WAT KHONGKHA WIHAN (วัดโคงคาวิหาร) |
Text & photographs by Ken May - September 2009 |
This monastery was situated on the city island just west of Wat Suwannawat. The site is now located on the premises of a school (Pra Nakorn Si Ayutthaya Kindergarten) at Tambon Tha Wasukri. U-Thong Road passes by just north of this site. Historical data about this monastery is unknown. Wat Khongkha Wihan was formerly located within the city walls along the old Lopburi River (Khlong Mueang). It was first indicated on Phraya Boran Rachathanin’s 1926 map and appeared in the 1957 Fine Arts Department Guide to Ayudhya. Unfortunately, this monastery is missing today. The only trace of its former existence can be found in a small courtyard at the school that is surrounded by modern buildings. A large tree grows on the site of the former monastery, and some of the old bricks can be seen within its roots. This tree doubles as a small shrine with its own spirit house. It is usually decorated with yellow cloth and offerings are still made to the fenced-in shrine. Based on verbal narrative, this monastery was greatly eroded even before the school was built on site. There wasn’t enough left of this former monastery to even classify it as a brick mound. However, at some point, the area around the tree was built up to commemorate the ancient site. Few people know the purpose of the shrine or remember that a monastery once existed on the premises. It would be more accurate to list Wat Khongkha Wihan as a lost temple. |
(Detail of Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map - Anno 1926) |
(Detail of a 19th century map - map is orientated S-N.) |
Addendum Wat Khongkha Wihan is also indicated on a map drafted in the mid-19th century with the denomination Wat Khongkha Phihan (วัดโคงคาพิหาร) (1). The map shows the presence of a chedi. The monastery was situated east of the Phra Kalahom boat landing on the city canal (Khlong Mueang) just opposite Wat Pho. The name of the monastery refers to one of the five great rivers (Maha Nathi), whose source is in the Himalayan lake Anodat. They are named Khongkha (Ganges), Yumna, Achirawadi, Saraphum, and Mahi. [1] The monastery was located in Geo Coord: 14° 21' 40.68" N, 100° 33' 59.90" E. Footnotes: (1) Phihan (พิหาร) could be translated as "chapel" and is nowadays written as "wihan" (วิหาร). Mark Carr writes the following on Phihan: "The temples of Samana Kodam are called Pihan (2); and round them are habitations for the priests, resembling a college; so those of Boddou are called Vihar, and the principal priests live in them as in a college. The word Vihar, or, as the natives of Bengal would write it, Bihar, is Sanscrit." (2) Refers here to the temples of Siam. References: [1] The Wheel of The Law - Henry Alabaster (1871) - Trubner & Co, London - Page 307. [2] Descriptive and historical papers relating to the Seven Pagodas on the Coromandel Coast - Sir William Chambers, Mark William Carr (1869) - Page 21. |
(Addendum & maps by Tricky Vandenberg - January 2011) |
(On the premises of the school) |
(On the premises of the school) |
(Detail of a 2007 Fine Arts Department GIS map - Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department - 3th Region) |