AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL RESEARCH



WAT RATCHA PRADITSATHAN





Wat Ratcha Praditsathan (1) is an active temple located on Ayutthaya’s city island in Tha Wasukri Sub-district. It sits at the corner of Chikun Road and U Thong Road, near the Maharat Bridge over Khlong Mueang to Wat Wong Khong.


The monastery was located next to Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak (2), separating it from Wat Tha Sai (on the opposite side of the canal). This canal has largely been filled in, leaving a small pond on the premises. Traces of the Pratu Khao Pluak fortress and the watergate Pratu Khao Pluak can still be seen in situ. Wat Racha Praditsathan has annexed Wat Tha Sai and is now considered a single temple.


Architecture


Wat Ratcha Praditsathan has been given a modern ordination hall in the Rattanakosin style. The monastery is decorated with mirrored tiles that have some elaborate decorations. The gable of the sermon hall dramatically portrays a Garuda carrying a four-armed figure while clutching two Nagas in its talons.


The monastery had its Wisung Kham Sima (3) granted on 2 September 1954 CE. The ordination hall is graced by double sema stones, perched on white pedestals with pink lotus flowers, indicating its royal grant. Several gold-painted Buddha images sit on the altar inside, one of which is called Phra Borom Trailokanat.


Two small old chedis stand on the northern side of the sermon hall. One has multiple layers with a bell-shaped crown. The second chedi is constructed in the “mango seed” style, the only one of its kind in the city.





(Buddha image at Wat Ratcha Praditsathan - August 2021 CE)



History


The Monastery of the Royal Installation, as Richard Cushman translated the name of this Siamese temple [1], is also mentioned several times in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya.

The temple is closely associated with King Chakkraphat (reign 1548-1569 CE), who served as a monk at this temple before accepting the throne. This story dates back to Queen Regent Si Sudachan and Khun Worawongsa usurping the throne in 1548 CE. Si Sudachan was a concubine of King Chairatcha (reign 1534-1547 CE) who became Queen Regent after his death. Her 11-year-old son, Yot Fa, was made king, but his power was short-lived (reign 1547-48 CE). The Queen Regent had her child executed at Wat Khok Phraya and appointed her lover, Khun Worawongsa (reign 1548 CE), as the new monarch. Meanwhile, Prince Yot Fa’s uncle, Prince Thianratcha (the future King Chakkraphat), sought political refuge by ordaining as a monk at Wat Ratcha Praditsathan. Khun Worawongsa’s ill-fated reign would last only six weeks. A group of assassins ambushed him and Queen Regent Si Sudachan while the couple had a recreational outing on Khlong Pla Mo. The two usurpers and their baby daughter were taken away to be executed and their corpses publicly displayed at Wat Raeng. The assassins then persuaded Prince Thianratcha to leave the monkhood at Wat Ratcha Praditsathan to become king. [2]

After accepting the throne, King Chakkraphat sent the younger brother of the 11-year-old King Yot Fa - Prince Si Sin - to Wat Ratcha Praditsathan to be raised as a novice monk (Cushman 41). However, as Prince Si Sin became older, he staged a rebellion to claim the throne. Prince Si Sin and his supporters attacked the Royal Palace by entering the Sao Thong Chai gate. This surprise attack forced King Chakkraphat to flee the palace. Eventually, Prince Si Sin was killed in a battle by gunfire. As a warning against future rebellions, the prince’s colleagues and some of their wives were executed in public, and their bodies were impaled and displayed next to the corpse of Prince Si Sin. [3]

At the end of King Phumintharacha's reign (1709-1733 CE), preparations began for the royal succession and the mostly inevitable fight for the throne. The old king designated one of his sons as heir without the consent of his younger brother, the deputy king. The king ordered defensive works inside the capital along Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak to Pratu Jin (Chinese Gate). One defensive stockade was established on the west bank of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, in front of Wat Ratcha Praditsathan and beside the Elephant Bridge. This stockade fell under the command of a certain Khun Si Khong Yot.


The deputy king, living in the Front Palace, ordered the same defences set up along the eastern bank of the canal. The son of the deputy king took the occasion to shoot and kill Khun Si Khong Yot in his enclosure from the window of a house on the edge of the Pratu Khao Pluak Canal. It was the start of a bloody internal war of succession. [4]


Wat Ratcha Praditsathan is also mentioned in one of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab's writings. When the Burmese stood before the gates of Ayutthaya in 1767 CE, the ex-King Uthumphon left the Pradu Monastery and came to reside at Wat Ratcha Praditsathan. It was here that he was arrested at the fall of Ayutthaya and brought under guard at the fortification of Pho Sam Ton. [5]

Maps

Wat Ratcha Praditsathan is shown on Kaempfer’s sketch. Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716 CE) was a medical doctor working for the Dutch VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) who surveyed the city of Ayutthaya in June 1690 CE. The temple sits on the west bank of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, near the northern city wall. The depiction of the monastery is difficult to discern, but we can see a chedi on the left. Opposite the canal, we find the chedi of Wat Tha Sai. Elephant Road and Bridge are visualised clearly.

