To understand a country, you have to start with its history. The ancient capital of Ayutthaya gave birth to Thailand's oldest dynasty, which has experienced the rise and fall of glory and disgrace, leaving behind many wonders of beauty. Walking into Ayutthaya is like stepping into the history of Thailand.
Located more than 70 kilometers north of Bangkok, Ayutthaya takes about an hour by train to Ayutthaya railway station. "Ayutthaya" means invincible city, and the Chinese are accustomed to calling it Ayutthaya. The ancient city center is located on an island surrounded by the Chao Phraya, Bassay and Lopfuli rivers, and to enter the city from the train station, you need to cross the highway bridge or take a ferry boat.
Today, Ayutthaya is a city full of rural atmosphere, with monuments scattered around every corner and looming in the shade of greenery. Towering stupas and majestic Buddha statues remind people that the city's former glory is still there, and the ruins of the looted walls still seem to tell the vicissitudes of the dynasty.
Establish a kingdom based on Buddhahood
Of the four dynasties in Thai history, the Ayutthaya dynasty is the longest,000, dating from its founding in 1350 to its destruction by Burma in 1767, extending its life to 417 years. The previous Sukhothai dynasty lasted for 140 years, was the first country with the Thai ethnic group as the main body, and became a powerful country in the Indochina Peninsula during the reign of the third king, Langham Heng, and was regarded as the "cradle of Thai civilization". After the fall of Ayutthaya, Zheng Xin restored the kingdom and established the Thonburi Dynasty, which lasted only 15 years. This was followed by the Bangkok Dynasty, which has a history of 239 years since its founding in 1782.
The founder of Ayutthaya, King Utong, was originally the Taishou of Suphan Namimbang (present-day Suphan), a member of the Sukhothai kingdom, and after the death of King Langanchen, King Utong took the opportunity to expand his power and accelerate the pace of his escape from Sukhothai. In 1347, a plague broke out in the city, and king Wutong found land in the lower Chao Phraya River to build a new capital, Ayutthaya Province, and declared independence three years later. The southern states were either conquered or intimidated, and the king of Utong was crowned with the honorific title of Rama Tibodhi I. Since then, Ayutthaya has formed a situation of confrontation between the north and the south with Sukhothai in the north. In 1378, Ayutthaya forced the declining Sukhothai to submit with his troops, and formally annexed it 60 years later.
The original religion of the Tai people was animism, and later under the rule of the Chenla kingdom, Brahmanism and Mahayana Buddhism dominated. After the independence of the Sukhothai Kingdom, King Langhamhaeng actively introduced Theravada Buddhism after ceylon transformation in order to be unique, and built a large number of buildings and monasteries. Subsequent successors were also enthusiastic about Theravada Buddhism and went on to establish the Ceylon school of Thai Buddhism. By the time of Ayutthaya, Buddhism had developed into a popular religion in Thailand, and everyone from kings and aristocratic officials to ordinary people regarded donating money to build Buddhist temples as a good deed. Buddhist temples are not only religious sites, but also cultural centers and major educational sites. Before men reach adulthood, it is customary to shave their homes for a period of time so that they can learn to read and write in monasteries, receive Buddhist knowledge, and cultivate themselves, and the king is no exception.
Thai men have the custom of short-term monasticism before they reach adulthood and receive Buddhist education in monasteries.
As the political, economic, religious and cultural center of the dynasty, Ayutthaya had more than a thousand monasteries in the golden age, and was known as the "Paris of the East" by Europeans. Wat Mahathat, located in the middle of the ancient city, carries the rise and fall of the dynasty. It was built in 1374 as a royal temple, with more than 200 stupas and more than 10 monasteries, and many of the Buddha statues in the temple are inlaid with gold leaf or gold leaves hidden in the body. But soon after the temple was completed, it was severely destroyed by Burmese invaders. It is said that in order to obtain gold, the Burmese army, which also believes in Buddhism, did not hesitate to behead the Buddha statue, burn it with fire, melt the gold leaf and plunder it. Left with severed limbs and arms, devastated.
A seated Buddha statue in the ruins of Mahathat is burned black, and only the square base of the main pagoda behind it remains.
The main pagoda in the middle of the temple is now only a huge square base, which was originally more than 40 meters high, stacked with red brick layers and decorated with stucco, and is one of the earliest Khmer stupas built in the city. The surrounding small towers have also been mottled, some of which are heavily tilted and crumbling. It is rare to have a complete statue of a seated Buddha, with a burned black face, but a calm expression.
The most popular thing about Mahathat Temple is the "Tree Holding Buddha's Head" spectacle. Legend has it that after the Buddha statue was beheaded, the Buddha's head was magically entangled with the root system of the Bodhi tree. At first, the position of the Buddha's head was quite low, and as the trees grew, they slowly rose. For hundreds of years, faith and nature have intertwined, leaving an "eternal smile". In Thai Buddhist customs, the head of a person cannot be higher than the head of the Buddha, so tourists who want to see this wonder must squat down.
