History of Wat Mahaadhaatu

·期刊原文

History of Wat Mahaadhaatu

R.lingat

The journal of the Siam society

vol.24:1 Otober 1930 PP.1-27

P.1

The monastery which is now called Wat
Mahaadhaatu(1) or the Monastery of the Great Relic
was founded at the beginning of the first reign by
Mahaasurasi.mhanaada,the Siamese second king. The
founder was the younger brother of the first king
and had shared his fortunes since the days of
Ayuthia. In good time they had rallied to the cause
of Phya Tak and had distinguished themselves against
both internal and external foes, so that royal
favours had been showered upon them. It was the
understanding between these two brothers which
enabled the troubled situation at the end of the
reign of Phya Tak to be solved so easily. Thus it
was that when the new king came to the throne in
1782, he invited his brother to share the highest
rank with him, as second king. It was a purely
honorary title which could not but fail to satisfy
the ambition of the younger prince: he never ceased
to aspire to the succession and at one time was even
in open rebellion against his brother.
The second king caused a luxurious palace to be
built for himself on the left bank of the Menam and,
in accordance with the tradition, in front (2) of
the palace which the frist king was then having
built, and upstream from it. Between the two palaces
and facing the river was an ancient monastery called
Wat Salak or "the Sculptured Monastery", behind
which stretched a vague expanse of land later to be
made the site for the cremation of royalty. To judge
from the remains of the older buildings which lie in
the north-west portion of the modern monastery, it
was already

1. My chief source is a monography by H.R.H.Prince
Damrong Raxanuphab published in B.E.2461 under the
title 〖
2. The palace of the second king, at Ayuthia,
stood in front of the first king's thence the name
by which it was commonly called: 〖 (Vang Na), or
the Front palace.

P.2

of some importance before the foundation of Bangkok.
But the outlay of the monastery was much disturbed
by the planning of the new capital. The city wall
split the monastery into two parts and at the same
time cut it off from the river, so that the
principal buildings now stood in a rather eccentric
position. The second king determined to rebuild the
whole monastery and make of it an edifice worthy of
the site on which stood also the two royal palaces.
The work of reconstruction was begun in 1783 and
proceeded side-by-side with the construction of the
second king's own palace. The new monastery faced
away from the river. The religious buildings were
erected on a piece of land lying on the edge of the
site for royal cremations, which had been granted in
exchange for that taken up by the building of the
city wall. The monks' quarters were laid at the back
on the old site of Wat Salak. This original plan has
never been altered nor has that of the three great
religious edifices in the monastery: Ma.n.dapa, Bot
and Vihaara.
The Ma.n.dapa is, by virtue of its position in
front of the two other edifices, to be considered
the most important. In the annals of the kingdom it
is related that the second king planned to build in
his palace grounds a pavilion set in a miniature
lake, like that in the royal palace at Ayuthia. The
requisite material had been collected and work
begun, when two criminals who had made their way
into the palace grounds were surprised by the guard
and in the ensuing chase one of the prince's
followers was killed on the very site intended for
the new pavilion. The second king, who had only by a
lucky chance escaped the conspiracy, now reflected
how the second kings of Ayuthia had in their palace
grounds no pavilion such as he was proposing to
build. He saw in the event which had just occurred a
warning that his plan was inopportune and
accordingly gave it up. He decided instead to use
the material at his disposal in building a Ma.n.dapa
in the grounds of the new Wat Salak. For this
structure a Ma.n.dapa in Wat Crii Sarvaj~na, (1) the
royal chapel at

1.Written by the Siamese 〖 (S'I Sara: phet).
Sarvaj^na, " the Omniscient", is a name of the
Buddha.

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Ayuthia, was apparently taken as a model. It had a
pointed, coneshaped roof and contained a gilded
chedi similar to the one in the Ma.n.dapa of Wat
Crii Sarvaj~na. In view of the fact that this latter
Ma.n.dapa was designed to hold the ashes of the
kings of Ayuhia and members of the royal family, one
may presume that it was the intention of the second
king that the Ma.n.dapa of the new Wat Salak and its
chedi should serve a similar purpose.
Behind the Ma.n.dapa, the Bot and the Vihaara were
raised side-by-side. These two structures are
nowadays of different dimensions, the Bot being
rather larger than the Vihaara, and as their axes
are at a like distance from the Ma.n.dapa, there is
a slight lack of symmetry in relation to the
Ma.n.dapa. This lack of symmetry was probably caused
by further alterations to which I shall refer later.
A prany and a pair of chedi were set up north of
the Vihaara and south of the Bot. In addition, two
more prany, which have now disappeared, were placed
behind the Vihaara, the whole group of buildings was
surrounded by a covered cloister containing a row of
Buddhas in a sitting position.
The belfry and the library were built facing one
another outside the cloister and behind the Bot.
During the third reign, both these buildings were
moved and placed in their present positions; the
belfry is now slightly to the north of its original
site, while the library is within the ku.ti at the
corner of the Sa^ngharaaja's residence.
The Kanbarien, or hall of preaching, was set in
the position which it occupies to-day. The monks'
quarters were all built of wood except three
buildings for the abbot's use.
A wall of brick ran around the whole monastery,
containing seven doors, of which the most important
was that which opened on to the site of royal
cremations and bore a roof in the form of a prang.
On the completion of the work of reconstruction,
the second king bestowed upon the monastery, which
was now so completely changed, the name of Wat
Nibbaanaaraama, the monastery of Nirvaa.na. It was a
name unknown in the nomenclature of Ayuthia and of

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Sukhothai and was probably chosen in reference to
the Ma.n.dapa, which was plainly in the eyes of its
founder the most important point in the monastery.(1)
Some few years after its completion, the Monastery
of Nirvaa.na was the scene of an event memorable in
the history of Buddhism in Siam ⌒ the meeting of
the "Ninth Council". When Ayuthia was captured by
the Burmese in 1767, the manuscripts stored in the
monastic libraries disappeared during the fire and
pillage which took place. When the country was at
peace again, it was one of the first tasks of Phya
Tak to form a new collection of the canonical texts.
He therefore caused a search to be made in the
provinces and even in Cambodia for the best copies
of the Tripi.taka in existence and these were
assembled in the capital. Phya Tak was driven from
the throne before anything had been done with this
material, but his successor hastened to follow up
the scheme. From the very beginning of his reign.
King Phra: Phuttha : Jot F.a had copies made of the
documents which had been collected and distributed
them to the royal monasteries. These copies were
very imperfect, being full of omissions and errors
which made the teaching of the Law a difficult
matter. The king and the second king therefore
summoned in the hall of the palace an assembly of a
hundered high dignitaries of the Sa^ngha and doctors
of theology. When all had agreed that a revision of
the existing manuscripts was imperative, the
assembly was asked to appoint a sa^ngaayanaa or
"Council" to "recite" the sacred texts ⌒ that is,
to restore them in their original form. The hundred
religious men proceeded immediately to Wat Bang V.a
Jai (now called Wat Ra: khang on the right bank of
the river), the residence of the Sa^ngharaaja, and
there chose 218 monks and 32 royal "pandits" to
constitute that important council

