To city folk, who prize it as place to buy fabric, garments and other goods at bargain prices, its name is now synonymous with what tourists call Chinatown, but Sampheng was once the bustling heart of this capital of ours, an important port and trading hub with a cosmopolitan tolerance for all faiths which, in addition to temples and shrines for Buddhists of different schools, also accommodated places of worship for Muslims.
Adorning the gable and the ubosot of Wat Chakrawat Rachawat (aka Wat Sampluem) is stuccowork reflecting a belief in five different incarnations of the Lord Buddha. Legend has it that a white crow once collected five eggs and incubated them until they hatched. From the eggs emerged five very different creatures: a turtle, a chick, a naga, a lion and an ox. The lion was identified as representing Gautama, the historical Buddha. Around the ubosot are sculptures of an elephant, horse, lion, ox and Mount Kailash (aka Mount Meru, or Phra Sumeru), regarded as the centre of the universe in Buddhist cosmology.
A French Catholic bishop resident in Bangkok wrote in his Description Du Royaume Thai Ou Siam, published in 1854, that foreign trade during the early Rattanakosin period relied on Chinese junks and large ships owned by bureaucrats and foreign traders with Chinese tycoons often owning five or six junks each. During the cool season, in the run up to the Chinese lunar new year, the bishop, Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix, noted that as many as 60 Chinese junks would drop anchor in the Chao Phraya River next to Sampheng in order to offload and take on merchandise.
"Sampheng has been a Chinese community since King Rama I ordered the Chinese to move from where the Grand Palace is now located to an area bounded by Sampluem and Sampheng canals," said Charoen Tanmahapran, a Thai-Chinese culture expert who recently lead a guided tour of the area organised by the Variety Siam group. According to Charoen, Wat Sampluem was built next to the canal of the same name some time during the Ayutthaya period and was renamed Wat Chakrawat Rachawat by King Rama I. It was later restored by the father of Chao Phraya Bodindecha.
In the compound of Wat Sampluem (later renamed Wat Chakrawat Rachawat) is a statue in stone of Chao Phraya Bodindecha (Singha Singhaseni), leader of one of the armies sent by King Rama III to crush an armed rebellion in 1827 by Chao Anuvong of Vientiane, then a tributary state of Siam. Whenever this warrior returned safely from battle he would always pay a visit to Wat Sampluem to make merit. He was a great patron of the temple, notably presenting the abbot with his own spear, which was modified and used as the tip of a royal umbrella on Phra Prang, the corncob-shaped stupa at the temple. The statue bears an inscription which notes that all descendants of this nobleman bear the royally bestowed surname Singhaseni.
"Wat Sampluem is different from other temples in that is has two ubosot," Charoen noted. Buddhist temples normally have only one such structure which is reserved exclusively for the ordination of new monks. One day, some time in the late 18th century, King Rama I paid a visit to the temple in order to have enshrined there an auspicious Buddha statue called Phra Bang. It was only then that he noticed that the vihara (prayer hall) stood on higher ground than the ubosot. He drew the abbot's attention to this perceived defect and so it was that a second ubosot was built in an appropriately elevated position.
Features worth seeing at this temple include: Phra Nak, a Buddha statue presented as a replacement for Phra Bang when that image was returned to Laos by King Rama IV; stucco art on and around the ordination hall reflecting a belief in five different incarnations of the Buddha; Phra Putthabat, a representation of the Buddha's footprint; and Phra Puttha Chai, a portrayal of the Buddha's shadow.
Just a few minutes' walk from this venerable old temple is Tia Chu Hang _ or Boon Samakhom Vegetarian Centre, to give it its English name. For 10 consecutive days, once a year, this place is opened to the general public who come here to pray, practise dhamma and sample the meatless fare prepared especially for the vegetarian festival. By tradition, the latter is held in the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, so it can fall in either September or October in any given year.
Tia Chu Hang, which was founded by Buddhists who speak the Taechieu dialect of Chinese, is also used as a venue for Chinese opera, dances and other performances. If you visit, check out the large set of blue-and-white Chinese-style porcelain which was presented to the centre by King Rama V.
