Mueang Nakhon Chum

Mueang Nakhon Chum was established during the Sukhothai period by King Li Thai (Maha Thamma Racha I) (1346-1368/74? CE). He moved the political and administrative centre from Chakangrao on the east bank to Nakhon Chum on the west bank of the Ping River. King Borommaracha I of Ayutthaya (reign 1370-1388 CE) combined the cities of Chakangrao and Nakhon Chum and called the whole Kamphaeng Phet.

Nakhon Chum was situated at the mouth of Suan Mak Canal on the west bank of the River Ping and opposite Chakangrao. The town plan was a rectangular shape of 400 m x 2,900 m and enclosed with three earthen ramparts, just like those of Sukhothai. At present, its town walls and ancient monuments have almost gone because of road and housing construction and ground levelling for agriculture. In the heart of the town, there remains the Burmese styled chedi of Wat Phra Borommathat. Based on a supposition of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, this chedi was likely to be the one built by Phra Maha Thamma Racha I in 1357 CE as mentioned in Stone Inscription No 3 (Nakhon Chum Stone Inscription). It is believed that the original one was built in a lotus-bud shape and was renovated with the permission of King Chulalongkorn in Burmese style by a Burmese merchant known as Phraya Taka.

Located to the south outside the town walls, a group of important temples such as Wat Chedi Klang Thung, Wat Nong Lanka, Wat Nong Phikun, Wat Sum Ko, Wat Mong Kale, etc., were constructed in the Aranyik area of Nakhon Chum. At present, the remains of these temples are still in existence.

Most of the ancient monuments of significance in Nakhon Chum in the Aranyik (forest) area were brick. Compared with the ancient monuments of Kamphaeng Phet, those of Nakhon Chum were not buildings of vast size and were constructed in the Sukhothai style not later than the 14th century CE or in the reign of Phra Maha Thamma Racha I.

With a layout in a rectangular shape, each temple in the Aranyik area faced in the northern direction and had a chedi or a mandapa as its principal building. A vihara with only one wall at the back was built in front of the main chedi while the ordination hall of small size was constructed outside the axis of the principal chedi. Owing to the low-level location of this group of temples, a ditch was dug on four sides of the temple to bring the earth from the excavation to fill the temple ground to a higher level and to be used as a place to store water for the dry season. Besides, the ditch enclosing the temple as a demarcation mark was a type of planning found in the Sukhothai period. The main chedi was designed either in a lotus bud shape which was the typical style of the Sukhothai chedi and primarily found in Sukhothai and other associated towns or in a circular bell shape as discovered in Wat Sum Ko, Wat Nong Lanka, Wat Mong Kale and Wat Nong Yai Chuai. A mandapa serving as the main chedi was found only in Wat Nong Phikun. This mandapa was a squared building with a front entrance. Enshrining a sitting Buddha image of great size, the mandapa has some similarities with one found at Wat Si Chum in Sukhothai.

Ayutthaya Historical Research