1.In a pamphlet written after the demise of the
second king, and published by King Chulalongkorn in
appendix to the 〖, the word 〖, nibbaana, is
used as referring to the death of the second king.
Then, the name given to the monastery may be an
indication of the wish of its founder to have his
ashes kept in the Ma.n.dapa.

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which is considered by the Siannese to be the ninth
assembled since the death of the Buddha.
Wat Nibhaanaaraama was chosen as the meeting-place
of the Council, by reason of its position between
the palaces of the first and the second kings, under
whose equal patronage the work was to be carried on.
The monastery was at this time renamed Wat Phra:
Crii Sarvaj~na, doutbless because of the similarity
of its Ma.n.dapa to that of the famous chaped at
Ayuthia.
ON the 12th November 1788, in the middle of the
last month of the rainy season, the two kings
proceeded in state to the Bot of Wat Crii Sarvaj~na,
where the 250 members of the Council were assembled
Phra: Vimala Dhamma, the abbot of Wat Pho, one of
the leaders in the Council and later the author of a
history of the nine councils in Pali, read a
"supplication" to the gods who had heard the actual
words of the Buddha. It was a prayer that the gods
would assist the members of the Council in recalli
ng the sacred texts and protect them against the
evil powers which would try to confuse their
thoughts. The assembly then divided itself into four
groups and each group was allotted a portion of the
Sacred Scriptures. The first, which had as its
president the Sa~ngharaaja, Si, was given the task
of revising the Suttantapi.taka and held its
meetings in the Bot. The second group, with Phra:
Vanaratana, Sukh, the abbot of Wat Crii Sarvaj~na.
The third, which met in the Ma.n.dapa with Phra:
Vimala Dhamma as president, was charged with the
production of the true text of the Saddaavisesana.
The fourth and last group occupied the hall of
prayer and was concerned with the Paramatthapi.taka:
its president was Phra: Bu.dhaacaarya, Paao, the
abbot of Wat Indaaraama, who was later joined by
Phra: Dhamma Trailoka, Xun, of Wat Ha.msa. The
latter had been Sa~ngharaaja under Phya Tak and was
still under the shadow of the punishment inflicted
on him, but by the intervention of his successor he
was able to obtain the royal pardon so that he might
take part in the work of the Council.
Throughout the period when the Council was
sitting, the king and the second king went every
day, morning and evening, to the

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monastery. In the morning, they distributed food to
the monks in the Council, who gathered together in
the long gallery to receive the daily offering. In
the evening, at the time of prayer, the two kings
came again to present candles and liquid
refreshment. The royal princes and the officials of
the three palaces (1) were also charged with the
careful maintenance of the Council.
The revision of the Tripi.taka lasted for five
months. The revised collection was made up of 288
manuscripts in not less than 3568 bundles of
palm-leaf. The king had made a copy of this "Council
Edition" or "Edition of the Old Masters" as it is
more usually called nowadays, which was six times
corrected by the original. It consisted of 354
texts, forming 3686 bundles of palm-leaf. The edges
of the leaves in each bundle, as well as the surface
of the outer leaves, were covered with gold, so that
each bundle looked like a bar of gold. This was the
"Grand Gilt Edition", each volume of which was
wrapped in gold brocade and bound together with many
coloured silks.
The king distributed gifts among the members of
the Council, yellow robes to the monks and garments
to the laity. Then, in accordance with the ritual of
religious offering, he sprinkled on the hands of the
Buddha consecrated water from a golden ewer, while
vowing that he would see the benefit of his good
work extended throughout the world. When this
ceremony was finished, the Tripi.taka manuscripts
were carried in royal litters in procession to Wat
Phra: Keo, where they narrowly escaped destruction
in the fire which broke out on the very day they
were deposited.
The Sa^ngharaaja Si died in 1794. The king chose
as his successor the abbot of Wat Crii Sarvaj~na,
sukh (Sukha), who bore the title of Phra: Vanaratana
and had been president of that group of the Ninth
Council in charge of the revision of the Vinaya. At
the time of his nomination he was about sixty years
of age and was to be head of the Church for a
further twenty-three years. The

1. There was at that time a third king, whose
palace was on the right bank of the river. He was a
nephew of the first and the second kings.

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king in nominating the new Sa^ngharaaja had decided
that he should remain at Wat Crii Sarvaj~na, which
was better placed to be the residence of the
patriarch than Wat Ra: khang. From now on Wat Crii
Sarvaj~na held the first position among the royal
monasteries.
The following year the second king made a decision
to retreat for a short time under the yellow robe,
in fulfilment of a vow made during illness. Before
taking leave of the king, according to the custom,
he obtained pardon for 32 condemned prisoners in the
gaols, with the purpose that they should enter the
priesthood with him and so increase the merit of his
action. He was ordained in the Bot of Wat Crii
Sarvaj~na on 1st July, 1795, before an assembly of
44 monks, into which he was introduced by th e
patriarch, his upajjhaaya. He relinquished the
yellow robe within a week.
A few years later the second king was to see the
monastery which he had just founded almost
completely destroyed. On the night of the 2nd April,
1802, some monks and novices were amusing themselves
by letting off fireworks in the courtyard of the
Wat. A rocket fell on the roof of the Ma.n.dapa,
where some pigeons had been building their nests,
and set fire to it. The fire spread quickly to the
two adjacent structures, the Bot and the Vihaara.
The first and second kings hurried to the scene of
the calamity and assisted their followers in the
work of checking the outbreak. The gallery alone was
saved, the Ma.n.dapa, the Bot and the Vihaara being
entirely destroyed. The second king sought out the
culprit and decreed that he be unfrocked and
executed the following day. The Sa^ngharaaja was
successful, however, in obtaining pardon for him.
The second king proceeded without delay to the
work of reconstruction. In order to prevent a
repetition of the disaster which had just occurred,
the Ma.n.dapa now assumed its present form, that of
a simple building square in layout, with a door on
each side, and covered in by an ordinary roof.
Inside is a second chamber almost completely open on
all four sides, in the centre of which stands a
Ma.n.dapa 20 metres in height. It is constructed of
four pillars of masonry covered with small pieces of
glass, and stands on a stone base overlaid with
marble slabs; its roof is shaped like a pyramid with
decorated edges. Inside the Ma.n.dapa is a gilded

