Wat Phra Kaew (Thai: วัดพระแก้ว, RTGS: Wat Phra Kaeo, pronounced [wát pʰrá(ʔ) kɛ̂ːw] ⓘ), commonly known in English as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and officially as Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple (wat) in Thailand. The complex consists of a number of buildings within the precincts of the Grand Palace in the historical centre of Bangkok. It houses the statue of the Emerald Buddha, which is venerated as the country's palladium.
Construction of the temple began in 1783 under the orders of Rama I, the first king of the Chakri dynasty. Since then, each successive king has been personally involved in adding, restoring and embellishing the temple during their reigns as a way of making religious merit and glorifying the dynasty. Many important state and royal ceremonies are held within the temple each year, presided by the king in person and attended by government officials. This makes the temple the nation's preeminent place of worship and a national shrine for the monarchy and the state. Throughout the years, each king has donated sacred and valuable objects to the temple, making it a treasury as well.
The temple complex comprises various buildings for specific religious purposes built in a variety of Thai architectural styles, while still adhering to the traditional principles of Thai religious architecture.
History
When King Rama I made Bangkok the capital city of the Rattanakosin Kingdom on 6 April 1782, a suitable royal palace and temple was needed to legitimize the new Chakri dynasty. The King's reason for moving the capital city was a desire to distance himself from the previous regime of King Taksin, whom he had replaced as king of Siam. The old royal palace in Thonburi was small and sandwiched between two temples; Wat Arun and Wat Tai Talat, prohibiting further expansion.
Rama I established the Grand Palace on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, within the fortified city area now known as Rattanakosin Island. Traditionally, an area was always set aside within the palace compound for the construction of a royal temple or chapel for the king and the royal family's personal use. The temple (or wat) would have all the features of any regular Buddhist temple except for living quarters for monks. Surrounded on all sides by a wall, the temple would be a distinct space for worship separate from the king's residential space. As the temple would be built within the palace of the king, no monks would be lodged there. Instead, monks from various other temples would be invited to perform rituals and then leave. This was the case with Wat Mahathat, a royal chapel within the grounds of the royal palace at Sukhothai, Wat Phra Si Sanphet at Ayutthaya and Wat Arun in Thonburi. Wat Phra Si Sanphet, built next to the royal palace of the king of Ayutthaya, particularly influenced the building of this new temple.
Construction on the temple began in 1783. The temple was given the formal name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, meaning "the temple containing the beautiful jewel of the monastery of the divine teacher". The temple's main hall was the first building within the entire palace compound that was completed in masonry, while the king's residence was still made of wood. The temple complex was built in the northeastern corner of the Outer Court of the Grand Palace. In February/March 1785, the Emerald Buddha was transported with great ceremony from its former home at Wat Arun in Thonburi across the river to the Rattanakosin side and installed at its present position. In 1786 Rama I gave Bangkok an official name as the new capital of Siam. Translated, the name mentions the temple and the Emerald Buddha itself: "The City of Angels, Great City, the Residence of the Emerald Buddha, the Great City of God Indra, Ayutthaya, the World Endowed with Nine Precious Gems, the Happy City Abounding in Great Royal Palaces which Resemble the Heavenly Abode Wherein Dwell the Reincarnated Gods, a City Given by Indra and Built by Vishvakarman".
The temple has undergone many different periods of major renovations, beginning with the reigns of Rama III and Rama IV. Rama III started the rebuilding in 1831 for the 50th anniversary of Bangkok in 1832, while Rama IV's restoration was completed by Rama V in time for the Bangkok centennial celebrations in 1882. Further restoration took place under the reigns of Rama VII during Bangkok's 150th Anniversary in 1932 and of Rama IX for the 200th Anniversary in 1982.
As the royal temple, Wat Phra Kaew continues to serve as the site of Buddhist religious rites undertaken by the king and the royal family, including major events such as coronations, royal ordinations and investiture of the supreme patriarch. The king or an appointee also attends annual ceremonies marking the major Buddhist holidays Visakha Puja, Asalha Puja and Magha Puja at the temple. Three times a year, the gold garments of the Emerald Buddha image are changed in a royal ceremony marking the change of the seasons. Annual rites are also held on Chakri Memorial Day, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, the King's Birthday and Songkran (the traditional Thai new year). On most other days, the temple, together with certain areas of the Grand Palace, is open to visitors, and they are among the country's best known tourist attractions.
Ubosot
The Phra Ubosot (พระอุโบสถ), or ordination hall, occupies almost the entire southern part of the temple complex. The Ubosot is surrounded by a low wall; this separation emphasises the building's sacred nature. The wall contains eight small pavilions with tall spires, each housing a double bai sema stone covered in gold leaf. In Thai religious architecture, such stones traditionally denote a sacred boundary within which the ordination of monks could be carried out.
Construction of the Ubosot began during the reign of Rama I in 1783; as such, the building is one of the oldest structures within the temple. The Ubosot was built to house the Buddha image known as the Emerald Buddha, which the King had captured from Vientiane, Laos, in 1779. Previously, the image was housed in the Emerald Buddha hall in the Wat Arun complex on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River. The Emerald Buddha was ceremonially installed at its present position in the temple in February/March 1785. In 1831, Rama III ordered a major renovation of the exterior of the Ubosot.
