Wat Chang Yai

Wat Chang Yai, or the Monastery of the Large Elephant, is an active temple located off Ayutthaya’s city island in the north-western area at Ban Chang Yai of the Wat Tum Sub-district. The monastery is located east of road No 309.

In situ are an old ordination hall (Th: ubosot) in the early Ayutthaya style (1351-1491 CE) and other more recent monastic structures. The ubosot has one elevated front porch with two entries and a simple roof. Four columns support the roof above the porch. At the rear, there is a single-entry door - likely none in earlier times. Initially, the hall had five square windows on the sides, but due to the bad shape of the building, two of them on each side have been filled up, while at the same time, the whole structure was fortified by installing concrete support beams around the hall.

The old hall has mural paintings from the late Ayutthaya period painted during the reign of King Borommakot (1733-1758 CE). The murals are tempera paintings on a clay foundation. Behind the main Buddha image, we find a scene of the Buddha defeating Mara on the front wall, and we see the Three Worlds (Traiphum). On the sidewalls, we find the Ten previous lives of the Buddha, while the upper part is decorated with Devas. Restoration occurred in the Rattanakosin period around 1813 CE in the reign of King Mongkut (1804-1868 CE).

Ayutthaya Historical Research