22 Walks in Bangkok by Kenneth Barrett

Author:Kenneth Barrett
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 978-0-8048-4343-0
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

The building of the enormous Buddha image at Wat In took sixty years to complete.

Our way now takes us across the third moat, the final line of defence around the city, although when it was dug in the time of Rama IV in 1851, the threat of invasion had almost vanished and the canal was primarily for transport and drainage. At the mouth of the canal, on the far bank, is Wat Thewa Ratchakunchon, a temple with an outstanding sky-blue fresco in the ubosot, angels floating in the firmament around the golden Buddha image that almost fills the small hall. The temple has some particularly fine residential architecture in its grounds, and is also home to the Golden Teak Museum, a structure brought down from the north, and whose glowing golden teak interior forms an exhibition area for the display of Buddhist artifacts from Sri Lanka and sculptures of renowned monks from the Rattanakosin period.

Rama IV planned to build temples all along the bank of the outer moat, as had been done in Ayutthaya. Wat Makut Kasat and Wat Somanas were therefore built as new temples and are the only two temples in Rattanakosin that have two rings of sema, or boundary stones. The first ring, called the maha sema, is placed within niches in the temple walls, while the second ring, the khantha sema, surrounds the ubosot. In temples that have two rings of sema, the monks can perform religious ceremonies in both the ubosot and the wiharn. At Wat Makut Kasat, the gables and the door and window frames are decorated with the royal crown insignia of Rama IV. The murals inside the ubosot depict scenes from stories in the Pali Canon about the Buddha’s male and female disciples, along with illustrations of meditation techniques and commandments, while Khmer incantations are inscribed on the door and window panels. Rama IV dedicated Wat Somanas to Queen Somanas, his consort, who had died at the beginning of his reign aged only 17. Wat Somanas stands on twelve acres of land, with moats on three sides and the outer city moat in front of the compound. Both of these temples have the same distinctive layout, with the ubosot, wiharn, cloister and chedi located in the middle, and two clusters of monks’ dwellings one on each side.

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