Wat Chamma Thevi (Wat Ku Kut)

Mon style Mahabol chedi

Temple housing one of the last surviving examples of Mon Dvaravati architecture

The Wat Ku Kut is a little visited temple in the town of Lamphun comprising of a viharn, an ubosot, a sala and two ancient chedis.

The temple was founded around 1150 when Lamphun was the capital of the Mon Dvaravati Kingdom of Haripunchai. According to local legend, the temple was founded much earlier in the days of Queen Chama Thewi, who founded the town of Lamphun in the early 9th century. The Wat Ku Kut is also known as Wat Chama Thewi or Wat Chama Devi named after the Queen.

Local legend tells that the spot where the temple was to be erected was determined by firing an arrow. The spot where the arrow landed marked the location. The most noticeable structures of the Wat Ku Kut are its two ancient chedis.


The Wat Ku Kut houses one of the last surviving examples of Mon Dvaravati architecture in Thailand, the Mahabol chedi. The well preserved stepped pyramid chedi is also known as the Suwan Chang Kot chedi.

The chedi was built by King Athitayarat of the Haripunchai Kingdom to commemorate his victory over the Khmer halfway the 12th century. The current structure is from 1218, when it was rebuilt by King Saphsit after an earthquake damaged the original.

The brick chedi measuring 21 meters high is plastered with stucco. Standing on a square base are five square tiers of diminishing size. Each side of each tier contains three niches enshrining a standing image of the Buddha, decreasing in size towards the top. The images. cast in 1218 in molds, are in the Abhaya mudra (dispelling fear), the right hand raised. The arches over the niches contain intricate stuccoed decorations.

Similar chedis can be found at the Wat Phaya Wat in Nan, the Wat Mahathat in Sukhothai Historical Park, the Wat Phra That Haripunchai in Lamphun, and the Wat Chedi Liam in Chiang Mai.

Buddha images on the Mahabol chedi

Ratana chedi

Next to the viharn stands another smaller stupa named Ratana chedi, which translates to “gem chedi”. The early 13th century octagonal chedi measuring 11½ meters high is made of brick and covered with stucco.

Above its high base is a niche on each of the chedi’s eight sides in which a standing image of the Buddha is enshrined. The Ratana chedi is topped with a relic chamber. Small niches just under the chamber contain seated images of the Buddha. The top portion of the chedi has collapsed.

Viharn

The more recent viharn or assembly hall is a large building in central Thai style with a Lanna style gable. The balustrades of the stairway towards the viharn carry a Naga snake sprewing out a Makara, a sea animal from Hindu mythology. The wooden window panels are adorned with depictions of celestial beings in gold colors on a red background. Seated on an elaborate pedestal is the temple’s principal Buddha image, a large image in the “Calling the Earth to witness” posture. Murals on the upper part of the walls depict scenes from the history of Haripunchai and Queen Chama Thewi, including scenes of battles.

Mural depicting a local legend about Queen Chama Thewi

On the back wall to the left of the principal Buddha image is a mural depicting a legend about Queen Chama Thewi. It shows Viranga, King of the Lawa people on top of Doi Suthep mountain throwing a spear towards the town of Haripunchai (present day Lamphun). According to the legend Viranga had wanted for many years to marry Queen Chama Thewi. Finally the Queen agreed provided that Viranga could throw three spears from the top of the mountain into the walled town. After the first spear had reached the town, Queen Chama Thewi who feared Viranga would succeed, offered him a turban made out of her sarong. Some menstrual blood that was still in the cloth weakened Viranga, after which he failed his second attempt.

Wat Ku Kut as dusk

Ubosot

The ubosot is a central Thai style building with a Lanna style gable with wood carvings of golden flower motifs. On top of its two tiered roof are chofahs, an ornamental element shaped like a thin bird that represents Garuda. Near the ubosot’s entrance door stands an ancient stone stele, inscribed with Mon script.

