WAT RATCHABOPHIT

The royal mausoleum at Wat Ratchabophit (the mausoleum, situated outside a monastery zone in the temple compound, lies along its wall adjacent to Atsadang Road near Klong Khu Muang Deum.) In the Ayutthaya period, after the cremation of late Kings or other royal family members, the cremated bones were kept at Thay Jaranam — a stupa also enshrining Buddha statues situated behind the ubosot, or ordination hall — in Wat Phra Sri Sanphet. The bones of other royal families who hold lower ranks are conserved at other stupa in this temple as well. As for the royal ashes of the late Kings, Queens and their parents, they were cast into the river. The ashes were collected and put in a white bag which was placed on a pedestal tray. In ancient times, three small lumps of laterite lacquered with gold, copper alloy and silver leaves were placed in the bag along with ashes to weigh it down into the river. As time has gone by, the process changed. After the bag with royal ashes was sealed, a ceremony was held where a procession would take the ashes from the Phra Meru Mas, or royal crematorium, to the royal barge. In the Ayutthaya era, the royal ashes were floated in the river at Wat Phutthaisawan or Wat Chaiwatthanaram, both riverfront temples in Ayutthaya province. Later in the Rattanakosin period, the royal ashes were released at Wat Pathum Khongkha or Wat Yannawa owing to ancient traditional belief and the temples’ auspicious names, according to the Fine Arts Department. The enshrinement of royal ashes was first recorded during the royal cremation of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) in 1911. At that time, King Vajiravudh (King Rama VI) ended the practice of releasing ashes into the river and kept his father’s bones at the ubosot of Wat Benchamabophit. Since then, royal cremated relics have been enshrined in mausoleums or some other appropriate place. A procession takes the royal ashes there. Nevertheless, some royal families still released their ancestors’ ashes into the water though the practice was not prevalent. King Rama V, during his reign, commissioned Prince Thavi Thavalyalabh to supervise the construction of a mausoleum along a western wall of the Wat Ratchabophit compound. After the prince died in 1897, Prince Nilawan carried on the mausoleum work. In the mausoleum compound, several memorials were built to store royal relics of royal consorts, Chao Chom Manda, and the sons and daughters of King Rama V. Memorials enshrining royal cremated remains are constructed in various ancient architectural styles. Structures including chedi, phra prang and vihara were built in Thai, Khmer and European Gothic-style architecture. The mausoleum is also decorated with exquisite orchards of different types of plants including flowers such as frangipani, or leelawadee in Thai. One of the memorials, the Rangsi Vadhana Memorial is the memorial for the Mahidol Family, the royal family of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Positioned in the middle of the memorial is a large stupa plated with golden mosaics while three other small stupas are painted in white. Inside the memorial are royal relics and royal ashes of His Royal Highness Prince Mahidol of Songkla, the father of the late King Bhumibol, Princess Mother Srinagarindra and Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana, the late King’s sister. Hence, the His Majesty the late King Bhumibol’s royal ashes will be enshrined in this memorial as well.