WAT SANGKHAWAT





Wat Sangkhawat (1) is located off the city island, in the southeastern part of Ayutthaya, in the Ko Rian Sub-district. It is part of a cluster of three monasteries, the other two being Wat Kamphaeng (mound) and Wat Ko Noi (mound), situated on the west bank of Khlong Ban Krot running parallel with the present Chao Phraya River and east of the railway Ayutthaya - Bang Pa-In.


This site is a large brick mound surrounded by water on which a small pavilion was built. The mound can be accessed on the east side to reach the pavilion built to house a Buddha image in the classic Subduing Mara Mudra (Calling the Earth to Witness).


The shrine includes various parts of other Buddha images and fragments of boundary stones and stucco remnants. There is also evidence of remnants of the boundary walls and the crumbled remains of collapsed chedi.


The date of establishment of the temple is not known.





(The Buddha image on the mound of Wat Sangkhawat)



The battle near Wat Sangkhawat


The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya refer to Wat Sangkhawat. At the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 CE, King Ekathat ordered Phraya Phetchaburi to take out a boat force and Phraya Taksin a land force and station themselves at the Wat Yai (Chai Mongkhon) to prevent the Burmese forces which came along the inundated plains. On one occasion, when the Burmese came, Phraya Phetchaburi wanted to attack them with his boat force, but Phraya Taksin thought it was beyond their strength. Phraya Phetchaburi would not listen to Phraya Taksin and persisted in attacking the Burmese near the Sangkhawat monastery. The Burmese forces were more than the Siamese forces. They surrounded Phraya Phetchaburi and threw pots of gunpowder at his boats. The gunpowder exploded, the boats were destroyed, and Phraya Phetchaburi died on the field of battle. The remaining men of the forces who escaped death were routed. [1]


"At that time the fighting boats of the brigades of a Burmese and Raman army advanced on up from the stockade at the Hamlet of the Banyan and the stockade at the crown tax station of the Monastery of the Manifestation of Mercy to Creatures [Wat Prot Sat] and came out into the open plains right by the Monastery of the Hermitage of the Monks. The Phraya of Phetburi, the [master of the] front brigade, had the five fighting boats within the brigade belonging to his person rowed forward to attack the Burmese fighting boats. Now the boats of the members of that Burmese and Raman army, being numerous, were able to advance and completely surround the boats of the brigade of the Phraya of Phetburi and they fought together in capable fashion. Now the troops of the Thai army and the Burmese and Raman troops slashed and slew each other and [people] died on both sides. The brigades of the Phraya of Kamphaeng Phet and of Luang Saraseni moored [their boats] and merely paused to watch, and they did not advance and help to reinforce each other at all. The Burmese took a pot of gunpowder, lit [a fuse attached to] it, and threw it down into the boat of the Phraya of Phetburi. The [exploding] powder scalded and hurt his retainers and troops and they leaped into the water. The Burmese, gaining the advantage, slashed, stabbed and slew the Thai in the boats and in the water and they died in great numbers. [The Burmese] were able to capture the person of the Phraya of Phetburi [named] Rüang, but he held firm and they slashed and stabbed him without penetrating him. They thereupon took a sharpened stick and thrust it up his rectum and he met his death. Now while they were fighting together on that day, forty-one persons died on the Burmese side and over seventy died on the Thai side. Now the brigades of the Phraya of Kamphaeng Phet and of Luang Saraseni accordingly advanced on up and encamped at the Monastery of the Cone Tree [Wat Kluei] and at the Monastery of Victory [Wat Phichai Songkhram]. They did not go back inside the Capital at all and consequently established stockades in those places." [2]