P.8

chedi like that which originally stood there. In the
cloister between the inner chamber of the Ma.n.dapa
and the outer wall are placed statues of the Buddha
of various sizes, some seated and ethers in a
standing position. These statues, as well as those
placed in the gallery and the Vihaara, may have been
selected from those which the first king had
collected when Wat Pho was built.
It is probable that before the fire, the Bot and
the Vihaara were of the same size and placed at an
equal distance from the axis of the Ma.n.dapa. The
sacred area, as marked out by the siimaa, must have
been slightly larger than that covered by the Bot
and the vacant space most probably formed a gallery
running round the building, such as may be seen in
many Siamese monasteries. The Vihara was recon-
structed exactly as before, but the walls of the Bot
were extended to the very limit of the sacred area.
The size of the Bot was thus increased by the whole
width of the original gallery, but the result was a
displeasing lack of symmetry in the arrangement of
the three edifices. Besides, as the structure of the
new Bot covered the whole of the consecrated site,
the siimaa had to be encased in the actual wall of
the Bot. They are represented in stucco in
bas-relief, four outside at the corners of the
building and four inside in the centre of each wall:
in the former Garuda is represented alone, in the
latter ridden by Indra. This method of placing the
siimaa is very unusual in Siam; in Bangkok it is to
be found in only one other place, Wat
Janasa^ngraama, which is likewise the work of
Mahaasurasi.mhanaada, the second king. The Bot was
constructed almost in the way it appears to-day. It
is a large building twenty metres wide by fifty
long, with many windows framed in stucco relief and
four side-doors. A kind of second enclosure is
formed inside by two rows of large masonry pillars,
and in this enclosure is a big statue of the Buddha
in the attitude known as that of the victory over
Maara (Maaravijaya), made of bricks and mortar, with
a covering of plaster, and gilded. This statue is
surrounded by statues of eight disciples kneeling
with joined hands. The ceiling is painted red with
gilt stars, while the shutters of the doors and
windows bear the usual guardian figures. There were
originally paintings on the walls and on the
pillars, but these were not restored during the

P.9

recent renovations, and nowadays the interior is
plainly white-washed. Besides the usual furniture
found in religious buildings in Siam, there is on
either side of the altar a painted wooden elephant
and a painted wooden horse, which are said to have
been used by the second king as a depository for his
offerings to the monks when they made their morning
visit to the palace.
The second king was not allowed to pleasure of
seeing his work fully restored. For several years
past he had been suffering from a cancer, and during
1803 the disease because acute, so that he felt his
time was near. Not long before his death he had
himself carried round the palace in a litter, so
that he might see for the last time the buildings
which he was about to leave. It is said that during
this round, he cried out: "It is I, with the help of
my own men, who have made these buildings: if ever
they should fall into the hands of those who are not
my children, may the demons and the gods deprive the
possessors of all good fortune. " The second king
also had himself carried to Wat Crii Sarvaj~na to
make a last offering to the Buddha. When he had
arrived before the great statue in the Bot, he asked
for his sword that he might present it as a gift to
the Buddha, but when it had been brought to him, he
instantly turned it against himself. His eldest son,
who was with him, tore the sword from his hands,
whereupon the prince in a fury threw himself on the
ground and cursed those who had thus prevented him
from making of himself a sacrifice to the Buddha. In
this violent passion, he had to be borne back to the
palace. Later he again uttered curses on those who
should deprive his children of their inheritance by
taking possession of the palaces and other property
which he was leaving Thus when he died on the 3rd
November, 1803, the feelings of his party were much
excited. His two sons even went so f ar as to form a
plot with several high officials against the life of
the king. They were denounced and put to death with
their fellow conspirators. The king even thought of
refusing to their father the funeral ceremony due to
his rank. The crown of the second king fell to one
of the sons of the first king. But the curses
uttered by the dead prince were still feared. The
new second king did not take up residence in the

P.10

palace built by his predecessor, nor for a long time
did anyone dare to touch the monasteries which his
predecessor had founded. It was thought better to
let them fall into ruin than to allow some
appropriation which would enrage the spirit of the
founder.
Two months after the death of the second king, the
monastery underwent a third change of name. As a
pretext for this further change, the king pointed
out that the examination for the doctorate of
theology was being held for the first time in Wat
Crii Sarvaj~na. But one may be justified in
supposing that by this action the king meant to show
that the refused to allow to the Ma.n.dapa that
significance of which its founder had thought.
Besides this, it was possible that there might be
some confusio n between the name of Wat Crii
Sarvaj~na and that of the new royal chapel, Wat Phra
: Keo, which was called by many by the name of the
former royal chapel at Ayuthia. The monastery was
now named Wat Crii Ratanamahaadhaatu, the Monastery
of the Great Relic, the name which it still bears at
the present time. All the ancient capitals had had a
monastery with this name and it was a name all the
more suited to Wat Crii Sarvaj~na in that the Wat
Mahaadhaatu at Ayuthia had been the residence of the
patriarchs.
The first king died on the 7th September, 1809.
The second king, who had been appointed several
years before, now came to the throne and chose one
of his brothers, Prince Senaanurak.sa, to be second
king. In the following year this prince was sent out
against the Burmese who had seized Xumphon and
Thalang. During the campaign he had a serious attack
of malaria and he vowed that, if he recovered, he
would take the yellow robe. Accordingly, when
victory was complete, he returned to Bangkok and ent
ered the monastery of the Great Relic, where he
remained for a week in the yellow robe.
On the 22nd May 1816, the Sa~ngharaaja, Sukh,
abbotof Wat Mahaadhaatu, died. The king chose as his
successor the abbot of Wat Raajapura.na, Mi, who
bore the title of Somdet Phra: Vanaratana. He was
taken in procession to Wat Mahaadhaatu in March,
1817, after the cremation of his predecessor. The
new Sa^ngharaaja, who was