A third chedi on the grounds is much more recent. Each side of the square structure contains a niche enshrining a golden Buddha image.

How to get to the Wat Ku Kut

The temple is found on Chamadevi road (road 1015) a little over one kilometer West of Lamphun town center, next to Lamphun Hospital. To get there, hire a samlor (trishaw) from the town center for about 40 Baht one way. For the way back into town, get a samlor at the hospital.

Entrance fee & opening hours

The Wat Ku Kut opens daily during daylight hours. Admission is free.


Detail more
http://www.renown-travel.com/temples/wat-ku-kut.html

Languid Lamphun: Thailand’s Oldest City

The historic town of Lamphun, if not definitively the oldest city in Thailand, must certainly be a contender for the title "longest continually inhabited settlement". The ancient fortified city was founded, according to legend, in 660 AD, almost six centuries before the nearby city of Chiang Mai, and fully 1,122 years before the Thai capital was moved to Bangkok. Historians, who question the date given by the annals, fix the founding of the city in about 950 AD—yet even by these punctilious standards, Lamphun is old indeed.

At the peak of its power and influence, Lamphun was better known as the capital of the Kingdom of Haripunchai. Established by Buddhist monks from Lopburi, under the legendary Queen Chamadevi, Haripunchai flourished as a centre of Mon culture and influence until its eventual conquest by King Mangrai of Lan Na, in 1281—long after the demise of the more southerly Mon Kingdom of Dvaravati.
Today the quiet, provincial town of Lamphun, located just 26 kilometres south of Chiang Mai, is generally visited as an enjoyable and rewarding excursion from the northern capital. Tranquil, lotus-filled moats and some of the most distinguished historical architecture in Thailand combine to attract both Thai and overseas visitors.

Unusually for these modern times, one of the great pleasures of a visit to Lamphun is the actual journey from Chiang Mai. The traveller should head south along the old road—Highway 106—avoiding the busy new superhighway. This road, which once ran directly between Chiang Mai Gate and Lamphun's northern "Elephant Crush" Gate, is steeped in history. From the Chiang Mai suburb of Nong Hoi south, for a distance of 12 kilometres—as far as the Chiang Mai-Lamphun provincial boundary—the road is lined by lofty 30-metre high yang trees, interspersed with fruit orchards, small farms and paddy fields.

En route the road passes through the quiet village of Saraphi, renowned for its basketry and bamboo furniture products. Numerous shops selling these goods stand beside the tree-lined road. Between the yang trees and fruit orchards are frequent signs for garden restaurants—quiet, rural venues, set back off the road and much appreciated by local people and visitors alike.

Little remains of Lamphun's ancient city walls, though the heart of the Old City is still surrounded to the north, west and south by well-preserved moats. To the east, the shallow, slow-flowing waters of the River Kuang once provided protection in times of war, but now offer shady banks, a boating park for children, and a peaceful place to fish.

Those interested in the history and layout of Lamphun should begin with a visit to the informative and well-maintained provincial museum. Here there are displays of various fine bronzes, stuccoes and terracottas from Mon times, including masks and carvings of figures with the fierce eyes and enigmatic grin which are the hallmark of Haripunchai Art.

Starting at the museum may be the sensible way to begin a tour of Lamphun, but—truth to tell—few people, even dedicated antiquarians, will have such strength of mind. For directly opposite, on the east side of Inthayongyot Road, the city's main street, eclipsing every other monument in Lamphun, stands the splendid Wat Phra That Haripunchai. This magnificent temple, unequalled in north Thailand except, perhaps, by Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, was founded in 1044 by King Athitayaraj of Haripunchai on the site of Chamadevi's royal palace. Legend has it that the queen's personal quarters are enclosed in the main 46-metre high Lan Na-style chedi, covered in copper plates and topped by a gold umbrella—it's a nice story, but if true Chamadevi's quarters must have been rather cramped.