Walking farther along Sampheng Road, we came to a quaint alleyway called Trok Katha on which is the house where the future Chao Chom Manda Ampa, daughter of an ethnic-Chinese tycoon, was brought up.
This young woman became a consort to King Rama II and the child she bore him was the founder of the illustrious Pramoj family.
On our way to Wat Pathum Khongkha (aka Wat Sampheng) next to Khlong Sampheng, we passed many beautiful old buildings alongside Mangkorn and Sampheng roads built during the reigns of King Rama V and VI. Among them are Peiing School, a major Chinese-language institution, and Kocha Itsahak Mosque.
Reaching Wat Pathum Khongkha, another temple which dates back to the Ayutthaya period, our guide, Charoen, stopped to point out a small shrine at the entrance which was erected in memory of Krom Luang Rakronnares, the 33rd son of King Rama I. Within, in the ubosot, stands a Buddha image which was skilfully restored during the reign of King Rama IV (1851-68) and decorated in a style called song kruang, meaning that it is adorned with royal attire and jewellery.
Not far from this temple is the Chinese shrine to Cho Su Kong. This was erected by speakers of the Hokkien dialect of Chinese, which originated in southern Fujian province, and many people still come here to visit the statue of Cho Su Kong, a Fujian monk of great piety, and pray for good health and a blessed life. Every February, on or around the Full-Moon day in the third month of the Chinese lunar calendar, a ritual called wai kanom tao is performed here (very similar to a rite held in Phuket).
Devotees bring Chinese buns baked in the image of turtles (tao in Thai), symbolising great longevity, and colourful miniature models of temple buildings made from paper and place them before statues representing various deities and sages of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.
There is an unusual custom here whereby any worshipper who asks for a loan from the shrine management on this special day must repay twice the amount borrowed the following year.
Given their proximity to each other, all of these sites can be explored in a single morning or afternoon. Proceed at a leisurely pace in order to experience the lively atmosphere around you and this self-guided peek into a culturally diverse quarter of the city will be totally free of charge unless you decide to make a donation to one of the temples.
On important Buddhist holy days, Phra Nak is taken out of storage and put on display so that worshippers can pay their respects. The statue was given to Wat Chakrawatrachawat by King Rama IV to replace another auspicious image called Phra Bang. In 1779, during the reign of King Taksin, Phra Bang — and the even more famous Phra Kaew (the Emerald Buddha) — were captured following a war in what is now Laos and brought back to Bangkok to be enshrined in Wat Sampluem. Later, the ruler of Vientiane, Chao Inthasen, requested the return of Phra Bang, explaining that the deva (guardian spirit) safeguarding Phra Bang and that protecting the Emerald Buddha disliked each other and that this was the cause of an ongoing drought in Siam. It is not known whether his line of reasoning was believed, but his request was granted and Phra Bang was duly repatriated. Then, during the reign of King Rama III (1824-51), Chao Anuvong (son of Chao Inthasen) rebelled against Siam’s authority, marching on Bangkok with an army. The insurrection was suppressed, Vientiane was again overrun by Siamese troops and Phra Bang was brought back to Siam and given to the abbot of Wat Sampluem for safekeeping. King Rama IV (1851-68) finally returned Phra Bang to its Lao homeland after the ruler of the citystate of Luang Phrabang presented him with gold and silver trees, the symbolic gifts given to an overlord in tribute. Phra Bang has been enshrined ever since then in the city to which it gave its name.
The Buddha’s footprint at Wat Sampluem was commissioned by King Rama III so that the faithful would not have to travel all the way to Saraburi to pay respects to the revered Phra Putthabat there, of which this is an exact replica. Positioned opposite it is a visualisation of the Lord Buddha’s shadow, called Phra Phuttha Chai, as it might have been thrown onto an artificial mountain called khao mor , inside which is a tunnel and a labyrinth (khao wongkot ). Khao mor , whose ‘‘slopes’’ are dotted with old earthenware water jars, is intended as a warning to devotees against becoming obsessed with anything and a reminder to be always mindful, exercising the same caution in life as one would do when negotiating a labyrinth. Another Bangkok temple, Wat Ratchanadda, also houses its own Phra Puttha Chai.