"The tree holds the buddha's head" exudes the serenity of washing away the lead, as if to see the rise and fall of the dynasty.
Wat Ratchaburana, across the street from Wat Mahathat, chronicles a story of fratricide in Thai history. In 1424, in 1424, indra, the seventh king of the Ayutthaya dynasty, died in a duel, and the third prince, Polon Morroj II, became the new king. In honor of his two deceased brothers, he built the temple.
The entire ruins of Rajablanha Monastery, the stupa in the middle is one of the best-preserved Khmer style main pagodas in Ayutthaya.
The remaining stone pillars and the high walls of the Buddhist temple can imagine the grandeur of the temple. In the middle is a tall Khmer-style main tower surrounded by 4 small Ceylon-style towers. This is one of the most well-preserved Khmer-style stupas in the ancient city, resembling a stick of corn, with layers of laminated pagoda decorations, carved buddha statues on three sides, and the entrance to the chamber on one side. The vault is painted with frescoes and is one of the oldest frescoes ever found in Thailand. The pagoda's underground chambers have unearthed a large number of funerary gold objects and Buddha statues, which are now in the nearby Chao Phraya Museum.
The main pagoda of Ratchaplanad Temple is intricately carved, and the chamber mural inside the tower is one of the earliest frescoes found in Thailand.
Not far to the west of RatchapuranaThis is the famous Wat Phra Si Sanphet, which houses the ashes of the three kings of the dynasty. Originally one with the old royal palace, it became a place dedicated to royal ceremonies and ceremonies after the palace was expanded to the north. In 1492, Rama Tiboti II built two majestic Ceylon-style stupas in the temple, in the shape of a bell with a bunch of vines at the tip, which were used to enshrine the ashes of his father and brother, thus beginning the funeral custom of storing the ashes of the king in Thailand. After the death of Rama Tiboti II in 1529, his son built a third stupa to store his ashes. After that, successive kings successively built small pagodas around the three pagodas, forming a spectacular group of pagodas. Today, most of the temple buildings have been destroyed, but only the three pagodas lined up in this line stand majestically and become the symbol of the Ayutthaya.
The three bell-shaped stupas of Parsi Sambi Temple enshrine the ashes of the three kings of the dynasty, and the towering spire becomes a symbol of the ancient city.
The oldest temple in Ayutthaya is Wat Yai Chaimongkhon in the southeast corner of the moat, which was created by King Utong to commemorate the birth of the Ayutthaya dynasty. Unlike most of the vicissitudes of temple ruins, the temple has been rebuilt and restored many times, and is relatively well preserved. The buddha statues and the yellow aya draped on the pagoda contrast strongly with the mottled red bricks, but they are not obtrusive.
The reconstructed and restored Yacha Mongkong Temple is one of the most popular temples in Ayutthaya Province
The incense of Yacha Mongkong Temple continues to this day, most famously a huge reclining Buddha with a white body. Believers lined up to pay tribute to the Buddha statue, making a wish and trying to stick a coin to the soles of the reclining Buddha's feet, and it is said that if the coin does not fall, the wish will come true. This temple is no stranger to Chinese tourists, and the early TV series "Journey to the West" and the movie "Tai Yuan" were filmed here.
The stupa at Yacha Mongkong Temple, which rises into the sky, was built to commemorate the burmese prince who invaded by King NariSuan.
A group of elementary school students receive history education at Yacha Mongkuang Temple
The incense of the reclining Buddha in the Yacha Mengkong Temple is exuberant
Civilizations mingle
Ayutthaya's enduring imperial legacy is inextricably linked to its location at the junction of China, India, and Europe. The alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River is fertile and rich in products, Ayutthaya is located at the crossroads of the confluence of the three rivers, the main buildings are surrounded by canals and ditches, and there are waterways leading to the Gulf of Siam, which has unique conditions in trade, military and diplomacy.
According to Chinese historical records, during the Ming Dynasty, Siamese envoys visited and carried out trade more than 100 times, and China returned to China 19 times. In the sixth year of Yongle (1408), when Zheng He went to the Western Ocean for the second time, he led a fleet of ships up the Chao Phraya River to visit Ayutthaya Province. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the frequent trade between the two countries, many Chinese emigrated to Siam, forming a Chinese residential area in Ayutthaya.
During this period, the Western world also began to contact Thailand, and in 1512 the Portuguese first arrived in Ayutthaya, which became the beginning of thai exchanges with the West. By the mid-16th century, Thailand was able to make its own guns. With the opening of the 17th century to Europe, Ayutthaya attracted a large number of foreign merchants and missionaries to settle down, and Portuguese villages, Dutch villages, Japanese villages and other scattered suburbs.
Influenced by Western culture, Siamese art entered an era of emphasis on individuality, especially in architectural design. Located south of Ayutthaya and about 20 kilometers from the city centre, Bang Pa-In Royal Palace is the largest and most beautiful palace in Thailand, built in the 17th century and abandoned in the war, until it was restored and expanded by Rama IV and V of the Bangkok Dynasty in the 19th century.