In addition to an impressive but modern viharn, built in 1925 and housing the important Phra Chao Thongtip Buddha image, the temple complex also includes the unusual stepped-pyramid Suwanna Chedi, dating from 1467, one of very few surviving example of Dvaravati architecture. Nearby hangs a giant bronze gong, claimed to be the largest in the world. By any standards, Wat Phra That Haripunchai is a remarkable structure, to be treasured—like Kipling's "winking wonder", the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon—not only by the Thais, but by humanity in general.

As in any tour of ancient Thailand, the visitor faces the possibility of "temple fatigue"—after all, neighbouring Chiang Mai boasts 121 temples within the city limits, and many more beyond. Even so, at least one more Lamphun temple is essential viewing, and in its own way it is as important as Wat Phra That Haripunchai. This is Wat Chamadevi, better known locally as Wat Ku Kut. Named after Lamphun's founder and most famous ruler, this temple lies on the western side of town, about one-and-a-half kilometres from the moats down the road to Sanpathong Village.

Wat Chamadevi is the site of the two oldest surviving monuments in Lamphun, both brick chedis decorated with stucco figures of the Buddha, dating from 1218, and considered to be the finest surviving examples of Haripunchai—indeed, Mon—architecture in Thailand. The larger of the two, Chedi Suwan Chang Kot, is a stepped pyramid 21 metres high, thought to have been modelled on a similar dagoba in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. Nearby there is another chedi of smaller proportions but equal style. This structure, the Ratana Chedi, is said to contain the ashes of the great queen herself.

At the southern end of Inthayongyot Road, near the banks of the encircling moat, may be seen the striking statue of Queen Chamadevi. This remarkable ruler, who was instrumental in the spread of Buddhism and of Mon culture in the region more than one thousand years ago, is one of the heroines of Thai history. By all accounts she was both determined and ingenious, so it comes as no surprise that to this day the women of Lamphun are considered strong-willed and proud because of her influence.

Twelve kilometres south of Lamphun, further along Highway 106 en route to the small provincial towns of Li and Thoen, the visitor will find the village of Pasang noted for its cotton weaving, lamyai orchards, and beautiful girls. By some accounts the girls of Pasang are the loveliest in all Thailand. They certainly caught the attention of one former French ambassador, who noted that they are ‘fair with wide almond eyes, slender and supple, providing many prize-winners for beauty contests’.

A journey of a further nine kilometres leads to Wat Phra Phuttabaat Taak Pha, perhaps better known to aficionados of the Rambo movies as the temple where Sylvester Stallone is found in retreat at the beginning of the film Rambo III. The temple is characterised by a footprint said to have been left by the Buddha when he stopped to dry his clothes. Views of the surrounding countryside, and especially of the Ping River valley, are spectacular from the temple mount.

Queen Chamadevi

Queen Chamadevi is a shadowy figure in Southeast Asian history. She’s said to have come from the Mon kingdom of Lopburi between the 6th and 8th C. AD, founded the city of Haripunchai (modern Lamphun), and established a highly-developed culture that lost its autonomy only when it was conquered and assimilated by the southward-moving Tai under their leader (and founder of Chiang Mai) Jao Mengrai some 600 years later. But if historically Queen Chamadevi lacks definitive detail, the Northern Thai pongsawadan and dumnarn chronicles provide a fuller picture of this remarkable personage, while local legend and oral accounts are positively tabloid in the lurid way they treat her. Altogether less well known though is the fact that the Queen continues to make discreet appearances to her devotees right down to the present, keeping them up the mark in their observances of her ceremonies and the upkeep of her temples…and also on one occasion encouraged a radical rewriting of her history - as John Cadet relates in the translation and commentary that follow.