Exterior
The Ubosot is rectangular and single-storeyed, with the main entrance on the eastern end. The hall is surrounded by columns supporting a massive roof. On the eastern and western ends of the hall, an extended porch projects outwards with additional columns. The roof is covered with blue, yellow and orange glazed tiles. The pediments at either end of the roof depict the Hindu god Narayana (or Vishnu) mounted on the back of a Garuda (a mythical half-man, half-bird), with the latter holding in both hands the tails of two Naga serpents. The figure of the god is a traditional symbol of kingship and has been adopted by Thai kings as their symbol since ancient times. The vahana (or vehicle) of the god is the mythical Garuda. A creature of great strength and loyalty, the Garuda has been adopted as the national emblem of Thailand. Hung along the eaves of the roof are hundreds of small, gilded wind-bells with Bodhi-leaf sails. The brackets protruding from the top of the columns to support the roof take the form of Nagas with their heads pointing downwards. This commemorates the legend of Mucalinda, the King of the Nagas, who protected the Buddha from rain before he achieved Enlightenment. The Ubosot is surrounded by forty-eight square columns, each with twelve indented corners. Each column is decorated with glass mosaic and gilded gold edges; the capitals depict lotus petals covered in coloured glass mosaic.
The exterior walls of the Ubosot are covered in traditional Thai decorations made of gold leaf and coloured glass. Built on a high base of several layers, the hall is raised high above the ground and must be entered through a stairway. The lowest of the base layers is decorated with painted tiles of floral designs with a pale blue background. The next level is a lotus design base in coloured glass. The next level above is decorated with the Garuda. One hundred and twelve Garudas, each grasping within its claws two Naga serpents, surround all four sides of the Ubosot. They are gilded in gold leaf and inlaid with glass mosaic. There are six doors, three on each end of the building, each door topped with crown-like, spire-shaped ornamentation and accessible only through a short staircase. The central door, slightly larger than the others, is used only by the king. The doors are decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay depicting mythical beasts and foliage designs. The walls of the Ubosot are extremely thick, and inside the inner door frame guardian deities are depicted in gold carrying either spears or swords.
On the outside, flanking the steps leading to the doors of the Ubosot, stand twelve bronze lions. Some of these are copies which were probably cast by Rama III. They were based on a pair of original lions taken from Cambodia by Rama I.
Interior
The entire interior of the Ubosot is covered in painted murals depicting stories about the Buddha. The wooden ceiling is painted red with star designs made in glass mosaic. On the western end of the Ubosot is the multi-tiered pedestal on which the Emerald Buddha sits, and numerous other Buddha images surrounding it. On the eastern wall, the story of the Buddha and the demon Mara is depicted. This recounts the story of the Buddha when, prior to achieving enlightenment, Mara and his army tried to stop him. Instead, the Buddha, sitting in the Maravijaya attitude, asked the earth goddess Phra Mae Thorani to defend him. She is depicted right above the central door, wringing out water from her hair, creating a great flood that drowned Mara and his army. On the western wall behind the Emerald Buddha, the Traiphum or Buddhist cosmology is depicted. On the northern and southern walls the murals are divided into horizontal sections. Stories concerning the life of the Buddha are depicted on the top sections above the windows. Between each of the windows, the Jataka tales—tales of the previous lives of the Buddha—are depicted. Below the windows, the northern wall depicts a royal procession by land, with the king seated on a war elephant and marching troops on either side. The lower southern wall shows a royal procession by water, with royal barges and other war boats accompanying the king along a river.
The Emerald Buddha
The Emerald Buddha, or Phra Kaeo Morakot (พระแก้วมรกต), formally named Phra Phuttha Maha Mani Rattana Patimakon (พระพุทธมหามณีรัตนปฏิมากร), is the temple's main Buddha image as well as its namesake. The sacred image is of the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in the lotus position, made of a semi-precious green stone (usually described as jade), clothed in gold, and about 66 centimetres (26 in) tall.
The multi-tiered pedestal (ฐานชุกชี: than chukkachee) of the Emerald Buddha is in the shape of a butsabok throne, an open pavilion on a pyramidal base, topped with a tall spire. The highly ornamented pedestal was made in the reign of Rama I of carved wood and then gilded in gold leaf. Later, the pedestal was heightened by Rama III when he added the funeral bier of Rama II underneath the pedestal as a base. Numerous Buddha images are enshrined around the pedestal, as well as an accumulation of treasures donated by the various kings in the past 200 years. Examples include a pair of marble vases and a marble sermon throne from Europe, donated to the temple in 1908.
Other Buddha images
Surrounding the pedestal are other Buddha images made and donated to the temple by various kings. The most notable of these are:
Phra Phuttha Yotfa Chulalok
The image stands to the front and right side of the Emerald Buddha, looking from the entrance (to the pedestal's north). The standing Buddha has both of his palms turned outwards in the hand gesture called Abhayamudra, or the gesture of fearlessness. This iconographic attitude is called the "calming of the waters". This attitude commemorates one of the Buddha's miracles when he stopped a flood from reaching his dwelling. This attitude is symbolic of the Buddha's mastery over the passions. The image is richly attired, wearing a crown, necklace, rings, armlets and other regalia. This presentation of the Buddha is typical of the images cast by kings and royalty during the Ayutthaya and early Bangkok periods. The image is over 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall and was cast in bronze and gilded in gold on the orders of Rama III in 1841 to commemorate the reign of his grandfather Rama I.
Phra Phuttha Loetla Naphalai
The second image stands to the front and left of the Emerald Buddha (to the pedestal's south). It is identical to the other Buddha image. However, this Buddha image commemorates the reign of Rama II. The names of these two Buddha images; Phra Phuttha Yotfa Chulalok (พระพุทธยอดฟ้าจุฬาโลก) and Phra Phuttha Loetla Naphalai (พระพุทธเลิศหล้านภาลัย), officially given to them by royal proclamation issued by Rama III, are also the official reign names by which these two deceased kings would henceforth be known. Later, Rama IV would place relics of the Buddha within the crowns of each image.