The battle near Wat Sangkhawat, where the naval forces of the Phraya of Phetchaburi were slain, played an important role in the decision of Phraya Tak to leave Ayutthaya for what it was and planned to escape through the Burmese encirclement of the city. The royal reprimand he received for firing the large guns of Ko Kaeo without notification and the seemingly incoherent command of the Siamese defensive forces made Phraya Tak realise that the loss of Ayutthaya to the Burmese was only a matter of time. He concocted a new strategic plan. Phraya Tak set up his headquarters at the fortification of the slain Phraya Petchaburi near Wat Phichai after the battle. From here, he would fight in January 1767 CE his way east through the enemy dispositions, with thousand of Siamese and Chinese troops, including some Portuguese soldiers. [3]





(View of the mound of Wat Sangkhawat)



The last King of Ayutthaya meet his end


Prince Damrong Rajanubhab gives another historical fact in relation to Wat Sangkhawat. The night the Burmese entered the city of Ayutthaya on 7 April 1767 CE, King Ekathat (2) was smuggled out of the Grand Palace by his royal pages, put into a small boat and brought to Chik Village near the Sangkhawat Monastery.


“The Holy Lord of the Realm, however, fled forth from the municipality, went on board a small boat with two pages, and went to hide in a grove of trees close to the Village of the Cik Trees beside the Monastery of the Hermitage of the Monks. The pages accordingly abandoned Him and fled off elsewhere, and His Holiness starved all by Himself.” [4]


There, the pages, afraid to fall into the hands of the Burmese, left him alone. After the retreat of the Burmese army, the rear guard discovered him in the village. King Ekathat was out of food for more than ten days. The Burmese brought him to the fortification at Pho Sam Ton, where he died shortly after.


“Before many days were over after the retreat of the Burmese, the Burmese found King Somdet Phrachao Ekathat at Chik village. At that time he had had no food whatever for more than ten days. When he was taken to the fortification of Pho Sam Ton, he died there. It appears that Suki remembered the good act performed by the King of Siam while he remained formerly under the king’s protection. He accordingly took the body of the king and buried it at a mound in the cremation grounds opposite the Phra Mongkhonbophit temple which was used for the cremation of members of the royal family in the palace grounds of the old capital of Siam, intending to cremate the body when he had some respite from government work.” [5]


The last king of Ayutthaya was buried in the grounds east of Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, a royal cremation ground established in the reign of King Songtham (1610/1611?-1628 CE). After the fall of Ayutthaya, King Taksin retrieved the remains of King Ekathat and organised a stately royal cremation for the dead king. (3)


The remaining mound of Wat Sangkhawat is in geographical coordinates: 14° 19' 36.80" N, 100° 35' 14.20" E.





(View of the mound of Wat Sangkhawat)



Footnotes:


(1) Sangkha + Wat. 'Sangkha or Sangha' is the Buddhist order, the monastic communities of monks and nuns. 'Wat' comes likely from the Sanskrit 'vas', a comparative/superlative suffix meaning better/best. Cushman translates Wat Sanghawat as the Monastery of the Hermitage of the Monks.

(2) also called King Suriyamarin (reign 1758-1767 CE).

(3) "During 968 of the Era, a year of the horse, eighth of the decade, the King in His holy compassion had dirt piled up in front of the Holy Klaep Preaching Hall and reserved as a place for [the Rite of] Lighting the Holy Fire." (Cushman, p. 209) The year 1606 CE indicates the reign of King Ekathotsarot (1605-1610/11 CE), but the cremation site was likely built later in the reign of King Songtham after Wat Chi Chiang Sai was cleared and its large Buddha image Phra Mongkhon Bophit was moved west. Wihan Klaep was probably related to the cremation ground called 'Sanam Na Chakkrawat'. Wat Chakkrawat must have been the forerunner of Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit.


References:


[1] Rajanubhap, Damrong (Prince) (1917). Our Wars with the Burmese. White Lotus, Bangkok (2000). p. 350.

[2] Cushman, Richard D. & Wyatt, David K. (2006). The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya. Bangkok: The Siam Society. pp. 512-3.

[3] Ibid. pp 514-5.

[4] Ibid. p. 521.

[5] Rajanubhap, Damrong (Prince) (1917). Our Wars with the Burmese. White Lotus, Bangkok (2000). p. 356.





(View of the site of Wat Sangkhawat)