The chi-pha-khau’s Story
On the 14th February 1965 a native of Sukhothai by the name of Suthawari Sowanapak, living in Chiang Mai and farming a piece of land at the foot of Doi Kham, had a strange experience. A few months before, he’d received a letter from the head monk of the amphoe asking him to check whether robbers had been digging into the reliquary of the deserted temple at the top of the mountain (5 kms. to the south of Chiang Mai city, later restored under the name of Wat Phrathat Doi Kham). He found no trace of damage, but intrigued by what he’d seen, he persuaded some farmer-friends to help raise funds to rebuild the temple by publishing its history and improving the road Khru Ba Srivichai had made to it some years before. In the succeeding months, though, Suthawari failed to find any records of Wat Phrathat Doi Kham, but on his way to consult the abbot of a temple at the foot of Doi Suthep, he saw the statue of Khru Ba Srivichai and went to pay his respects there, explaining what he was trying to do and asking the spirit of the charismatic monk for help. The following day he went up to the ruined temple, and this was where he had his strange experience.
I heard a voice in the middle of the night,” he tells us in the preface to his prarachachiwa prawat pramaejao chamadevi (History of Queen Chamadevi). “The voice said, ‘My dear child, wake up!’ When I opened my eyes sleepily, my heart almost stopped beating. It was a ghost! I couldn’t run away. I was alone in the vihara. O-ho, there was the figure of a lady, very tall, big, smiling. She didn’t look fierce like a ghost in a book. She was wearing clothes of white which came down to her feet, with a crown on her head like an actor in a dance drama, and around her neck was a royal necklace. In a sharp, swift, low voice she said, ‘I am the ruler of Haripunchai. If you want the history [of the Doi Kham temple] you have to go to Haripunchai [modern Lamphun].’


Early the next morning, I went to Lamphun by bicycle but although I asked a lot of people, I didn’t get any information. I turned back, with his eyes closed in front of an altar. The smell of the Indian incense sticks filled the gloomy cave with its fragrance. The deep silence of the cave was like the lonely emptiness of some royal hall. The sound of phi naan Ta’s voice echoed. This atmosphere made us feel as if we were the humans of a thousand years ago. That night we stopped at eleven o’clock. The father hermit told us to stop and said, ‘My son, you will make this story for Mother Princess, and you’ll get the money to build a memorial to her. But you must be very careful. You may face danger to your life, because Mother Princess and her enemies are still contending. You will have to take care of yourself.’ Then we rested. Because I was weary from my journey, I slept deeply until phi naan Ta woke me at gone seven o’clock. That day, the whole day, we continued translating. We didn’t stop from morning to night. It took four days to finish. Then we made our farewells to the hermit and left.”

Suthawari says he informed important monks in Chiang Mai about his task and its dangers, and received their blessing, at the same time ‘accepting the five rules’ binding upon laymen in exceptional circumstances. And his account continues:
“On the 7th April I received the bad news that the father hermit was ill, and wished to see me. I, phi naan Ta and his little daughter hurried to the cave. When we reached it we found some of the father hermit’s disciples there - one from Roi Et, two from Mahasarakham, and the three from our party making seven, if we include the father hermit. When we were together he gave me parting instructions concerning my work and told phi naan Ta to ordain as a chi-pha-khau, so as to help protect me through wipassana [meditation].

Then on the evening of the 9th April, the father hermit said his last words, ‘The time has come.’ He reached the end of his life peacefully. All of us performed the ceremony helping his soul pass into heaven, and we buried him in a secret cave where eventually leaves and grass would cover his grave. Then we parted sorrowfully, having divided up his important belongings, each of us taking two items. (When I met him, I asked why, if father hermit knew I had come to Chiang Mai long before, he hadn’t sent his disciple to find me sooner. He answered that the time hadn’t come. When he died, I knew that his words, ‘The time hadn’t come,’ meant that he was still alive). After that I hurried to separate the history of Doi Kham from the part involving the biography of the Princess Mother Chamadevi, and also busied myself revising her history, until, as predicted, I was attacked.

