Phra Pathommachedi or Phra Pathom Chedi () is a Buddhist stupa in Thailand. The stupa is located in the Wat Phra Pathommachedi Ratcha Wora Maha Wihan (), a temple in the town center of Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand. Phra Pathommachedi is the second tallest stupa in the world. The top of its spire reaches 120.45 meters, with the base circumference of 235.50 meters.
The name Phra Pathommachedi means 'the first holy stupa', and was given by King Mongkut. Historians take the stupa for one of the principal monuments of ancient Nakhon Pathom, the largest settlement of Dvaravati culture, standing with the nearby Phra Prathon Chedi () between the 6th and the 8th centuries. An inscribed wheel of the law is associated with it.
Mongkut found the older monument in ruins in 1831 and had the present chedi raised over it, and the complex was extended under Vajiravudh in the early 20th century. The site holds four ’viharas, an ordination hall, a meditation hall and a museum. It has been a place of pilgrimage and a subject of Thai poetry since the 1830s, holds an annual festival in the twelfth lunar month, and was put forward for World Heritage listing in 2009.
History
Dvaravati Period
The origins of Phra Pathommachedi have no historical record. Subhadradis Diskul, a Thai historian and archaeologist, held that Ashoka sent Buddhist monks to spread Buddhism in Suvarnabhumi, including the area that is Nakhon Pathom today. Ashoka ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from about 269 to 232 BCE. A Buddhist temple, Wat Phra Pathom, had been established around the year 325 BCE, and the stupa had been built around the year 193 BCE. The original structure is believed to be similar with the Great Stupa in Sanchi, India. That was a simple hemispherical brick structure raised over relics of Gautama Buddha, with a chatra or parasol at the top symbolising high rank. The stupa is first mentioned in Buddhist texts of the year 675, however archaeological findings date back to the 4th century. Modern Historians believe that the stupa was one of the principal stupas of ancient Nakhon Pathom, the largest settlement of Dvaravati culture together with the nearby Phra Prathon Chedi () during the 6th to the 8th centuries.
An inscribed stone wheel of the law is associated with the chedi. Eng Jin Ooi and Peter Skilling class its text as an abridged form of the dvādasākāra, the twelve aspects of the first sermon, with the saccakiccakatañāṇa verse set in the hub. Reading spoke 14, they give -ṭṭhena where George Cœdès read -bhāvena, and note that both editions of the Fine Arts Department's Inscriptions in Thailand print eta at that point. A carved deer accompanies the wheel, as at other sites of the period.
Legend of Phraya Gong and Phraya Phan
Since the origin of Phra Pathommachedi is unknown, there are many legends about the stupa construction. The most famous is the legend of Phraya Gong and Phraya Phan (Thai: ตำนานพระยากงพระยาพาน). The story is about a king of Nakhon Chai Si, Phraya Gong, who had a son named Phan. The court astrologer predicted that Phan would commit patricide. Phraya Gong then abandoned Phan. The orphan baby had been unknowingly adopted by a childless woman named Granny Hom. Granny Hom raised Phan in Ratchaburi, a vassal city state of Nakhon Chai Si. One day an elephant belonging to a lord from Ratchaburi was in rut and began attacking people. Phan went to see the elephant and was able to subdue it. After the lord from Ratchaburi heard of the heroic act, he adopted Phan as his son.
Phan wanted to conquer Nakhon Chaisi of Phraya Gong, so he sent a letter to Phraya Gong for challenging him to an elephant duel. Phan killed Phraya Gong becoming king Phraya Phan. According to an ancient custom, Phraya Phan demanded Phraya Gong's wife to become his queen. When the queen met Phraya Phan, she recognized him to be her son, and told him the truth. Shocked and fearful of the truth getting out, Phraya Phan executed Granny Hom. He had by then killed both his father and the woman who raised him, a great sin.
In the year 26 BCE, Phraya Phan consulted with a group of arhats how to atone for his sin. The arhats recommended that Phraya Phan build a great stupa, one which is of great height that even a bird can not fly higher. Phraya Phan then built a Sri Lankan style stupa by using a very big gong and his bed as a foundation and put Buddha's tooth relic inside. Hundreds of years later, the king of Bago wanted the big gong, so he ordered his men to dig at the stupa's foundation. Both the gong and the stupa collapsed. The Bago king tried to rebuild the stupa, so he built a Khmer style stupa on the top of this old stupa, which was the stupa form until the reign of king Mongkut.
Mongkut Discovery
In 1831 under the reign of king Rama III, his brother, Prince Mongkut, as a monk, discovered the ruin of Phra Pathommachedi, the pagoda with the prang shaped top with 84 meters high and visited several times. He requested royal approval to restore the stupa, but Rama III declined. In 1832 Sunthorn Phu, a famous Thai poet, accompanied Prince Chutamani on a visit to Phra Pathommachedi.