P.11

born on 15th July, 1750, had been made a doctor
either at the end of the Ayuthia period or at the
very beginning of the Bangkok period. Shortly after
his nomination there was a great scandal in the
Church. Three high dignitaries, amongst whom was the
Phra: Buddhagho.saacaarya of Wat Mahaadhaatu, were
charged with violating their vows of chastity in a
particularly flagrant manner, inasmuch as they were
well known to have several children. They were
brought up before a special court composed of a
brother and a son of the king, were found guilty,
unfrocked and imprisoned. The king was alarmed as to
conditions in the Buddhist community and called upon
the new Sa^ngharaaja to write, in collaboration with
the abbot of Wat Sa: ket, At, a work which should
recall the monks to the observance of their vows.
This work was the Ovaadaanusaasanii which was
ordered to be studied in all monasteries. During his
short period of office as Sa~ngharaaja, the new
abbot revived the great festival of Visaakha, the
anniversary at one and the same time of the birth of
Buddha, of his illumination beneath the Bhodhi tree
and of his entry into Nirva.na. That important
ceremony had long ceased to be observed, in fact
even before the fall of Ayuthia. The new
Sa~ngharaaja had it re-established in the list of
royal ceremonies and arranged the details of its
celebration. It was held for the first time in 1817
and has continued since that time to be held every
year in the middle of the sixth month (May).
The new patriarch had already taken an important
part in the work of the church previous to his
nomination. In 1814 he had been given the task of
selecting the members of the religious mission which
the king planned to send to Ceylon to investigate
the state of the faith in the Mother-Island, which
had but recently passed into English hands, and to
renew the traditional relations which had been
interrupted since the fall of Ayuthia. The mission
was composed of four monks from Wat Mahaadhaatu and
four from Wat Raajapura.na and it set our from
Bangkok at the end of 1814, after receiving from the
king gifts destined for the principal shrines in
Ceylon and for the high dignitaries of the
Cinghalese Church. After being shipwrecked and
having to wait almost a year at Nakhon Si
Thammarat(Ligor),

P.12

the mission finally embarked in a boat carrying
elephants to a port on the coast of Bengal somewhere
north of Madras.
When they arrived in India, the eight Siannese
monks set out on foot with a native guide and
carrying with them the royal gifts, and after 76
days on the road they reached the port at which they
were to take boat to Ceylon. They reached
Anuraadhapura at last in July, 1816. They were very
well received both by the monks and the people of
Ceylon and also by the English officials, who were
trying to win the confidence of their new subjects.
The mission remained for some time in Kandy in that
same monaste ry whither had come the Siamese thera
Upaali sixty years before to reform, at the request
of the king of Ceylon, the Cinghalese Church and to
found that Siamese sect which is still at the
present time the most important in the Island. The
mission visited the principal centres of pilgrimage,
in particular the foot-print of the Buddha on the
top of Adam's Peak and the shrine of the Buddha's
tooth, where the English government allowed the
doors to be opened so that the mission might pay its
devotions to the f amous relic.
After spending a year in the Island, the mission
set sail from Colombo carrying with it, among other
presents from the religious community of Ceylon, six
cuttings from the Bodhi tree of Anuraadhapura, which
is known to be itself an offshoot of the Mahaabodhi
of Buddhagayaa. The mission arrived in July, 1818.
Three of the six cuttings of the Bodhi tree were
alloted to monasteries within the capital. Wat
Mahaadhaatu, as the residence of the Sa^ngharaaja,
received one, which was set in the north-east cor-
ner of the monastery, where it has now grown into a
fine tree.
In the meantime the Monastery of the Great Relic
had given shelter to a young monk who was afterwards
to take a notable part in the history of the
Buddhist faith in Siam, before becoming one of the
greatest kings of Siam in recent times. In 1817, the
eldest son of the first queen was fourteen years of
age. By his birth he was the first in rank of the
king's sons and the king had just conferred on him
with elaborate ceremony the title of Prince Mongkut.
Towards the close of the Ayuthia perio d, Siam had
adopted the

P.13

custom that all younger members of noble families
who were intended for positions of public service,
and in particular the members of the royal family,
should serve in the priesthood for two periods, the
first as a novice at the age of fourteen years, and
the second as a monk at the age of twenty-one. As
soon as circumstances allowed, this custom was
adopted in Bangkok and it has continued to be
observed down to the present day. The young prince
was accordingly escorted in procession on the 24th
May,1817, to the royal chapel and ordained samu.nera
(novice). After the ceremony he took up his
residence in the Monastery of the Great Relic, in a
private pavilion set on the spot where the Bodhi
tree brought from Ceylon was soon afterwards to be
planted. The prince remained for seven months in the
monastery, learning the elements of the Pali
language and making himself acquainted with
religious practices. During this period he followed
the usual custom by preaching before the king and
members of the royal fami ly a chapter of the
Mahaajaati, or story of Vessantara, the last
incarnation of the future Buddha.
On 11th September, 1819, the Sa^ngharaaja, Mi,
died at the age of seventy. His ashes, together with
those of his predecessor, the Sa^ngharaaja, sukh,
were afterwards deposited in the two prang within
the cloister, which stand on either side of the
Ma.n.dapa and were apparently erected at this time.
The king appointed as head of the Monastery of the
Great Relic the abbot of Wat Sa: ket, Somdet
Phra:Vanaratana, At(he who had collaborated with the
late Sa^ngharaaja in the compilation of the
Ovaadaanusaasa nii); he was at this time 62 years of
age. The transfer was but a preliminary to his
nomination to the supreme dignity. While awaiting
consecration, the new abbot took up residence in the
monastery in February, 1820. His consecration was
delayed by an epidemic of cholera which broke out
three months later, and was one of the worst
epidemics recorded in the annals of Siam. Corpses
which there was no time to burn were heaped up in
the monastery "like stacks of timber" or else left
to float about in the river and the canals. The
people fled in a panic from the capital: the monks
deserted the monasteries and the whole machinery of
government was at a standstill. The king even
released the royal guard from their duties

