Wat Maha That, or the Monastery of the Great Relic, is located on the city island in the central part of Ayutthaya in the Tha Wasukri Sub-district. The temple is situated on the corner of the present Chikun Road and Naresuan Road.
The monastery stood on the west bank of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, an important canal that had been filled up somewhere in the early 20th century. In ancient times the temple was likely fully surrounded by canals and moats. The structure was registered as a national historic site by the Fine Arts Department on 8 March 1935 CE and is part of the Ayutthaya Historical Park.
History
The exact date of the establishment of Wat Maha That is difficult to assess. The Luang Prasoet version of the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya put its construction in 736 Chula Sakarat (CS) or 1374 of the Christian Era, during the reign of King Borommaracha I (1370-1388 CE), somehow 23 years after the establishment of Ayutthaya. The chronicles mention that the central prang had a height of 46 meters.
"In 736, a year of the tiger, King Bòromracha I and the Venerable Thammakanlayan first erected the great, glorious, holy jewelled reliquary, towering one sen and three wa, to the east of the royal lion gable." [1]
Later versions of the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya state that Wat Maha That was established by King Ramesuan (reign 1388-1395 CE) after he attacked Chiang Mai in 1384 CE (746 CS). But this date is not corroborating his period of reign.
"Then the King went out to observe the precepts at Mangkhalaphisek Hall. At ten thum he looked toward the east and saw a Great Holy Relic of the Lord Buddha performing a miracle. Calling the palace deputies to bring his royal palanquin, he rode forth. He had stakes brought and pounded into the ground to mark the spot. The great holy reliquary which he built there was nineteen wa high, with a nine-branched finial three wa high, and named the Maha That Monastery. Then the King had the Royal Rite of Entering the Capital performed and festivities were held in the royal residence." [2]
In general, historians bet on the two horses and take as granted that the construction of the monastery was started by King Borommaracha I and completed during King Ramesuan’s reign. In the second version, the prang was 38 meters high with on top a finial of 6 meters. An earlier source (1), Jeremias Van Vliet, a chief merchant of the Dutch East India Company in Ayutthaya, wrote in his Short History of the Kings of Siam in 1640 CE that it was Prince U-Thong, the later King Ramathibodhi I, who built Wat Maha That.
"Then Thao U Thong began to re-establish the city on the fifth day of the waxing fourth moon (in our reckoning being the month of March) in the Year of the Tiger and called it Ayutthaya. He also built three temples which are still considered to be the most important in the whole kingdom: the Nopphathat, the most holy Ratchaburana, the same size and shape as the Nopphathat but not visited by the kings because of a prophecy that the first king who goes in there will die shortly thereafter and Wat Doem still the foremost [monastic?] school. After Thao U Thong had built the aforementioned city, he had the entire population called together and declared himself king." [3]
The chronicles mention that King Borommaracha II (reign 1424-1448 CE) attacked Angkor in 1431 CE and had many sacred images of oxen, lions and other creatures removed from the temples. These images were brought to Ayutthaya and installed as offerings at Wat Maha That.
"In 793, a year of the boar, King Bòromracha II went and seized Nakhòn Luang. He then had his son, Prince Nakhòn In, ascend the royal throne of Nakhòn Luang. At that time, the King then had Phraya Kaeo and Phraya Thai and all of the images brought to Ayutthaya.] [BCDF: The King then had Phraya Kaeo, Phraya Thai, and their families, as well as all the images of sacred oxen and all the images of lions and other creatures, brought along. When they reached Ayutthaya, the King had all the animal images taken and presented as offerings, some at the Phra Si Ratana Maha That Monastery and some at the Phra Si Sanphet Monastery." [4]
Wat Maha That was one of the most important monasteries of the Ayutthaya kingdom, not only because it was the religious centre and enshrined relics of the Buddha but also because of its proximity to the Grand Palace. It was a royal monastery and the seat of the Supreme Patriarch of the City Dwelling sect till the end of the Ayutthaya period, identical to the Supreme Patriarch of the Forest Dwelling sect, who had his seat at Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon (called Wat Pa Kaeo in earlier times). Van Vliet wrote in 1638 CE in his ‘Description of the Kingdom of Siam’ that from the highest ecclesiastic regents, namely the four bishops of the principal temples of Judia, “The bishop of the Nappetat (2) has the supreme dignity.” [5]
In the past, it was the venue of important royal ceremonies and celebrations. Van Vliet describes the splendour of the yearly Royal procession to Wat Maha That on the occasion of Kathin, where the Ayutthayan Kings “made their offerings to the gods and prayed for the country's welfare”. [6].
