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In
the early Ayutthaya period there was no place specially
used for cremations. When a King died an area would be
chosen for that royal ritual. After the ceremonies had
been performed the location where the cremation took place
became the site of a monastery; for example. Wat Phra Ram
is located where King U Thong was cremated. Only as of the
reign of King Songtham is there evidence of a specific
area having been reserved for this purpose.
The chronicles mention that in 1610 A.D. King Songtham
ordered the image known as Phra Mongkhonbophit to be moved
from the east to the west and commanded the constuction of
a mandapa to house this image of the Buddha. In 1612 A.D.
an order was carried out to level the earth in front of
the vihara so that cremations could take place there Phra
Mongkhonbophit has been identified as the image which King
Chairachathirat had ordered sculpted in 1538 A.D. at Wat
Chichiang.
From available evidance we know that King Thairachathirat
ordered the building of Wat Chichiang and a chedi in the
vicinity of a cremation spot, and the casting of an image.
King Songtham chose to limit the area for cremations to
the central part of the town, near Wat Chichiang; this was
the reason for moving the Buddha image (Phra
Mongkhonbophit) to a new spot in the western sector, after
which its original site was used for a cremation area.
In the reign of King Sua (1697-1706 A.D.) lightning struck
the top of the mandapa and it collapsed. The head of Phra
Mongkhonbophit fell off. As a result the King had the
mandapa rebuilt and turned into a vihara. In the reign of
King borommakot (1732-1758 A.D.) another restoration took
place. When Ayutthaya was sacked the vihara was apparently
burnt.
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