Footnotes:
(1) Bang Kraja was a village outside the city walls of Ayutthaya. Kraja (กระจะ), sometimes written Kaca, Kacha, means 'distinct'. Villages along a waterway often received the name 'Bang' instead of the classic nomination 'Ban'.
(2) Samphao Lom, literally the capsized junk. John Bowring wrote in his book "The Kingdom and People of Siam" that "Between the modern and the ancient capital, Bangkok and Ayuthia, is a village called the “Sunken Ship,” the houses being erected round a mast which towers above the surface at low water". [Reference: Bowring, John (1857). The Kingdom and People of Siam Vol I. London, John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. p. 12.]
(3) Not many people realise this was not the case in the Ayutthaya period. At that time, it was the Lopburi River that flowed around Ayutthaya. Today's Chao Phraya River ran through the Bang Ban Canal to Si Kuk and from there to Bang Sai (historical site: Chedi Wat Sanam Chai), where the Lopburi River joined the Chao Phraya River. At the time, the Chao Phraya River was situated about ten kilometres west of the centre of Ayutthaya. The city was linked to the ancient Chao Phraya River in the northwest of Ayutthaya via the Khlong Maha Phram and in the southwest via the Khlong Nam Ya. Steve Van Beeck (1994), in 'The Chao Phya: River in Transition" (Oxford University Press - New York.), writes that "It was not until 1857 that an alternative path was created [for the Chao Phraya River]. A 5-kilometre channel was dug from the entrance of Wat Chulamani to Ban Mai. The river responded by following this new course and abandoning the old one, in effect making a secondary river of the stretch that ran from Ban Mai, and into the Chao Phya Noi. Half as wide as the river above and below it, the 1857 Ban Mai shunt funnels the Chao Phya down to Ayutthaya." It was also just a branch of the Pa Sak River that flowed through the Hantra Fields east of Ayutthaya, as there is strong evidence that the Pa Sak River proper flowed into the Chao Phraya River at Bang Pa-In. The branch was then channelled through Khlong Sai in the early twentieth century and eventually became the Pa Sak River that we know today, bordering the east side of the city island.
(3) See the definition of Chula Sakarat in Siampedia. The Luang Prasoet Chronicle states these works were done in 942 CS, being 1580 CE, a date generally accepted.
(4) See the definition of Wa in Siampedia.
(5) Now called Wang Na or Front Palace.
(6) The Nam Won Bang Kaja floating market was one of the four large floating markets on the river around Ayutthaya. [6]
(7) The confluence of the Chao Phraya and Pa Sak rivers, in front of Phet Fortress and Wat Phanan Choeng, has been historically notorious for whirlpools (Th: Nam Won) during the rainy season. (8) Translated: “The Great Siamese River Me-Nam or Mother of Waters depicted in her course with its tributaries”.
References:
[1] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. p. 49.
[2] Ibid. p. 82.
[3] Charnvit Kasetsiri & Michael Wright (2007). Discovering Ayutthaya. Toyota Thailand Foundation. p. 271.
[4] Kaempfer, Engelbert - Werke 4. Kritische Ausgabe in Einzelbänden. Herausgegeben von Detlef Haberland, Wolfgang Michel, Elisabeth Gössmann. Engelbert Kaempfer in Siam. Iudicum Verlag GmbH München 2003. Edited by Barend Jan Terwiel.
[5] Valentyn, François (1626). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën. Deel 3. Boek 6. Beschryvinge van Siam en onsen Handel aldaar.
[6] Pongsripian, Vinai, Dr. (2007). Phanna phumisathan Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya: Ekasan jak Ho Luang. Geographical description of Ayutthaya: Documents from the palace. Bangkok: Usakane. p. 84.
