WAT KHRUTTHARAM

Wat Khruttharam, or the Monastery of the Garuda (1), is located off the city island in the northern area of Ayutthaya, in Khlong Sra Bua Sub-district. The temple is situated on the east bank of Khlong Sra Bua (2) in a locality called Thung Kaeo (3) and can be accessed by the road running parallel with Khlong Hua Ro (4). Wat Bua stood opposite the Sra Bua canal, and Wat Ngio was north of Wat Khruttharam, along the bank of Khlong Hua Ro. Originally the temple was called Wat Khrut. (5)

Wat Khrut stood in the centre of a community whose primary occupation was to mould large storage jars mainly for water called Nang Loeng (นางเลิ้ง) or free translated "large ladies". [1]

After moulding, the pots were dried and fired following open bonfire techniques. Excavations concerning ceramic production in this area were undertaken by the Fine Arts Department from 2000 to 2002. (See: Khlong Sra Bua Kilns and Ban Tum Kilns)

The primary purpose of these water jars we can find back in de La Loubère's Historical Relation: "For when the waters retire, and they are filled with mud, and perhaps with the ill juices which they take from the earth, or when the river is re-entered into its channel sufficiently muddy, they are more corrosive, do cause concerning and lasks, and cannot be drunk without danger, till they have them stand in great jars or pitchers, the space of three weeks or a month." [2]

Wat Khrut was one of the thirty known land markets outside Ayutthaya. [3]

The monastery is still in use by the Buddhist clergy. The oldest area in the temple compound has a walled ordination hall or ubosot built in the early Ayutthaya style (1351-1488 CE). A small chedi is situated southeast of the ubosot.

The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya, editions of the British Museum and Reverend Phonnarat, mention that King Suriyamin (reign 1758-1767 CE) constructed this temple in 1759 CE at the same time as the ‘Monastery of the Lamut Tree’. [4]

The temple is featured on the 1974, 1993 and 2007 CE Foreign Arts Department maps. On the 1974 and 1993 CE FAD maps, the monastery is called Wat Khrut.

Wat Khruttharam is in geographical coordinates: 14° 22' 38.54" N, 100° 33' 29.16" E.

There is also a brick mound of a temple called Wat Khrut in Tha Wasukri Sub-district in a locality called Thung Khwan.

Footnotes:

(1) Suparna and Garuda (Th: Suban and Khrut) are Sanskrit terms denoting a race of enormous, monstrous birds whose chief occupation seems to be watching for and pouncing on the weaker Naga serpents. The Garudas can only conquer the weaker family members (218) as their power is not equal to that of the superior Nagas. (192) The bird Garuda is the bearer of Vishnu, commonly represented in pictures as being borne along by that bird. (212) Phya Khrut is the great enemy of the Nagas but not otherwise evil-disposed. (258) [5]
(2) Khlong Sra Bua, or the Lilly Pond Canal, is a canal situated in the northern area off the city island in the Khlong Sra Bua district. The waterway splits from Khlong Hua Ro between Wat Ngio (defunct) and Wat Si Liam. The canal has its mouth at the City Canal (Khlong Mueang) between Wat Na Phra Men and Wat Mai in front of the north-eastern corner of the Grand Palace. The canal was a shortcut in the old Lopburi River.
(3) Thung Kaeo or Crystal Field is an area north of the city of Ayutthaya bordered on the west and north by Khlong Sra Bua on the east by Khlong Hua Ro, and on the south by Khlong Mueang.
(4) Khlong Hua Ro is situated off the city island in the northern area and north of the Hua Ro Sub-district. The canal is the western border of the Suan Phrik Sub-district and the eastern border of the Lum Phli and Khlong Sra Bua sub-districts. The old Lopburi River bed ran from Wat Khao Din (Wat Wora Nayok Rangsan) in Bang Pahan District towards the city of Ayutthaya and is now divided in four stretches Khlong Ban Muang from Wat Muang until Wat Dao Khanong in Bang Pahan District Khlong Bang Khuat (a short-cut canal in the Lopburi River loop) from Wat Dao Khanong to (south of) Wat Klang Raman in Ayutthaya City District Khlong Hua Ro from (north of) Wat Pom Raman to Hua Ro in Ayutthaya City District.
(5) The suffix ‘tharam’ is used in Sanskrit for a comparative and superlative form (great - greater, string - stronger) hence Wat Khrut - Wat Khrutharam. [6]

References:

[1] Pongsripian, Vinai, Dr. (2007). Phanna phumisathan Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya: Ekasan jak Ho Luang. Geographical description of Ayutthaya: Documents from the palace. Bangkok: Usakane. pp. 86-7.

[2] Loubère, Simon (de la) (1693). A new Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam (2 Tomes). London. Edited by John Villiers. Bangkok: White Lotus, 1986. p. 21.

[3] Pongsripian, Vinai, Dr. (2007). Phanna phumisathan Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya: Ekasan jak Ho Luang. Geographical description of Ayutthaya: Documents from the palace. Bangkok: Usakane. pp. 86-7.

[4] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. p. 472.

[5] Alabaster, Henry (1871). The Wheel of The Law. London: Trubner & Co.

[6] Whitney, William Dwight (1979). A Sanskrit grammar including both the classical language, and the older dialects, of Veda and Brahmana. Leipzig, Breitkopf and Härtel. p. 159 #473.