WAT SIKA SAMUT





Wat Sika Samut (1) is located outside the city island in the eastern area of Ayutthaya in the Phai Ling Sub-district, just north of Wat Maheyong (restored ruin).


Khlong Hantra (2) is north, Wat Maheyong priest's camp and meditation centre east, the restored ruin of Wat Maheyong south and the remnants of Khlong Maheyong (3) west. The landscape here has been completely altered, partly by the expansion of the active part of Maheyong Monastery and, what I presume, earth digging for levelling construction sites.


The monastery is surrounded by a moat, sitting upon a small island. Following the Fine Arts Department description in situ, the moat was used as a water sema, a boundary for doing religious rites (Udaka Sima), and the enclosure of the precincts of an ordination hall with water.


The site consists of an ubosot or ordination hall and a principal pagoda on the west.


The pagoda is bell-shaped on a circular base. The base itself has 20 niches in lotus petal shapes, in which, in ancient times, Buddha images were situated. The drum likely had three concentric rings, but can hardly be noticed. The harmika is square and the colonnade supporting the spire, a typical Ayutthaya feature, is missing. The top of the spire is damaged.


The ordination hall sits on a rectangular foundation made of brick and mortar. Based on the reconstruction of a part of the ubosot, there were two entry doors next to the pedestal of the main Buddha image and five windows on each side. In the west was a porch, accessed by stairs on both sides.





(View of Wat Sika Samut)



Within the monastery are several foundations of small chedis.


Its historical background and period of construction are unknown. According to archaeological evidence, this temple was built in the early Ayutthaya period (1351-1488 CE).


The restored ruin of Wat Sika Samut is in geographical coordinates: 14° 21' 54.90" N, 100° 35' 40.72" E.


Footnotes:


(1) I have no idea what 'Sika Samut' means. Samut could be in Thai, either 'ocean' or 'book'. Sika in Sanskrit means 'to wet' or to 'moisten'. I cannot make a link.

(2) Khlong Hantra flows through the sub-district of the same name and is formerly referred to as Thung Hantra or Hantra Fields. This canal was once a stretch of the Pa Sak River, meandering around the former Ban Ma (Horse village) east of Ayutthaya. When the latter was diverted towards the Front city moat at some stage, the old riverbed was divided up into different canals: Khlong Hantra (from Wat Pa Kho till Wat Krasang), Khlong Kramang (from Wat Krasang till the entry of Khlong Doem), Khlong Dusit (called after Wat Dusit on its west bank) and Khlong Khao San (with its mouth at the present Pa Sak River, being the southern end of the former Front moat). Khlong Hantra was one of the most important former canals, east of Ayutthaya, bordering the ancient Ayothya area.

(3) Khlong Maheyong is the same as Khlong Ayothya-Kudi Dao, a shortcut in what was likely the old river bed of the Pa Sak River. The canal leaves Khlong Hantra in the north, passes east of Wat Sika Samut, Wat Maheyong and Wat Chang, and runs into Khlong Kramang.