The monastery does not appear on Bellin’s map, ‘Plan De La Ville De Siam’, although the two bastions along the Khao Pluak canal are visible. Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772 CE) was one of the most important cartographers of the 18th century.

Wat Ratcha Praditsathan is indicated on a map drafted in the 19th century by an unknown surveyor. The drawing shows Wat Pra (ประ) along Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak. Opposite the canal stood Wat Tha Sai, and to its west was Wat Klang, also called Wat Suwannawat. Wat Pra is shown with a chedi to the south. This chedi is no longer visible today.

The temple appears on Phraya Boran Ratchathanin's 1926 CE map in the same position as on the 19th-century map. Phraya Boran (1871-1936 CE) was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 to 1929 CE.


Wat Ratcha Praditsathan is at geographical coordinates: 14° 21' 45.24" N, 100° 34' 6.08" E.





(View of Wat Ratcha Praditsathan - September 2008 CE)



Noh Na Paknam


Noh Na Paknam was a prolific writer, art historian, and preservationist who worked closely with Silpakorn University and the Fine Arts Department, and who wrote extensively on Thai temples, antiques, and murals. From November 1966 to March 1967 CE, he spent five months in the Ayutthaya area, visiting known temples and ruins. He visited Wat Ratcha Praditsathan on 25 November 1966 CE. The following is a report from his site visit.


“Wat Racha Pradisthan. This temple was completely renovated, leaving only traces of the old ones on the boundary markers. It is understood that the boundary markers existed before the time of King Maha Chakraphat, because history says that when he was Phra Chian Raja, he had been ordained here. The boundary markers are 0.71 x 0.48 × 0.13 m. They are made of red sandstone with a single-sided carving in a shape similar to the boundary markers of Wat Yanasen. We will have to wait for further verification before we can make an assumption.” [6]


Personal note

The present ordination hall of Wat Ratcha Praditsathan was established in 1917 CE, and in my opinion, the monastic structures of Wat Suwannawat were part of the monastery. The buildings of Wat Suwannawat are aligned on an east-west axis. We find an identical east-west alignment at Wat Thai Sa, opposite Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak. The present ordination hall has a rare north-south alignment and is opposed to the directions of Wat Suwannawat and Wat Tha Sai. On Kaempfer’s sketch, the Chikun Road stops at the intersection with Maphrao Road (the former Elephant Road), and from the crossing, only a path leads to the monastery. I believe it is evident that the construction of the Maharat Bridge over Khlong Mueang and the Maharat Road in the 20th century has cut through the temple complex. I believe that, because this monastery appears several times in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya as a royal retreat, the premises of Wat Ratcha Praditsathan were not confined to the small space on the west bank of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak but also included the structures of Wat Suwannawat.

Footnotes:

(1) Ratcha = royal Praditsathan = to install.
(2) Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, or the ‘Canal of the Gate of Unmilled Rice’, was part of a waterway running through the middle of Ayutthaya from north to south. The canal, a shortcut in the oxbow of the Lopburi River, ran until the Chikun Bridge and continued to the Chinese water gate (Pratu Jin).
(3) The royal grant of land separated from the land of the country unto the priests, specifically to build a monastic chapel by the announcement of a royal decree. The signs indicating the area are called 'Nimit'. After having received the royal ‘Wisung Kham Sema’, an ordination hall can be established. Before requesting a royal grant (พระราชทานวิสุงคามสีมา), the temple must have not fewer than five monks permanently residing for not less than five years.





(Chedis at Wat Ratcha Praditsathan - August 2021 CE)



References:


[1] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. pp. 413 / Source: Phan Canthanumat, British Museum, Reverend Phonnarat & Royal Autograph.

[2] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. pp. 23-5.

[3] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. pp. 41-2.

[4] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. pp. 413-4.

[5] Rajanubhab, Damrong (Prince) (1917). Our Wars with the Burmese. White Lotus, Bangkok (2000). pp. 161.

[6] Uluchada, Prayoon aka Noh Na Paknam (2527). Five Months in the Midst of Ayutthaya's Brick Rubble. (Hā Dư̄an Klāng Sākʻit Pūn Thī ʻAyutthayā). Bangkok.



Selected PICTURES



Pictures taken August 2021 CE



MAPS



Map 1 - Detail of Kaempfer's sketch, 1690 CE. Werke 4. Kritische Ausgabe in Einzelbänden. Herausgegeben von Detlef Haberland, Wolfgang Michel, Elisabeth Gössmann. Engelbert Kaempfer in Siam. Iudicum Verlag GmbH München 2003.
Map 2 - Detail of a 19th-century map. Courtesy of the Sam Chao Phraya Museum. Remark: the map is oriented south.
Map 3 - Detail of Phraya Boran Ratchathanin's map, 1926 CE. Wat Suwandararam, Ayutthaya.
Map 4 - Detail of a 2007 Fine Arts Department GIS map. Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department 3rd Region.
Map 5 - Google Earth.



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