P.14

at the palace. There were great ceremonies of
propitiation: the Emerald Buddha and the precious
relics kept in the monasteries were taken out in
procession through the streets and on the canals of
the city, attended by high dignitaries of the Church
who scattered consecrated sand and water. The king
and the members of the royal family maintained a
rigorous fast. The slaughter of animals was
completely forbidden and the king caused all
supplies of fish, bipeds and quadrupeds offered for
sale to be bough up in order that they might be
liberated. All criminals except the Burmese
prisoners of war, were released from prison. The
scourge abated at last after taking 30000 victims
within a few months. The consecration of the new
Sa^ngharaaja was about to take place when, in
October, he was charged with having shown a doubtful
affection for one of his young disciples. There were
good grounds for the charge, but not sufficient to
entail his expulsion from the Buddhist community.
The Ss^ngharaaja to be was relegated to the bottom
of the hierarchy and made an exile from all the
royal monasteries. He ended his days in obscurity in
one of the minor monasteries of the capital.
The king now chose to fill the vacant office of
Sa^ngharaaja an old man of 88 years, the abbot of
Wat Raajasiddha, Sukh (Sukha), who bore the title of
Somdet Phra:Naa.nasa.mvara and was famous for his
piety. He was born at Ayuthia on the 14th January,
1734. Before the fall of the old capital, his
ascetic habits had already earned for him a great
reputation of holiness. He lived in a monastery far
removed from the city and had reached such a stage
of abstraction from worldly things that the wild
animals of the jungle trusted him, and even the
jungle-fowl, which are considered to be the most
timid of wild creatures in Siam, would allow him to
approach them, just as though they were ordinary
farmyard birds. For this reason, he was known
throughout the country as "the abbot of the
jungle-fowl." After the foundation of Bangkok, the
king had called upon him to become head of Wat
Raajasiddha, on the right bank of the river, and
conferred on him the title of Phra:Naa.nasa.m-
varathera,leader of the group of the ara~n~navaasii,
"forest monks", who lived in seclusion and preferred
the life of an ascetic to the

P.15

study of the sacred writings. Under this title, he
was the preceptor, either as upujjhaaya or as
kammavaacaacaarya, of practically all the members of
the royal family at the time of their entry into the
priesthood, and in particular of the three next
kings of Siam. He was raised to the rank of Soomdet
in the second reign, and at the official functions
he came by virtue of his age and of his seniority
before the Sa^ngharaaja himself. After the death of
the two patriarchs Sukh and Mi and the degradation
of Somdet Phra : Vanaratana At, Somdet Phra :
Na.nasa.mvara was the only eminent dignitary of the
Sangha remaining. The king, who wished to bestow
upon him some token of his respect, urged him to
accept the supreme office in spite of his age and
the fact that the head of the Church should not be
chosen from among those monks who were specially
devoted to meditation. The holy man was borne to the
Monastery of the Great Relic with due ceremony on
the 4th November, 1820, and a month later he was
consecrated Sa^ngha raaja. The king had built for
him two pavilions which are still standing, between
which was a smaller building containing a room for
prayers:this has now disappeared.
The career of the new Sa^ngharaaja was very short,
for he died on the 4th September, 1822, at the age
of ninety. His body was placed in a great gilded
urn, an honour reserved for the king and princes of
high rank, and was cremated during the following
May, on the site for royal cremations. In 1844, King
Phra: Nang Klao had cast a statue of the famous
patriarch who had been his preceptor. This statue
was at first set up in Wat Phra: Keo, but in 1852 it
was taken to the Vihaarao of the Monastery of the
Great Relic, where it still remains, forgotten
amidst the book-cases stored in that "annex" of the
National Library. The statue stands on a gilded
wooden pedestal carved with the figures of
jungle-fowl, an allusion to the name which the
recluse of Ayuthia retained to the day of his death.
There is another statue of this same patriarch at
Wat Raajasiddha, where it is believed that his ashes
are deposited; even at the present day, the king
does not fail to pay his devotions to this statue,
when he goes there to present to the monks the
annual gifts of clothing.

P.16

The next Sa^ngharaaja was the abbot of Wat Sa:
ket, Don, who had received the title of Somdet Phra:
Vanaratana some years previously. His consecration
took place in February, 1823, after which he took up
residence in the Monastery of the Great Relic. He
was at that time sixty-one years old and was
destined to be head of the Buddhist community for
twenty years.
In 1824, Prince Mongkut, who was considered by
every one as the heir apparent, reached the age at
which he was to serve his second term in the yellow
robe. Since his departure from the Monastery of the
Great Relic, he had commenced apprenticeship in the
political life while still continuing his studies.
He had been entrusted with several minor missions
and had been appointed chief officer of the pages.
His father, the reigning king, a famous poet, was
more occupied in amusing his people than in trying
to govern them: from the very beginning of his
reign, he had been accustomed to entrust the
government to members of his family. In these
circumstances, it was inevitable that there should
be a more or less open rivalry among the royal
princes.(1) At first, the most influential of them
was Prince Vidak.sa, younger brother of the first
queen, who was officially in charge of the Ministry
of the Household and the Ministry of Interior; in
the early years of the reign, he conducted in fact
the whole business of government. His nephew, the
young Prince Monkut, was under his recognized
protection, and while the old prince was alive, no
one thought of doubting that Prince Mongkut would be
the next to occupy the throne. But the influence of
Prince Vidak.sa was counterbalanced by that of the
king's eldest son, Prince Ce.s.taa (the " Prince
Krom Kiat" of English contemporary writers) who was
the offspring of an ordinary concubine. He had been
entrusted with the Treasury, a department of
importance by itself, whose jurisdiction moreover
extended over Foreign Affairs. This

1.See J.Crawfurd, Journal of an Embassy, London
1828, p.105; G.Finlayson, The Mission to Siam and
Llu'c.. London, 1826, pp.203-204; H.R.H. Prince
Damrong Raxanuphab,〖 p.353.

