Wat Suan Dok
Encyclopedia
Thai Temple Art and Architecture
This article on Thai temple art and architecture discusses Buddhist temples in Thailand. A typical Thai Wat, which is loosely translated as monastery or temple, has an enclosing wall that divides it from the secular world.-Wat architecture :The architecture of a Wat has seen many changes in...
) in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...
, northern Thailand
Northern Thailand
Thailand's northern region is geographically characterised by multiple mountain ranges which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar and Laos, and the river valleys which cut through them...
. It is a Royal Temple of the Third Class. The temple is located along Suthep road, approximately one kilometre west of Suan Dok gate.
The Chiang Mai campus of the Buddhist Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University or MCU is one of two public Buddhist universities in Thailand. It is located at Wat Mahathat Yuwarajarangsarit Rajaworamahavihara in Bangkok.- History :...
is housed within the temple compound.
History
Wat Suan Dok was founded by King Kue Na of LannaLanna
The Kingdom of Lanna was a kingdom centered in present-day northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries. The cultural development of the people of Lanna, the Tai Yuan people, had begun long before as successive Tai Yuan kingdoms preceded Lanna...
for the monk Sumana Thera in the year 1370 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
. The temple was built in the centre of Wiang Suan Dok , a walled settlement (Wiang) of the Lawa people
Lawa people
Lawa are an ethnic group in Laos and northern Thailand. They lived there before Thai people arrived. Today they live often in their traditional way of life, often professing animism. As the other mountain ethnic groups of Thailand, they are known for extraordinary craft skills...
older than Chiang Mai itself. The outlines of the fortifications can clearly be traced on satellite images, and remains of some of the earthen walls can still be seen north of Suthep road. King Kue Na's flower garden , which was located here, lent the temple its original name: Wat Buppharam Dok Mai , or Wat Suan Dok Mai for short.
According to legend, Maha Sumana Thera, a monk from the Sukhothai Kingdom
Sukhothai kingdom
The Sukhothai Kingdom ) was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. The Kingdom existed from 1238 till 1438...
, after having had a vision discovered a relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
of the Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
which, also according to the same vision, was to be housed in Chiang Mai. Sumana Thera stayed two rainy seasons
Vassa
Vassa , also called Rains Retreat, or Buddhist Lent, is the three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners...
at Wat Phra Yuen just outside Lamphun
Lamphun
Lamphun is a town in northern Thailand, capital of Lamphun Province. It covers the whole tambon Nai Mueang of Mueang Lamphun district...
at the invitation of King Kue Na while the latter had Wat Buppharam Dok Mai built. When the moment arrived for the relic to be housed in the newly built temple, it miraculously duplicated itself. One of the relics was housed, as intended, in a shrine inside Wat Buppharam Dok Mai, while the other relic was placed on the back of a white elephant which then climbed up Doi Suthep
Doi Suthep
Doi Suthep , is a mountain located in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.-Description: Doi Suthep is one of the twin peaks of a granite mountain located west of Chiang Mai, the other peak is known as Doi Pui and is slightly taller .Doi Suthep is located 15 km away from Chiang Mai city centre.Most...
, the mountain directly west of Chiang Mai, where it trumpeted three times and died. Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep
Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep
Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is a Theravada Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. The temple is often referred to as "Doi Suthep" although this is actually the name of the mountain it is located on. The temple is located 15 km from the city of Chiang Mai and is a sacred site to many Thai...
was built on that spot to house the second relic.
Sights
- The large 48 meter high bell shaped chediStupaA stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
- built in a Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n style - can be seen from far. The relic of the Buddha is said to be contained within. Stairs on all four sides originally led up to the narrow terrace encircling the chedi but these have since been replaced by rampsInclined planeThe inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights. By moving an object up an inclined plane rather than completely vertical, the amount of force required is reduced, at the expense of increasing the...
, the balusterBalusterA baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s of which are decorated with seven-headed nāgaNagaNaga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
s emerging from the mouths of makaraMakara (Hindu mythology)Makara is a sea-creature in Hindu mythology. It is generally depicted as half terrestrial animal and in hind part as aquatic animal, in the tail part, as a fish tail or also as seal...
s, as is typical for the classic Lanna style. - The large sala kan prian ' onMouseout='HidePop("31792")' href="/topics/Sermon">sermonSermonA sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
hall) is located directly east of the main chedi. It was built in 1932 by the famous monk Phra Krubra Srivichai, who also had an ubosot built as well as the main chedi restored. The main Buddha statuesBuddha images in ThailandA Buddha image in Thailand typically refers to three dimensional stone, wood, clay, or metal cast images of the Buddha. While there are such figures in all regions where Buddhism is commonly practiced, the appearance, composition and position of the images vary greatly from country to...
inside the sala kan prian are placed so that they look out at opposite directions. The statue of the Buddha seated in meditation (Bhumisparsha Mudrā) looks towards the east, whereas the other statue, a standing Buddha holding a bundle of straw, faces west towards the chedi. Placed in front of the seated statue one finds a smaller Buddha in the Lanna style, created during King Kue Na's time. The feet of this statue are unusual in that the toes are - influenced by Sri Lanka - individually formed. Flanking the images are more statues of the Buddha, some of which are from the 1930s. - The recently renovated ubosot contains a 4.70 m (15.4 ft) high bronzeBronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
Buddha statue in the Bhumisparsha-MudraMudraA mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers...
posture, which was caste in 1504 CE during the rule of King Mueang Kaeo. The statue, which carries the name Phra Chao Kao Tue, is remarkable in that the fingers of the Buddha are all of the same length, indicative of influence from Sukhothai, but with robes depicted in the style of the Ayutthaya KingdomAyutthaya kingdomAyutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...
. - A grouping of white washed mausoleumMausoleumA mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
s, which house the cremationCremationCremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
ashes of members of the royal family of Chiang MaiJedton DynastyThe Chet Ton Dynasty It was established towards the end of the reign of King Thai Sa of Ayutthaya by Thipchang of Nan, a mahout and woodsman who was appointed ruler of Lampang City for good military deeds...
, is located in the northwestern quarter of the temple grounds. At the beginning of the 20th century, Princess Dara Rasmi, one of the wives of King ChulalongkornChulalongkornPhra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Chulalongkorn Phra Chunla Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama V was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri. He was known to the Siamese of his time as Phra Phuttha Chao Luang . He is considered one of the greatest kings of Siam...
(Rama V) and daughter of the Lanna king InthawichayanonInthawichayanonPhra Chao Inthawichayanon was King of Chiang Mai and Ruler of Lannathai from 1870 until his death in 1897. His daughter, Princess Dara Rasmi of Chiang Mai become King Rama V's Princess Consort...
, had the ashes collected from around Chiang Mai to be interred at their present setting.
External links
- Information and Activities MCU Chiang Mai Campus (Thai languageThai languageThai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
website)