Wat Kun Saen and the Chankasem Palace
Nantana Hengpujaroen wrote that according to some old documents, the walls around the Chan Kasem Palace or Front Palace had a length of 50 Sen or approximately 2000 m. The palace occupied thus an area roughly going from the Unmilled Rice Fort (Pom Khao Phluak) and Wat Tha Sai towards the Maha Chai Fort, going down to the Ho Rattanachai Gate and running back along the Ho Rattanachai canal towards the Unmilled Rice Gate. The palace area should have included at least eight monasteries, one of them was Wat Khun Saen. The issue of such significant palace ground, as mentioned here, was although heavily discussed by scholars and rejected. [4]
In the "Geographical description of Ayutthaya: Documents from the palace", we read that Wat Khun Saen was a monastery inside the palace with an ubosot (ordination hall), a vihara (preaching hall), a teaching hall (kanparien), a reliquary stupa (chedi) and some minor chedis. As this was a monastery inside the palace, no monks were residing identical to the sanctuary of the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Sri Sanphet. This confirms the writings partly on the Front Palace by Hengpujaroen. [5]
Maps
I believe Wat Khun Saen shows in Engelbert Kaempfer’s sketch. Kaempfer was a medical doctor working for the Dutch VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) who surveyed the city of Ayutthaya in June 1690 CE. Though the sketch is a bit unclear in that area, there are two marks of temples at a short distance from each other. A road runs to the south of both temples (today, U-Thong Road is to their north), which let us assume that the city wall was the northern limit of the temple area.
The monastery is found on a 19th-century map of an unknown surveyor in front of the old city wall and on the bank of the old Lopburi River. Wat Song stood to the east, Wat Ratcha Phruek to the south and an unnamed fort, Pom Jampaphon from the Description of Ayutthaya, to the west.
On Phraya Boran Ratchathanin's map drafted in 1926 CE, we find Wat Khun Saen near the bank of the old Lopburi River, south of Wat Chang, east of Wat Khian and north of an unnamed temple, which should be Wat Ratcha Phruek. Phraya Boran was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 till 1929 CE.
Wat Khun Saen is in geographical coordinates: 14° 21' 55.05" N, 100° 34' 15.84" E.
Footnotes:
(1) The Office of Archaeology of the Fine Arts Department excavated the site of Wat Khun Saen before its restoration, and some evidence has been found that this temple may have been built in the early Ayutthaya period or even a little bit before that, but more study is required.
(2) Michael Vickery, in a review of ‘The Short History of the Kings of Siam - Journal of the Siam Society 64.2 (1976)’, believes Khraeng/Graeng stands for the Gyaing River, a river in Kayin State and Mon State, southeastern Myanmar. The river flows into the Salween River immediately above Moulmein. The City of Khraeng was likely along this river.
(3) Chiang Thong was situated between Kamphaeng Phet and Tak. Simon de La Loubère shows the location on map 'Carte du Royaume de Siam' in his book ‘Du Royaume de Siam’ published in 1691 as 'Tian Tong' along the 'Menam River', in fact, the Ping River. Chiang Thong today is a sub-district of Wang Chao in Tak Province.
(4) Wat Khamin must have been the local temple of Ban Khamin before 1580 CE. Ban Khamin was a hamlet on the northeastern tip of Ayutthaya's city island outside the city wall when the eastern city wall ran alongside Khlong Nai Kai (Khlong Makham Riang), and the connection canal (in front of the later Maha Chai Fortress) between the old Lopburi River and the eastern city moat (Khu Khue Na) was not yet dug. Ban Khamin could have been where Curcuma plants were prepared to be sold as spices or medicine.
(5) Roads within the city were also constructed at that time, which led to the filling up of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak - Pratu Jin.