P.17

clever prince was able, thanks to the king's
complete lack of interest in political matters,
gradually to increase his power and gather around
himself an influential party. It was unfortumate for
Prince Mongkut that his guardian, Prince Vidak.sa,
died in 1822, when the prince was as yet too young
to have personal influence sufficient to lead a
party of his own. The authority of Prince Ce.s.taa,
then thirty-four years of age and with ten years
experience of government affairs behind him, became
the deciding factor in the affairs of the kingdom.
Nevertheless it might be that this influence was
only temporary, and Prince Mongkut had reason to
hope that in time his legitimate title would attract
followers Whatever were the prince's thoughts, it is
clear that in re-entering the priesthood he was but
following the usual tradition. He had married a few
years before, and in May of that years, 1842, he had
just had a second son. He intended to leave his
young household and his public life for a few months
only. Who could have predicted that his service as a
monk was to last for twenty-seven years?
The prince's ordination was appointed for the 7th
July. A few days before that date, two of the three
white elephants which had been captured during the
reign, died at the same time. This double calamity
was one of the worst of omens and the king was
profoundly alarmed. The ordination of the prince
could not be postponed but the festivities, which
had been arranged, were abandoned and the customary
ceremony was much simplitied. Immediately after his
induction into the priesthood at the royal chapel,
the prince went to reside for some days in the
Monastery of the Great Relic with the Sa^ngharaaja
who had been his preceptor. He went next to Wat
Samorai (now called Wat Raajaadhivaasa), situated at
some distance from the city, whose inmates belonged
to the sect of ara~n~navaasaii. In choosing this
retreat, the prince was conforming to a tradition
dating back to the time of Ayuthia. It seemed of
little use for a prince to study the sacred
writings, when he was to be in the priesthood but a
short time. It w as a better plan to have him
trained in spiritual exercises which could be taught
rapidly and were, moreover, supposed to endow the
disciple with valuable gifts and to make him
successful in his undertakings,

P.18

particularly in war. Thus it had happened that since
the time of Ayuthia, the kings had preferred to send
the heirs-presumptive to a monastery where
"meditation" was given a place of special
prominence. The first king of Bangkok had himself
spent a short time in Wat Samorai and it was there
that he sent his son, later to be King Phra: Phuttha
: Lot L^a. it was natural that Prince Monkut should
go there in his turn.
Ten days after the arrival of the prince at the
monastery, on the 21st of July, his father the king
died, following a sudden illness. He had not even
time to make known his final wishes as to the
succession to the throne. Prince Ce.staa, with the
assistance of one of his uncles, Prince Cakti, the
Minister of War, had himself made king without any
opposition. It was even said (1) that Prince Mongkut
was consulted, and that he consented to relinquish
the crown in favour of his brother. His lack of e
xperience and the weakness of the resources on which
his few followers could draw, would in any case have
made any resistance on his part but a foolhardy
action. He was wise enough to accept the position as
it was, and he remained in the priesthood after he
had served the usual period, having determined to
live secluded from that political life, in which he
might be led to play some hazardous part. His
character as a bhikkhu, while it implied that he
gave up all worldly ambition, placed him also above
all temporal power, and he could claim after all,
while still secluding himself voluntarily from the
world, that no one had overpowered him.
The prince did in fact take his new form of life
very seriously, for he was no commonplace individual
and a state of idle melancholy would not satisfy
him. As chance had set him in a community of monks
vowed to a life of contemplation, he turned
resolutely to the study of that important and highly
esteemed part of monastic discipline. Besides Wat
Samorai, Wat Raajasiddha was also a centre for the
practice of ascetism. The prince divided his time
between these two monasteries and was instructed in
th eir system. He soon became conversant with the
various exercises whose purpose

1. The Burney papers, Bangkok 1910, I, p.50.

P.19

is to assist in the concentration of thought, the
understanding of the inner significance of things
and the deep knowledge of the path to salvation. But
this training did not satisfy his mind. He wished to
know the reasons which underlaid these practices and
how they were related to the teaching of the Buddha.
To these questionings, his instructors could give
him no answer; they knew nothing of written texts
and could quote as their authorities only their own
masters. A year of this unsatisfying kind of
teaching left the prince but little more enlightened
as to his faith than he had been before his
ordination. He decided to turn to the study of the
sacred writings and to make an entirely fresh start
on his religious instruction. He left Wat Samorai
and returned to his residence in the Monastery of
the Great Relic. He had not been there for long,
when the had to undergo much more disquieting
spiritual experiences.

There were among the inmates of the Monastery of
the Great Relic some notable Fali scholars.For three
years, Prince Mongkut devoted himself exclusively to
the study of the sacred language, and he acquired a
profound knowledge of the Scriptures. The king, who
was delighted to have an opportunity of showing
favour to the pricne, summoned in the royal palace
an extraordinary session of the high dignitaries who
composed the examining body for the doctorate of
theology and caused the prince to undergo the usual
examination in the royal presence. It was soon
evident that the candidate was possessed of a
knowledge much greater than that required for the
first examination. The king ordered that questions
appertaining to a more advanced stage of the
examination should be put to him; to these the
prince replied with ease. This gave rise to jealous
feelings among the king's entourage, and Phra:
Devamoli, Xim, a member of the examining body, was
asked to make a protest against such a relaxation of
the usual rules. Prince Mongkut outspokenly declared
that only at the express wish of the king, had he
submitted himself to examination and he was not in
search of empty glory. He demanded that the matter
should go no further, and only the first degree of
the doctorate was conferred upon him. He was the
first member of the royal family to be a doctor.
Shortly afterwards, at the conclusion of a sermon
which he delivered at the palace, the king bestowed

P.20

on him a streaked fan, which was the insignia
carried by high officials of the Sa^ngha. From now
onwards he acted as a member of the examining body.
Such a sudden elevation did not fail to arouse the
jealousy of his colleagues, and in particular that
of Phra: Devannoli, Xim, although the latter had
just received the title of Phra: Buddhaho.sacaarya.
One day when they were about to examine a candidate,
a disagreement arose as to the translation of the
Pali word aasane. The prince strongly maintained his
own opinion, with some justification, whereupon his
colleague broke out, exclaiming: "Were it not for
the gratitude I owe to His Majesty,I should get foot
sore in coming to such meetings". In consequence of
this incident, the hot tempered abbot was
reprimanded by the king and forbidden to appear at
official functions.The direction of the organisation
of examinations was given to Prince Mongkut, and was
retained by him until the death of the king. Under
his guidance, religious teaching underwent a revival
and attained to a standard much higher than that in
any previous reign.
It was not to be long before his knowledge of the
Scriptures would arouse in the prince scruples of
conscience. While still young, he had been a witness
of the scandals which caused the discredit of the
higher ranks of the priesthood. Four years spent
among the monks had unfortunately only widened his
earlier experience. But in addition to immorality
due to individual weaknesses, in what a number of
ways were the ordinary rules of the monastic life
daily disregarded, while either through indifference
or ignorance none took upon themselves to pass
censure. Little attention was paid to the few rites
prescribed by the Buddha to the assembly of his
disciples. The meetings in the communities were no
more held periodically but depended on the will of
the abbots. The rules laid down in the formulary
were a dead letter. Prince Mongkut, after a study of
the texts, began to doubt even the correctness of
the ordination ceremony as performed in Siam. Thus
the Siamese church had failed to preserve the sacred
tradit ion which alone made it worthy of the same
veneration as the Buddha and the Law. The faith had
no longer a single representative nor anyone with
authority to expound it: its foundations were

