AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL RESEARCH



WAT THA SAK





Wat Tha Sak, or the Monastery of the Teak Landing, was located off the city island in the southern area of Ayutthaya in the Samphao Lom Sub-district (1).


The monastery was situated along the present Chao Phraya River, the Lopburi River in the Ayutthaya era (2), between Wat Yi Kham and Wat Chi Thammo.


On a Fine Arts Department map drafted in 1974 CE, a canal is indicated between Wat Yi Kham and Wat Tha Sak, leading from the Chao Phraya River south towards Wat Phraya Kong.


Wat Tha Sak is today not much more than a mound of broken bricks and tiles covered in vegetation. An unpaved path curves around the low hill. The mound covers probably the foundations of the former preaching hall.


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


The site is indicated on a 19th-century map and Phraya Boran Ratchathanin's map drafted in 1926 CE. Phraya Boran (1871-1936 CE) was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 to 1929 CE but occupied important functions since 1896 CE in Monthon Ayutthaya.


Based on the 2007 CE Fine Arts Department map, the site is in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 42.06" N, 100° 34' 5.05" E.





(Broken bricks on the site of Wat Tha Sak - August 2009 CE)



Footnotes:


(1) Sub-district called after the village Ban Samphao Lom near the Chao Phraya River. The village is on the Monthon Krung Kao map (1916 CE). John Bowring (1857, London, John W. Parker and Son, West Strand), in his book ‘The Kingdom and People of Siam’, wrote: "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."

(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."



MAPS



Map 1 - Detail of a 19th-century map. Courtesy of the Sam Chao Phraya Museum. Remark: the map is orientated south.
Map 2 - Detail of Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map 1926 CE. Wat Suwandararam, Ayutthaya.
Map 3 - Detail of a 1957 CE Fine Arts Department map. Amatyakul, Tri (1957). Guide to Ayudhya and Bang-Pa-In. Bangkok, Prachandra Press.
Map 4 - Detail of a 1974 CE Fine Arts Department map. Courtesy Dr Surat Lertlum, Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy.



Map 5 - Detail of a 1993 CE Fine Arts Department map. Courtesy Khun Supot Prommanot, Director of the 3rd Regional Office of Fine Arts.
Map 6 - Detail of a 2007 CE Fine Arts Department GIS map. Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department 3rd Region.
Map 7 - Google Earth.



When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
(Alexis de Tocqueville)





HISTORY OF AYUTTHAYA



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