WAT SUREN





Wat Suren, or the Monastery of the God Indra (1), is located off the city island in the western area of Ayutthaya in the Ban Pom Sub-district. It is situated on Road No 347, just next to a small coconut factory and south of Wat Worachet.


In situ is a brick mound with remnants of a wall and broken Buddha statues. The site is covered in dense vegetation.


The monastery was likely surrounded by a moat and was accessed by a canal called Khlong Klaep, which had a junction with the Lopburi River (2) north of Wat Chai Watthanaram.


The historical background and construction period of the former monastery are unknown, although the temple is mentioned in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya.


The army of the Burmese General Nemiao Sihabodi (Ne Myo Thihapate) set up army camps around the city of Ayutthaya in early 1767 CE. One of the enclosures reinforced with bastions was set up at Wat Suren. From this position, the city was fired at with large guns.


"The next morning Nemiao, the general of the armies, conscripted men and had all his army masters and brigade masters lead them on in to establish stockades at the Monastery of the Krachai Plant, the Monastery of the Victory Pavilion, the Monastery of the Tortoise, the Monastery of the God Indra and the Monastery of Red. They had bastions built in each and every stockade and large and small guns taken up onto them to be fired at the capital in volleys.” [1] (Named respectively: Wat Krachai, Wat Ta Muk, Wat Tao, Wat Suren and Wat Daeng)


A canal leading to a temple, presumably Wat Suren (alternatively, it could also have been Wat Worachet), is found on the map of Jean de Maguelonne de Courtaulin (1638?-1...) titled "Siam ou Iudia, Capitalle du Royaume de Siam Dessigné sur le lieu Par Mr Courtaulin missre Apostolique de la Chine" and published in 1686 CE by Franciscus Jollain, the elder (1641-1704).


The monastery's historical background and period of construction are unknown.


The site is in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 47.19" N, 100° 31' 44.29" E.





(View of the brick mound of Wat Suren)



Footnotes:


(1) สุเรนทร์ = Indra.

(2) Not many people realise the Chao Phraya River was not running on the west side of the city island 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."


References:


[1] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. p. 512.