Wat Khok Raeng, or the Monastery of the Mound of the Vultures, was located off Ayutthaya's city island in the southern area, in the Samphao Lom Sub-district (1).
The monastery was situated in the Bang Kraja area (2). Wat Sangkha Jai stood in the north, while Wat Kuti was in the southeast.
There are no traces of the monastery above ground level.
Historical data about the monastery and its construction are unknown.
Wat Khok Raeng was likely a kind of temple "specialised" in exposing bodies in the open air and letting vultures and carrion birds consume the flesh. The bones were then burned, and the ashes scattered. The exposure of the corpse to vultures was a very ancient and widespread custom. Quaritch Wales wrote it used to be the custom in Siam at some time before cremation to cut off part of the flesh of the corpse immediately after death and offer it to the temple dogs and vultures on gold or silver dishes. This was only done by the wish of the deceased. It was given a Buddhist significance and considered an act of great merit. It ceased long ago to be the custom of royalty and has been prohibited by law in the case of commoners. The practice of exposing a corpse to the vultures was a very ancient one amongst the Khmers since it is mentioned in the History of the Leang, and it was also common amongst the Malays before the introduction of Islam. [1]
It existed in Siam until the beginning of the 20th century in its primitive form as a means of disposing of the bodies of criminals and paupers (3).
De La Loubère wrote: "Those that have not wherewithal to pay the Talapoins, do think they do honor enough to their dead parents, to expose them in the field on an eminent place, that is to say on a scaffold, where the volturs and the crows devour them." [2]
The site is not indicated on the 19th-century map but is mentioned on Phraya Boran Ratchathanin's map drafted in 1926 CE. Phraya Boran (1871-1936 CE) was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 to 1929 CE but occupied important functions since 1896 CE in Monthon Ayutthaya.
Based on the 2007 CE Fine Arts Department (FAD) map, the site was in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 43.67" N, 100° 34' 18.99" E.
The temple on this map was renamed for a reason unknown as Wat Sam Jin or the Monastery of the Three Chinese. [1]