The mutability of human life causes me to end my short [preface to this] history at this point. I wish my readers all good fortune.”
By the ’80s, Sutawari himself had ordained as chi-pha-khau and opened a small establishment, half ashram, half museum, to the south of Chiang Mai town, and it was at this time, his revisionary studies of the history of Doi Kham and the life of Chamadevi completed, that a lecturer at Chiang Mai university who’d also had a visitation from the Queen, was able to make a financial donation to help with publication of the work. Since then, a group of well-to-do ladies, most from Bangkok and including members of the film community, have raised money to install a bronze statue of Chamadevi in the forecourt of Wat Phrathat Doi Kham, where small ceremonies honouring her are held from time to time. In the courtyard itself, the figures of the ancestral guardian-spirits of Chiang Mai, Bu Se, Ya Se, their son Hermit Suthep, the Lua chieftain Viranga, with other images of Queen Chamadevi - one representing her legendary lotus-birth - have also been assembled, grouped around the reliquary said to contain a lock of the Buddha’s hair.

What the connection between the Buddha, the once and present Queen of Haripunchai, and the guardian spirits is, makes for a long and somewhat complicated story which deserves to be better known, but even without knowing it, the remoteness, beauty and unusual atmosphere of the temple’s location - not to speak of Sutawari’s remarkable history - make it well worth visiting.

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Wat Phrathat Hariphunchai

Wat Phrathat Haripunchai is one of the most famous (and most holy) temple complexes in the north. It is said to have been founded by queen Chamathewi in the grounds of her palace, sometime in the 8th century CE.

The temple grounds are quite extensive, with many interesting structures. I find it a most peaceful place, even compared with the temples of Chiang Mai. Last time I was there, I saw only three or four tourists - there was a tour bus parked outside, but perhaps they were elsewhere, buying souvenirs. 

Buses from Chiang Mai drop off passengers at the rear entrance to the temple, on Inthayongyot Road, though this tour starts at the main gate on the opposite, southeasterly side. 

I noticed last time I visited (August 2005) that if you face the temple from in front of the lion gates, the spires of the gate arch, the main Wiharn and the central Chedi almost line up, but not quite. The skills of the Lan Na temple builders were extraordinary, so I suspect that the cause of the mis-alignment may be seismic rather than human - the area around Chiang Mai is, after all, on the same fault line that triggered the tsunami of December 2004; the curtailing of the Suwana Chedi at Wat Chamathevi and Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai were also due to earthquakes. 

Directly behind the splendid Lion Gates is the central Wiharn which contains Phra Chao Thongtip, an enormous Chiang Saen style Buddha figure that is only just contained by the Wiharn. 

Bell Tower

To the left of the Wiharn is a sala which houses a reclining Buddha, and to the right the Bell Tower with a smallish bell, and more noticeably, an enormous bronze gong. 

Behind the central Wiharn is the ancient much revered Chedi, Phra Borommathat Haripunchai pictured earlier in the page, the religious center of the temple. The Tourism Authority of Thailand gives the height of the chedi as 46m and places the origin about a thousand years ago, with a major restoration in the 15th century giving it its present shape. 

At each corner of the square pedestal are curious Mon style Buddha figures and in the center of each side a shrine to the Buddha. The area around the shrines is fenced off and notices request women not to enter the enclosed section. Many Thais make merit at the shrines, and for good luck may walk around the chedi three times clockwise. 

At the eastern end of the complex is the Wiharn Phra Jao Than Jai and next to it the temple museum. The Wiharn houses a crowned Lanna style Buddha figure (Phra Jao Than Jai) with a line of yellow robed Buddhas standing behind. On the walls are a series of murals, including graphic representations of heaven and hell. 

Phra Jao Than Jai

To the right of the Wiharn is an old red-brick stepped chedi, similar in style to the Suwana Chedi at Wat Chamathevi. Seated Chiang Saen style Buddha figures are placed at each corner, but I particularly like the small figure of a smiling Chinese monk, sitting on the southerly side, fingering his beads. 