P.21

undermined and the very roots of the tree to which
the faithful came for refuge were rotting
away..Under these conditions it was an open deceit
to wear the yellow robe: it would be better to
discard the robe and to consider the teaching of the
Buddha as a mere doctrine in philosophy.
One afternoon, when the prince had retired to the
Bot to rest, he suddenly determined to seek
assistance from the deities which protect the faith
of the Buddha in the eight regions of the universe.
When he had lighted candles and strewn flowers
before the great gilded statue of the Buddha, he
pronounced this vow: "When I dedicated my life to
the service of the Lord, I took the yellow robe by
reason of my convictions and my faith, with no
thought of reward, honour, or praise. If anywhere in
this worl d there still remain any spiritual
descendants of the ten-powered Sugata, may it be
given to me to meet them within three or seven days
from now, or at least to know of their existence.
Should this not be granted to me, I shall have to
infer that the spiritual family of the Lord has
become extinct, and I shall leave the yellow robe in
order to follow as a layman the five or the eight
commandments as may seem fit." Three or fours days
after he had made this vow, the prince came to know
that at the head of Wat Pavarama^ngala there was a
dignitary of Mon origin, named Phra: Sumedhaacaarya,
who had been ordained at Pegu and was held to be
very well versed in questions of doctrine and of
discipline. The prince hastened to pay him a visit.
The conversations which followed inspired in him a
great admiration for the Mon community, which seemed
to observe the commandments of the Buddha much more
strictly than the Siame se communities. He realised
that it was possible to be ordained in a way above
all criticism and to live in conformity with the
rules of the Vinaya. Having thus regained
confidence, he gave up the idea of leaving the
priesthood, but he resolved without delay to follow
the rules of the Mon community, as they had been
expounded to him by the abbot of Wat Pavarama^ngala,
remaining free, however, to modify them if the
should see fit to do so. It is probable that he had
himself recordained in conformity with th e ritual
of the Mons. But

P.22

as it would not have been comfortable for him to
live after his own rules in the midst of a community
which was both numerous and conspicuous, he decided
to return to Wat Samorai. There he could lead his
own life without scandal, thanks to the distance of
the Wat from the city and the considerable freedom
allowed to the inmates. During this second residence
at Wat Samorai, Prince Mongkut worked out the
details of the reform which was to result in the
formation in the Siamese Church of a new seet, the
Dhamm ayuttika, or sect of those who adhere to the
Law. The sect was to have an important influence on
the religious life of the country. The prince left
Wat Mahaadhaatu in 1829, but he retained his
residence there and paid brief visits to it until
his appointment to be head of Wat Pavaraniveca,
seven years later. His activities were from now on
centred elsewhere and were no longer connected with
the history of the Monastery of the Great Relic.
The Sa^ngharaaja, Don, died on 23rd September,
1842, at the age of eight-one years. In May of the
following year, the king named as his successor the
abbot of Wat Raajapura.na, Nakh (Naaga) , aged
seventy-eight years, who was Somdet Phra:
Vanaratana. Unlike his predecessor, the patriarch
did not take up his abode at Wat Mahaadhaatu. The
curse delivered by its founder against any person
not of his own family who might dare to touch the
buildings which he had constructed, had caused the
monastery to be left uncared for since 1803. The
pious king Phra: Nang Klao, who had been occupied
since the beginning of his reign in the restoration
and the decoration of the monasteries in the
capital, had never included this monastery in his
plans. It was in vain that the abbot and chief monks
had repeatedly pointed out to the king the
disagreeable effect of this dilapidated monastery,
situated close to the royal palace, and had urged
him to make it a worthy counterpart to Wat Pho which
had been entirely rebuilt a nd embellished. He had
always refused to incur the terrible maledictions of
the former second king. The abandoned monastery
threatened to become a ruin. The roofs of the
religious edifices collapsed, while the ku.tii were
barely habitable. The buildings were in such a
ruinous state that the

P.23

king had discontinued the annual ka.thinu gifts. The
new patriarch insisted once again that the monastery
which was his official residence, should be restored
to its original condition. The king was then nearly
sixty years old, an age which is considered pretty
ripe among the Siamese, and he replied that now that
his life had almost reached its end, the power of
the curse which he would incur, seemed less fearful
to him and the work of restoration should shortly be
put in hand. The Sa^ngharaaja, N^akh, rem ained for
the present as abbot of Wat Raajapura.na, while the
duties of abbot of Wat Mahaadhaatu were performed by
Phra: Naa.natrailoka, Phuk, who had been the
assistant of the previous Sa^ngharaaja. The work of
restoring the Monastery of the Great Relic was
started as promised, but before it was completed,
the Sa^ngharaaja, N^akh, died in 1849. His
successor, Prince Paramaanujita, who was nominated
two years later, was abbot of Wat Pho and he
remained as head of that important monastery. Wat
Mahaadhaatu, which had been the traditional
residence of the patriarch for half-a-century, now
ceased to be so.
The restoration of Wat Mahaadhaatu was begun in
1844 or 1845. Complete reconstruction was necessary,
and in several instances quite new work was put in.
the principal edifices were reconstructed according
to the original plan, the Bot being slightly higher
than before. The only noteworthy change was made in
the Vihaara: it was given a porch in front and at
the back, thus attaining the same length as the Bot:
but as it had not been widened, there remained the
same dissymetry between it and the M a.n.dapa. in
order that the structure might be lenthened, the
pair of prany behind the Vihaara had to be moved to
a northerly site behind the gallery. The library and
the belfry were also moved, as mentioned above. The
gallery does not seem to have been altered at all,
though the towers above the doors date from this
period. The most important alterations were in that
part of the monastery where the monks lived. A new
residence was built for the patriarch; it included a
large building for his private use, a rest-pavilion
symmetrical to the library, and seven ku.tii for the
patriarch's followers, the whole being surrounded by
a wall. The monks' quarters were all built of brick.
They were divided into thirteen groups, some of
which con-