In the 17th century, the shipping trade of Ayutthaya was developed, and the city was lined with pagodas.
The palace combines Thai, Chinese and Western architectural styles in one garden, presenting the beauty of the combination of East and West and the fusion of diversity. The water pavilion in the middle of the lake is a typical Thai "three-spire", the pavilion tip is like a crown, supported by dozens of golden pillars, magnificent. The Tianming Hall of the King's Residence is a distinctive Chinese-style building with red columns and yellow tiles, carved beams and paintings. Wat Niwet Thammaprawat looks like a Gothic church from the outside, but inside it is dedicated to Thai Buddha statues, and the colorful glazed windows contrast with traditional Shrines, which is a harmonious collision between Eastern religion and Western architecture.
Bang Pa Yin Palace blends a variety of architectural styles from the East and the West, and the garden design surrounded by the waterfront is pleasing to the eye.
The Tianming Hall is the king's residence, and the architectural design and decoration are full of Chinese style.
Nivata Malawa Temple, also known as "Anna Church", was built in 1876 by Rama V. The avant-garde Rama V was educated by the British governess Anna from an early age, and his father, Rama IV, actively promoted westernization and reform, and then performed a transnational love song, which is the story of the movies "The King and Me" and "Anna and the King".
Nivata Malawa Temple is a Buddhist temple with Gothic church architecture
Reborn from the ashes
Although Ayutthaya founded itself on Buddhism, it was a belligerent state that was constantly expanding toward its neighbors. The dynasty experienced more than 70 wars in more than 400 years of rule. To the north, the Kingdom of Chiang Mai fought a war of annexation for nearly four centuries, which was finally incorporated into Thailand in 1775. To the southeast, in 1353, the Cambodian capital of Angkor was captured, and 100,000 citymen were taken to Ayutthaya, along with treasures and elephants in monasteries and palaces. Cambodia then regained some of its territory, but disputes continued between the two countries until 1595, when Cambodia was completely conquered by King Naresuan. To the south, there were several attempts to subjugate the Sultanate of Malacca at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula with troops.
Ayutthaya's struggle for control of the Indochina Peninsula was fought primarily with its western neighbor, Burma. In the 14th and 5th centuries, Ayutthaya was too busy with the wars with Cambodia and Chiang Mai to look west, and Burma was in a state of division, so the two sides were able to live in peace for the time being. But since the unification of Burma by King Mangrui in the mid-16th century, the geopolitical landscape of the Indochina Peninsula has been reversed, and the two countries have been at war for more than 200 years.
In 1563, the Burmese king Mang Yinglong Shuai's army invaded Ayutthaya Province, and under the siege and fierce bombardment of the regiments, the king of Thailand was forced to make peace. This war arose because of the dispute between two white elephants, which is known in history as the "White Elephant War". In 1569, Mang Yinglong once again sent troops to attack Ayutthaya Province, the Thai royals were captured in Burma, and Ayutthaya became a vassal of Burma for 15 years, until 1584, Prince Narisuan took advantage of the civil unrest in Burma to defeat the Burmese army and restore the country. In 1592, the two sides resumed war, resulting in a major defeat of the Burmese army, and for the next 150 years, Burma had no strength to invade Thailand.
In the middle of the 18th century, Agada, the last king of the Ayutthaya dynasty, was corrupt and incompetent, resulting in the abandonment of political affairs and the collapse of armaments, and Ayutthaya was once again a coveted target in Burma. In 1766, the Burmese king Meng Bao led an army to besiege Ayutthaya, and after 14 months of siege, he finally broke the city wall with gunpowder and attacked the city. The Burmese army burned and plundered the city, and the 417-year-old bustling Kyoto was destroyed.
Wat Puttaisawan enshrines statues of five kings of the Ayutthaya dynasty, with King Utong in the center and Narisuan in the second from the left. According to legend, when Na Li Xuan was a hostage in Burma, the cockfighting defeated the burmese champion rooster, and he did not want a reward but asked for Siam's freedom, so now there is always a rooster in front of his statue.
After the end of the Ayutthaya dynasty, the war-torn Ayutthaya was in disarray. In order to remember this history and prevent the remaining monuments from being destroyed again, the locals carefully protected the ruins. From the middle of the 19th century, restoration work began on the ancient city. As a testimony to the high prosperity of Southeast Asian civilization in the 14th and 19th centuries, Ayutthaya was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1991.
Since then, every December, Ayutthaya has held a World Heritage Cultural Festival, adding new vitality to the development of tourism in the ancient city. Backpackers walk through the monuments on bicycles, white elephants carry tourists strolling under the sunset, canal cruises take you to the floating market to experience the folk customs... At nightfall, the pagodas are lit up by lights, and people "cross" back to the ancient night market, watch folk performances, taste special snacks, and listen to the thousand-year-old sayings of the ancient capital and Buddha.
Roam the floating market, not only can you taste special snacks, but also watch folk performances such as Muay Thai and elephant training.
This article is from the February 2021 issue