Finally, to the south of the Chedi is a Mondop covering a large Buddha footprint set.

How to get there
Phrathat Hariphunchai is located close to Methi Wuttikorn School on Inthayongyot Road, Nai Mueang Sub-district, Mueang Lamphun District, Lamphun Province. For further details, please contact Tel. 0 5351 1104 or at “http://www.hariphunchailemple.org/”

Read more details

http://www.thailandbytrain.com/Lamphun.html

Lamphun History Guide

• The historic town of Lamphun, if not definitively the oldest city in Thailand, must certainly be a contender for the title "longest continually inhabited settlement".

• The ancient fortified city was founded, according to legend, in 660 AD, almost six centuries before the nearby city of Chiang Mai, and fully 1,122 years before the Thai capital was moved to Bangkok. Historians, who question the date given by the annals, fix the founding of the city in about 950 AD yet even by these punctilious standards, Lamphun is old indeed.

• At the peak of its power and influence, Lamphun was better known as the capital of the Kingdom of Haripunchai. Established by Buddhist monks from Lopburi, under the legendary Queen Chamadevi, Haripunchai flourished as a centre of Mon culture and influence until its eventual conquest by King Mangrai of Lan Na, in 1281 long after the demise of the more southerly Mon Kingdom of Dvaravati.

• Today the quiet, provincial town of Lamphun, located just 26 kilometres south of Chiang Mai, is generally visited as an enjoyable and rewarding excursion from the northern capital. Tranquil, lotus-filled moats and some of the most distinguished historical architecture in Thailand combine to attract both Thai and overseas visitors.

• Unusually for these modern times, one of the great pleasures of a visit to Lamphun is the actual journey from Chiang Mai. The traveller should head south along the old road Highway 106 avoiding the busy new superhighway. This road, which once ran directly between Chiang Mai Gate and Lamphun's northern " Elephant Crush " Gate, is steeped in history. From the Chiang Mai suburb of Nong Hoi south, for a distance of 12 kilometres as far as the Chiang Mai Lamphun provincial boundary the road is lined by lofty 30-metre high yang trees, interspersed with fruit orchards, small farms and paddy fields.

• En route the road passes through the quiet village of Saraphi, renowned for its basketry and bamboo furniture products. Numerous shops selling these goods stand beside the tree-lined road. Between the yang trees and fruit orchards are frequent signs for garden restaurants quiet, rural venues, set back off the road and much appreciated by local people and visitors alike.

• Little remains of Lamphun's ancient city walls, though the heart of the Old City is still surrounded to the north, west and south by well-preserved moats. To the east, the shallow, slow-flowing waters of the River Kuang once provided protection in times of war, but now offer shady banks, a boating park for children, and a peaceful place to fish.

• Those interested in the history and layout of Lamphun should begin with a visit to the informative and well-maintained provincial museum. Here there are displays of various fine bronzes, stuccoes and terracottas from Mon times, including masks and carvings of figures with the fierce eyes and enigmatic grin which are the hallmark of Haripunchai Art.

• Starting at the museum may be the sensible way to begin a tour of Lamphun, but truth to tell few people, even dedicated antiquarians, will have such strength of mind. For directly opposite, on the east side of Inthayongyot Road, the city's main street, eclipsing every other monument in Lamphun, stands the splendid Wat Phra That Haripunchai. This magnificent temple, unequalled in north Thailand except, perhaps, by Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, was founded in 1044 by King Athitayaraj of Haripunchai on the site of Chamadevi's royal palace.

• Legend has it that the queen's personal quarters are enclosed in the main 46-metre high Lan Na style chedi, covered in copper plates and topped by a gold umbrella it's a nice story, but if true Chamadevi's quarters must have been rather cramped.

Read more details

http://www.thailandsworld.com/en/chiang-mai/lamphun/lamphun-history-guide/index.cfm