Wat Langkha Khao is a restored temple ruin situated within the Ayutthaya Historical Park in the Bueng Phra Ram area in the Tha Wasukri Sub-district.
The ruin is south of Wat Chum Saeng, north of Wat Langkha Dam, west of Wat Satabap and Wat Maha That and east of the defunct temple Wat Jan (3).
Wat Langkha Khao stood on the west bank of a small canal called Lam Khu Pak Sa (Lit. the ditch to the pond's mouth). This small watercourse diverted water from the old Lopburi River (a stretch called today Khlong Mueang) through the Maha Thera Mai Sae tunnel gate in the city wall and through the area presently called Bueng Phra Ram. The water ran through earthenware pipes under the Elephant Road, passed Wat Yan Sen and Wat Chum Saeng, then ran under the Palace Road to continue further south to join the Pratu Thep Mi Canal. [1]
Wat Langkha Khao figures on Kaempfer’s sketch drawn in June 1690 CE. Engelbert Kaempfer was a medical doctor working for the Dutch VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) who visited and surveyed Ayutthaya extensively. In the sketch, we the temple situated along Palace Road and a road longing the east bank of Lam Khu Pak Sa going to the Wanon Bridge on the city's southern side.
Wat Langkha Khao follows on an east-west alignment, with a rectangular building and a chedi to its west. Only a square brick wall indicates the location of either an ordination or a prayer hall.
The chedi stands on a raised foundation. The base of the chedi is octagonal, as well as the high drum. The drum is partitioned into three tapering layers, possibly symbolising the world, the Dewa heavens, and the formed Brahmas heavens. [2]
The dome is bell-shaped in Sri Lankan style. The harmika or throne is octagonal instead of the classic cubical style and missing the colonnade in support of the umbrella. I count 16 conical tapering discs, likely representing the sixteen heavens of the formed Brahmas, the meditative angels. (1) The top knob is damaged. The chedi has an entrance on the eastern side, which one reaches by some stairs. The inner chamber is home to multiple bats.
Wat Langkha Khao's historical data is unknown, but there could have been some connection with Wat Langkha Dam, given the similarity in names.
The "Master Plan for Tourism Development of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya and the Neighbouring Provinces" mentions no remains of this temple. The document stipulates that there were only three temples left in Bueng Phra Ram in 1988, all in poor condition: Wat Nok, Wat Song Pat (likely Wat Sangkha Pat) and Wat Langkha Dam. The ruin of Wat Langkha Khao we see today must be a reconstruction based on Phraya Boran Rachathanin’s map of 1926 CE. [3]
Footnotes:
(1) The Brahmas are superior angels whose pleasures are simply intellectual or meditative but who are yet mundane in that they have bodies or forms.