After his coronation, Mongkut rebuilt the stupa in the Sri Lankan style, covering the old stupa as well as the new temple. The new temple has four viharas used for Buddhist ceremonies as well as many storage buildings to keep artifacts that were found in the nearby area. Mongkut also built a palace named Pathom Nakorn Palace near Phra Pathommachedi. Damrong Rajanubhab gave the reason for the palace in his book Tamnaan Wang Gao (Tales of the Old Palaces). During the renovation of Phra Pathommachedi it was not possible to travel from Bangkok to Nakhon Pathom and back within a day, so an overnight stay was necessary. Under the royal command of Mongkut, the palace was built near the stupa. The canals of Mahasawas and Chedi Bucha were also dug to facilitate commuting by boat between Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom. After 17 years of construction, the stupa and temple were finished in 1870 in the reign of Chulalongkorn. Chulalongkorn added belfries and imported golden brown colour tiles from China to cover the whole stupa. The population of nearby Nakhon Chai Si District was ordered to move to the newly created city around Phra Pathommachedi.
Later Development In 1907 as a Crown Prince, Vajiravudh, after visited Phra Pathommachedi for several times, he decided to build Sanam Chandra Palace in Nakhon Pathom. He recorded the miracle stories of Phra Pathommachedi as well as renovated the stupa complex. In 1911 he built the 7.20 metres Buddha image and named Phra Ruang Rojanarit Sri Indraditya Dhammobhas Mahavajiravudhraj Pujaneeya Bophitr () and installed in the front niche of Phra Pathommachedi. The ashes of Vajiravudh, his consort Suvadhana, and his daughter Bejaratana are kept at Phra Pathommachedi. Prajadhipok rebuilt ordination hall. In 1940 Nakhon Pathom Province selected Phra Pathommachedi as the symbol in provincial seal.
In 1966, the temple abbot found several cracks inside the stupa. Ministry of Interior sent a group of experts to check the stupa. After nine years research, the experts group reported that the stupa was in critical state and needed urgent restoration. The restoration finished in 1981. In 2008 Phra Pathommachedi had been restored again to solve inside stupa moisture problem, the works done in 2012.
Giant Incense Incident In 1998 to celebrate the 84th birthday of Phra Ruang Buddha image, Wat Phra Pathommachedi constructed three giant incense sticks to be the biggest incense stick in the world in front of the Northern Vihara. On November 2, 1998, the incense collapsed immediately causing 5 deaths and 13 injuries.
World Heritage Site Nomination In 2009 Department of Fine Arts, Ministry of Culture announced a plan to promote Phra Pathommachedi to be UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the stupa's long history and its significance on Buddhism expansion in Southeast Asia and Dvaravati culture. Initially the government plan had been welcomed by media and general public and supported by local municipal office as well as the temple. However the plan caused concerns to local people around Phra Pathommachedi which located in the city center and near city central fresh market. Fearing that if Phra Pathommachedi becomes World Heritage Site, the market may have to relocate and the whole community may affect from management plan of UNESCO, locals started to protest the plan. In 2011, Department of Fine Arts organized the public hearings in Phra Pathommachedi Temple on World Heritage Site nomination, by vote only 3 persons from 200 supported the nomination.
Geography Phra Pathommachedi Stupa and surrounding temple are located on the flat floodplain of Chao Phraya - Tha Chin rivers watershed. The land of temple has been filled up and the sewerage system has been created, but the temple complex still floods occasionally after heavy rain especially the grass fields around the stupa. In 1996 the temple grass fields have been cemented to prevent flood.
Architecture
The design of Phra Pathommachedi complex, when viewed from above, takes the form of a giant Buddhist mandala, simultaneously representing the Buddhist cosmology with Phra Pathommachedi in the center.
Phra Pathommachedi Phra Pathommachedi is the tallest stupa in Thailand, standing at 120.45 meters and with circumference of 235.50 meters. The current form of Pathommachedi is bell shape Sri Lanka styled brick stupa covered by golden brown colour tiles. The structure foundation of the stupa is timbers strapped by gigantic metal chain. There is a gilded niche which installed Buddha image at the eastern direction. The stupa surrounds by inner boundary wall. then 562 meters round cloister. The cloister has inner and outer open galleries. Inner open gallery has ancient Khmer language inscriptions. Outer open gallery has collection of Buddha images. At four Cardinal directions of the cloister have a vihara. In front of each vihara has grand staircase leading to lower terrace. The stupa, viharas and round cloister complex surrounds by outer boundary wall. Between the cloister and outer boundary wall has 24 belfries.
Northern Vihara