AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL RESEARCH



TAMNAK SA YO





Phra Tamnak S(r)a Yo is a little-known Ayutthaya-period royal pavilion site in Khun Khlon Subdistrict, Phra Phutthabat District, Saraburi Province. Its importance comes from its connection with royal journeys to worship the Buddha's Footprint at Wat Phra Phutthabat, its surviving stone-and-mortar foundations, and a nearby pond that appears to have given the site its name. Only the foundations of a royal pavilion remain. The main purpose appears to have been to provide a royal resting pavilion during journeys to the sacred Buddha's Footprint and as part of the infrastructure of royal pilgrimage.


The site is described as being beside a stream south of Than Thong Daeng (Copper Stream). The nearby pond, Sa Yo, is reported to lie northeast of the pavilion remains. These water features are central to understanding the location, not incidental landscape details.


The pavilion is situated along Thanon Phra Chao Songtham, also called Thanon Farang Song Klong. It is a road built during the reign of King Songtham (1610/1611?-1628 CE), when he came to examine the Buddha’s footprint by royal barge along the Pa Sak River. When the king arrived at the Tha Ruea pier, he continued his journey on an elephant led by Phran Bun. On his way back, he ordered a foreigner to look through a telescope and had a 10-wa (20-metre) road cut as a royal path straight through to the pier. Approximately 9 kilometres of the path remain to be seen, starting from the area opposite Wat Sang Sok. The first kilometre is a dirt path, which is no longer used, and the rest is a laterite road passing behind Wat Panchaphirom, Wat Nong Khonthi, crossing Phra Phutthabat – Ban Mo Road in front of Wat Kanlayana Banphot, passing in front of Chao Pho Khao Tok Shrine and Phra Tamnak Sa Yo before disappearing. It was later converted into a laterite and concrete road with a width of 6-8 metres. Along the road were wells, including Bo Dong Op, or the sacred well (14° 38' 48.09" N, 100° 45' 22.72" E), which can still be visited.





(View of Tamnak Sa Yo – December 2022 CE)



Debate remains over whether King Prasat Thong (reign 1629-1656 CE) or King Narai (reign 1656-1688 CE) ordered its construction.


The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) heritage database and Thepsatri Rajabhat University both suggest that King Prasat Thong built Tamnak Sa Yo around the same time as Phra Tamnak Than Kasem. The evidence cited is the resemblance of the surviving stone-and-mortar foundations to those of other late Ayutthaya royal structures in the area. [1]


The same ONEP record reports another tradition: in the Kham Hai Kan Khun Khlon (คำให้การขุนโขลน) (Testimony of Khun Khlon on the Buddha's Foot), the site is called “Tamnak Phra Narai Pen Thai Sa Yo”—a name associating it with King Narai. Under this interpretation, King Narai may have ordered the pavilion built, perhaps modelling it on Tamnak Than Kasem to accommodate royal travel and royal conveyances. [2]


King Narai ordered the construction of a road from Lopburi to the Phrabat. This route likely followed the present-day Phahonyothin Road (Highway 1) between Lopburi and Saraburi, linking the modern-day provinces. The road enabled the king and his retinue to travel with ceremonial processions, supported by staging pavilions, rest stops, and royal water systems uncovered during archaeological surveys. Phra Tamnak Sa Yo is not along King Narai’s route, but he ordered improvements to Thanon Farang Song Klong so the royal pavilion could have been erected there.


“Now the King ordered [men] to improve and beat flat the land route coming from the Footprint of the Holy Buddha by way of the rear of Peacock Springs and Stone Landing to make a crown road all the way to the Municipality of Lopburi, and ordered [men] to improve the road to the Arrow Dip Lake, the road to Crystal Pool, and the road to the boat landing in the vicinity of the Holy Habitation of the Lords' Pleasure Landing.” [3]


Tamnak Sa Yo is at geographical coordinates 14° 42' 27.44" N, 100° 47' 5.41" E.


References:


[1] Thepsatri Rajabhat University Library. (https://library.tru.ac.th).

[2] Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) heritage database (https://culturalenvi.onep.go.th).

[3] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. p 308.



Selected PICTURES



Pictures taken December 2022 CE



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





HISTORY OF AYUTTHAYA



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