| WAT BOT RACHA DECHA (วัดโบสถ์ราชเดชะ) (วัดโบสถ์ราชเดชะ) |
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| Text, maps & photographs by Tricky Vandenberg - April 2009 Review July 2011, March 2014 |
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| (View of Wat Bot Racha Decha from the east) |
| (Toppled chedi-umbrella in situ) |
| (Brick work in situ) |
| (Detail of a 2007 Fine Arts Department GIS map - Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department - 3th Region) |
| Wat Bot Racha Decha or the Monastery of the Ordination Hall of Racha Decha is a restored east-oriented ruin with a Buddhist memorial built on top of its structure. A broken chedi with its large toppled 9-tiered spire and foundations of a monastic structure can be found in situ. The rebuilt structure has a sitting Buddha image with an elephant and a monkey bowing in reverence (Phra Palelai or the Parileyyaka Buddha). The ruin is located off the city island in the eastern area of Ayutthaya in Hantra sub- district, south of Wat Ayodhya. Wat Bot Racha Decha was situated along the west bank of the today defunct Khlong Ayodhya (at present parallel with Road # 3058). Its historical background and period of construction are unknown. Wat Bot Racha Decha has likely a link with an element of the military administration under the Kalahom or the Minister of the Military Division. One of his two subordinate commanding officers based in the city was the Phraya Decho (or Decha) with a sakdina of 10,000 Rai. His official denomination was Phraya Siharat Decho Chai. [1] Nicolas Gervaise (ca.1662-1729), a young French theological student of the Société des Missions Etrangères residing in Ayutthaya in the late 17th century, wrote in his work on Ayutthaya [2]: The second office is that of the captain of the king’s bodyguard, known as the oya rytcho. Its functions are not at all comparable to those of the office with the same name in France. The captain's duties do not demand that he follow the king everywhere, nor that he remain always at his side. He is in reality the first official of the Royal Household and in this capacity he takes precedence over all others at court. The site is located in Geo Coord: 14° 21' 59.84" N, 100° 35' 24.13" E. References: [1] Reynolds, Craig J. - Thai radical discourse: the real face of Thai feudalism today - SEAP Publications, 1987 - Page 92. [2] Gervaise, Nicolas (Paris - 1688) - The Natural and Political History of the Kingdom of Siam - Translated and edited by John Villiers (1998) - White Lotus Press, Bangkok. |