Jacobus van de Koutere or Jacques de Coutre, born in Bruges (Flanders) around 1572 CE and a merchant in gemstones, gave in his manuscript ‘La Vida de Jaques de Couttre’ a description of what was likely Wat Maha That. In 1595 CE, de Coutre stayed about eight months in Ayutthaya as part of an embassy sent to Siam by the Portuguese governor of Malacca.
"Each of the pagodas had a very high tower of stone and brick masonry, and gilded from the tip until the middle, with four stairs made of gilded lead ... The said towers were built on very large squares paved with bricks. In each square one had four ponds, one in each corner, with many trees on the water's edge. Around the tower there was a small fence in masonry. Inside the fence there were many lamps around, and many bronze figures leaned against the wall, as high as a man of good stature ... They were made completely out of bronze and natural looking. They were found then forty years before, in the Kingdom of Cambodia, in a ruined city which the natives came across in the forest. They did not know which nation had lived there. When they described it they called it Anguor." [7]
The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya state that during King Songtham’s reign (1610/1611-1628 CE), the prang fell in decay, and the upper part of the main prang came down.
"In that year, the stupa of the Monastery of the Holy Great Relic collapsed right down to the level of the garudas and its foundation settled." [8]
Van Vliet wrote in 'The short History of the Kings of Siam 1640' that the tower collapsed in the third year of King Prasat Thong’s reign (1629-1656 CE), thus being 1631 CE.
"In the third year of his reign, the golden tower of the Nopphathat suddenly collapsed without a crosswind, thunder, or lightning. He had it quickly erected again, but before this tower was totally restored, the scaffolding (beautifully durably made of bamboo) also collapsed unexpectedly during a rain to consequence, strange omens were seen but were kept secret by the soothsayers." [9]
Prasat Thong restored the stupa in 1633 CE and increased it considerably. The prang was raised to 44 meters and reached at that time, with its finial, 50 metres.
"In 995 (1633 CE), a year of the cock, the King in His holy compassion had the holy stupa of the Monastery of the Great Relic, which had been destroyed earlier, restored. Originally the main section had been nineteen wa, with a sky trident spire of three wa, so the King said, “The original form was extremely squat. Rebuild it so it is a sen and two wa high but retain the sky trident spire so that together they equal one sen and five wa.” When it was built it looked conical and it was ordered that makha wood be brought and added to the brick and that mortar be taken and added to it. In nine months it was completed and a ceremony to dedicate it was ordered to be held on a grand scale." [10]
Artisans restored Wat Maha That in King Borommakot’s reign (1733-1758 CE) and added four porticos to the prang. The restoration occurred at the same time as the renovation of the royal vihara and the ordination hall. We could not find evidence of other restorations in the Ayutthaya era after that. On several occasions in time, the sanctuary received some chedis, prangs, and viharas. At the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 CE, the Burmese attack set fire to the monastery.
Wat Maha That housed before an unusual Buddha image in green stone in the Dvaravati style (Mon) dating from 707 - 757 CE. A governor of Ayutthaya got this statue moved to Wat Na Phra Men during the reign of King Rama III, where it still resides in a small vihara next to the ubosot.
The main prang of Wat Maha That survived until the reign of King Rama V, as seen in a photograph taken in 1903, early 1904. On 25 May 1904 CE, at 0500 Hr in the morning, the main prang collapsed at the niche level. The prang fell further apart in 1911 during the reign of King Rama VI. The Fine Arts Department restored it partially. The symmetrical base with staircases on the four sides is all that remains of the once majestic prang.
Wat Maha That was certainly not exempted from looting. From its destruction in 1767 until its restoration by the Fine Arts Department last century, the temple has been prone to severe looting and damage by illegal excavation.
The pictures of Wat Maha That taken by Peter Williams-Hunt during reconnaissance missions of the Royal Air Force in the 2nd World War shows in what state the ruins of Wat Maha That were in 1946. The Fine Arts Department undertook quite a bit of restoration of the site.
Footnotes:
(1) The earliest version of the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya is the Luang Prasoet chronicle dating from 1680, somehow 40 years later than Van Vliet’s work. All the other Chronicles of Ayutthaya were written after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767.
(2) Wat Maha That was rendered by the Dutch as Nopphathat, Nappetat or Nappetadt. [11] The author found another denomination of the temple in Ref 7 being Wat Naputhan. Ven. Jinawarawansi (Prince Prisdang of Siam) corrected this in the notes of reference as Na-pa-tan (Na Pa Than). Pa Than stands for the "charcoal quarter" hence Wat Na Pa Than means the "Monastery in front of the charcoal quarter".