Wat Dusittharam

Wat Dusittharam, or the Great Monastery of the Joyful Heaven, is located off the city island in the northeastern area of Ayutthaya, in the Hantra Sub-district. The monastery is situated on the west bank of Khlong Ayothya.

The temple can be reached by taking the northern road at Chedi Sam Pluem, a landmark when entering Ayutthaya from the south. Wat Ayothya lies to its south. The Buddhist clergy use the temple.

Wat Dusittharam earns its name from the Sanskrit word "Tush," which means "to be content" or "that in which all desires are satisfied." It refers to the "Tushita Heaven," the "joyful heaven or the heavens of the joyous," the fourth Deva heaven above the earth in which the almost perfect beings, about to become Buddhas, pass their last angelic life before being born on earth to assume Buddhahood.

The monastery's area is quite large, with an old and a new section. In the old part, we find a large chedi, a vihara and an ordination hall or ubosot. The modern part consists of new modern monastic structures.

Ayutthaya Historical Research