Wat Suwandararam, Ayutthaya Historical Park, Ayutthaya

Wat Suwandararam, Ayutthaya Historical Park, Ayutthaya Wat Suwandararam is noteworthy as the temple of the Chakri dynasty insofar as it founded by the father of King Rama I of Bangkok when Ayutthaya was still the capital of the kingdom. After King Rama I had come to the throne in Bangkok, King Rama I had the temple restored and renamed it Wat Suwandararam in honor of his parents. The Bot was built in 1785 A.D. The bot is distinctly of Ayutthaya style for the base shows the slight downward curve. The gable-ends carries a design of Vishnu on garuda. Inside the bot, there are mural paintings of celestial beings on the upper part of the wall and the jataka stories on the lower part. The murals on the wall facing the principal image portray the Buddha subduing the mara with the earth goddess as his witness; the rear wall depicts scenes of the heaven and hell. The principal Buddha image in the bot is an enlarged version of the Emerald Buddha. The Main Chedi is a bell-shaped chedi situated in the middle of the courtyard and is surrounded by 10 satellite chedis with indented corners. King Rama IV had this chedi constructed in order to enshrine the Buddha’s relics. The Vihan was built in the reign of King Rama IV of Bangkok 1863 A.D. The principal image is a stone replica of the Emerald Buddha. The mural painting in the vihan were executed in 1931 A.D. by order of King Rama VII of Bangkok, depicts episodes from the life of King Naresuan the Great in his historic combat.