P.24

tained a large pavilion to serve as a library, a
hall for prayer and a refectory. There were
additional rows of ku.tii ranged along the monastery
walls. The new plan intended to provide ample
accommodation for one thousand monks and novices.
Thirty saalaa were also constructed, mainly round
the walls of the gallery and on either side of the
principal entrance of the Monastery, on the site
which is now occupied by the National Library.
The work of restoration was practically completed,
when by a strange stroke of fate, King Phra: Nang
Klao died on 2nd April, 1851. Prince Mongkut, who
was abbot of Wat Pavaraniveca, was called upon to
ascend the throne, in circumstances which will be
related elsewhere. The work of restoration was
finished by the new king. During his reign, he had
only built a small Vihaara beside the Bodhi tree
brought from Ceylon, on the very spot where he had
lived during his first term in the priesthood. The
building is nowadays known as Vihaara bodhilu^nkaa
or the Vihaara of the Bodhi tree of Ceylon.
When King Mongkut thus came into power, his former
colleague Phra: Buddhagho.saacaarya, Xim, then abbot
of Wat Molilokya, became alarmed lest the new
monarch should now take his revenge for the affronts
which he had received, and was preparing to flee to
his birthplace, Phetchaburi. The king, however, had
appreciated the experience of his adversary, and
after raising him to the rank of Somdet, appointed
him to be head of the Monastery of the Great Relic.
Such a generous pardon inspired the prelat e to
compose a poem in Pali in praise of the royal
clemency, and this so gratified the king that it was
thenceforth included in the customary prayers
intoned at official ceremonies. The new abbot died
seven years later, at the age of seventy-four years.
His successors were for some time dignitaries of a
much lower rank, and the monastery gradually
decreased in importance, while the majority of the
ku.tii were not inhabited. Wat Pho became the centre
of religious life, and later Wat Pavaraniveca, the
reside nces of the patriarehs.
At the beginning of King Chulalongkorn's reign,
however, Wat Mahaadhaatu was an object of the royal
favour. Since its founda-

P.25

tion, the monastery had been the place at which were
burnt the sanies collected from the urns in which
the bodies of kings and princes of high rank were
placed during the sometimes lengthy period before
cremation. From 1877 onward, the Wat became the site
for the actual cremation of royalty, in place of Wat
Pavaraniveca which proved to be not sufficiently
spacious for the ceremonies on such occasions.
It was not until 1889 that the Monastery of the
Great Relic recovered some importance. The king
appointed as head of the monastery a famous Pali
scholar from Wat Aru.na, the Phra: Devamoli Dit,
then aged fifty-two years. He was to give very
active assistance in preparing the first printed
edition of the Siamese Tripi.taka and to receive in
1900 the title of Somdet Phra: Vanaratana. In the
same year, 1889, the king had found a home in the
saalaa belonging to the Wat for the religious school
which ha d been housed within the precincts of the
Royal palace since the beginning of the Bangkok
period, following a tradition dating back to the
first kings of Ayuthia and even to the Sukhothai
period. Instruction was given to the monks by six
lay professors chosen from among the royal "pandits"
and paid from the royal purse. In May, 1893, at the
time of tension between the French and the Siamese,
the school had to make way temporarily for an
organisation hurriedly formed by ladies of the
Siamese aristocracy to care for the wounded. This
organisation was at first called the Society of the
Red U.n.naaloma and was the beginning of the
powerful Red Cross organisation found in Siam to
day. The school was moved into the Bot.
The heir to the throne, Prince Mahaavajiru.nhisa,
died in the following year. The king decided to use
a portion of the large funds set aside for the
funeral expenses in the construction of a permanent
building where the urn might be placed during the
preliminary ceremonies. It was to be erected on the
edge of the site for royal cremations, along the
eastern boundary of Wat Mahaadhaatu. Once the
cremation was finised, this building could be used
to house the school of Pali, but it could also be
used for similar cremations in the future, and
expenses would thus be considerably reduced. In
carrying out this plan, the Red Cross organisation
was moved out, and all

P.26

the eastern portion of the outer wall of the
monastery was demolished, as were also the various
saalaa and ku.tii which had been built in the space
between that portion of the wall and the cloister.
When the site had been prepared, the king laid the
first stone with due solemnity in September, 1896.
The work proceeded but slowly, and when the
cremation of the heir to tlie throne took place in
1900, even when King Chulalongkorn himself died in
1910, the building was not yet ready for use.
Eventually, on the completion of the building, King
Raama VI installed there in 1916 the Vajira~naa.na
National Library, which had been founded in 1881 by
King Chulalongkorn and other children of King
Mongkut, but up to that time had had no abode of its
own.
At the beginning of 1897, the king handed over to
the abbot of Wat Mahaadhaatu a sum of Tes. 80000
from the estate of Prince Mahaavajiru.nhisa, for the
complete restoration of the monastery. To
commemorate this generous gift, the pediments of the
Vihaara were decorated with ornaments in stucco
representing the crown of the heirs to the throne.
In 1898, the Pandits' school, which was the embryo
of the Chulalongkorn University, was moved to Wat
Sudarcana. The abbot of Wat Mahaadhaatu then founded
a school of Pali for the instruction of the inmates
of the monastery, for which the teachers were drawn
from the ranks of the monks themselves. The school
was housed in the buildings, constructed during the
third reign to be the residence of the Sa^ngharaaja;
for this purpose, these buildings underwent some
alterations. Since 1912, the school has been under
Phra: Dhammatrailokaacaarya, Heng, who was appointed
abbot of the monastery on the death of Somdet Phra:
Vanaratana, Dit, on 14th August, 1923, and has
received in 1929, the title of Phra: Vimaladhamma.
Under the direction of this learned prelate, the
school of Pali has steadily prospered, and it is now
considered one of the most important centres of
religious teaching in Siam.
The Monastery of the Great Relic belongs to the
old unreformed sect, the Mahaanikaaya, but since
1914, the inmates have clothed themselves after the
style of the monks of the Dhammayuttika order. This
was doubtless a movement towards the union of the
two sects,

P.27

which have ceased for a long time past to be rivals.
In discipline and in learning, Wat Mahaadhaatu has
nothing to desire from the best monasteries of the
reformed sect.