It was King Rama I (reigned 1782-1809) who renamed Wat Sampheng, calling it Wat Pathum Khongkha and elevating it to the level of a royal temple. The original structure is believed to date back to the Ayutthaya period because when Chinese people, led by Phraya Rachasetthi, were resettled in Sampheng during the reign of King Rama I, this temple was already in existence, although in a very dilapidated condition. According to a royal chronicle, Krom Phra Ratchawang Bovorn Mahasurasinghanart, Rama I’s younger brother, later ordered its restoration in memory of their late father. The temple was again repaired during the reign of King Rama IV who considered it a very important building and put an official named Kromkhun Ratchasihavikrom in charge of the restoration project. He also had the Buddha statue in the temple’s ordination hall decorated to resemble a Siamese monarch in full regalia, raised its base and positioned two statues, representing deva , bearing gold and silver royal umbrellas next to it.
In a pond near the Buddha’s footprint at Wat Sampluem is a large male saltwater crocodile, almost 5m in length. In a separate pond lives a female croc. Some time during the first half of the 19th century, a Buddhist monk from Cambodia began raising crocodiles in the temple compound, with the population reaching in excess of 20. At one point the crocodiles apparently dug a tunnel from their pond to the nearby canal and from there were able to make their way into the Chao Phraya River. The escape route was later sealed up, and today these two crocs are all that remain. The male is the only descendant of the original breeding group.
Many beautiful old buildings dating back to the reigns of King Rama V and VI have survived on both sides of Mangkorn Road. Worthy of special mention is Kocha Itsahak Mosque. It was commissioned by Luang Kocha Itsahak (Kerd Bin Abdullah), the son of a Sai Buri merchant who had risen to become a midlevel official in the Krom Tha Khwa (the government department which supervised commerce with foreign countries). A Malay speaker, his everyday duties included acting as an interpreter for foreign ambassadors who visited the royal court in Bangkok. He was also responsible for dealing with the rulers of Siam’s tributary states in the Malay Peninsula and with Muslim merchants who wished to conduct trade with Siam. The lack of a mosque in Sampheng created difficulties for foreign traders who were followers of Islam. So Luang Kocha gifted a 2 rai plot of his own land as a site for this place of worship and ordered his children and grandchildren to bring bricks and stones for its construction from an old building he owned on the Thon Buri side of the river. The mosque was built in a European style which was popular at that time.
At Boon Samakhom Vegetarian Centre (Tia Chu Hang), near Wat Sampluem, there is a set of whiteand- blue Chinese porcelain presented by King Rama V. In a room on the right-hand side of this building, which functions as a sort of community centre, are rows of shelves on which are stored wooden or metal plates bearing the names of deceased people; devotees come here at certain times of the year to remember their ancestors.
This shrine, in Talat Noi, Samphanthawong district, is dedicated to the memory of a Buddhist monk named Cho Su Kong who was celebrated for his ability to cure illness and disease. He is said to have been born in Yongchun, in China’s Fujian province, back in 1047. While the exact date of its construction is unknown, an inscription over the statue in the middle of the shrine mentions the year 1804, which was five years prior to the death of King Rama I. The shrine contains examples of the religious art and culture of the Hokkienspeaking immigrants who probably paid to have it erected, including poems, mural paintings, sculptures and carvings. On the day before the full Moon in the third month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the shrine hosts the Wai Kanom Tao Festival. Worshippers bring Chinese buns (kanom ) baked in the shape of turtles (tao in Thai), with red and green dots on their backs, to propitiate the sprit of Cho Su Kong and the various Mahayana Buddhist deities and sages honoured there. The custom is to write a wish-list on a sheet of paper, roll it into a tight scroll and then deposit it in a little room behind the statues. By so doing, it is believed that one’s wishes will come true.
