style of the chedi is attributed to the second sub-period (middle Ayutthaya period), after the reign of King Borommatrailokkanat, from 1488 to 1629 CE, when the principal monuments of Buddhist monasteries were erected in the form of the round Singhalese-type stupa, instead of the prang as in the first sub-period. [1]


There are no historical records about this monastery or its construction date.


The temple is not shown on a 19th-century map or Phraya Boran Rachthanin's 1926 CE map. Wat Bot Daeng is indicated for the first time on a 1974 Fine Arts Department map.


The chedi is in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 30.87" N, 100° 35' 34.26" E.





References:


[1] Intralib, Sontiwan (1991). An outline of the History of Religious Architecture in Thailand. Third Edition December 1991. Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University.