Wat Phra Phai Luang

The Wat Phra Phai Luang is located near the Sanluang gate in the North city wall, just outside of the old walled town. The temple dates to the end of the 12^th century or early 13^th century before the founding of the Sukhothai Kingdom, which makes it one of the oldest monuments in Sukhothai.

It is believed to have been founded during the reign of Angkor King Jayavarman VII, who built some of Angkor’s most impressive monuments including the Bayon temple. The Wat Phra Phai Luang was built by the Khmer when the Sukhothai area was an outpost of the Khmer empire. It was the center of town in the pre Sukhothai era and the most important temple of that time.

Dedicated to Vishnu

The temple was dedicated to Vishnu. Later in the Sukhothai era it was converted into a Theravada Buddhist temple.

The large temple is built on a square area surrounded by a 600 meter long moat, its buildings aligned on an East-West axis. Since its structures were built during different periods, the temple shows the evolution in Sukhothai architecture and art. It contains examples of different architectural styles such as Khmer, Sukhothai and Ayutthaya.

Khmer style prangs

The first structures built were three Khmer style prangs, of which only the Northern one is still intact. The 13^th century prang is adorned with fine stucco reliefs of Hindu depictions and scenes from the life of the Buddha. The pediment over the false West entrance contains a detailed stucco relief of the Buddha in the “Calling the Earth to witness” mudra and a number of devotees.

The stuccoed reliefs are in a similar style as those on early 13^th century Khmer monuments in Angkor. Most of them have been removed and taken to the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum for safeguarding.

Like most Khmer prangs the entrance faces East, with false doors on the other three sides. On the floor of the remains of the central and South prang lies a linga base, where centuries ago the linga stood that was worshipped as the representation of the Hindu God Shiva.

Principal viharn

In front of the prangs stood the principal viharn. The base and pillars of the large building remain today. In the large pillars are holes at different heights where the wooden roof beams were fitted. The viharn was surrounded by many smaller chedis, of which just the base remain.

Mon Hariphunchai stepped pyramidal chedi

Behind the principal chedi is a square area that was surrounded by galleries. In the center stands a stepped pyramidal chedi with tiers of diminishing size with niches that enshrined images of the Buddha. It is surrounded by 15 smaller prangs.

The chedi is believed to date from the early 14^th century. It is similar in style to the Mon Hariphunchai stepped pyramid chedi of the Wat Ku Kut temple in Lamphun, and was possibly copied from it. Underneath niches containing Sukhothai style Buddha images, older niches with older images were discovered, which suggests that the chedi was rebuilt at least once over the older one.

Mondop and ubosot

During the 15^th century a mondop enshrining four large depictions of the Buddha in walking, standing, sitting and reclining posture was built. The standing Buddha image is in fairly good state of preservation, while the outline of the walking Buddha is still clear. The other two images have largely disappeared.

West of the prangs stand the remains of the ubosot or ordination hall, surrounded by sema stones that mark the sacred area On the pedestal to the back of the ubosot are two images of the Buddha in the mudra of “Calling the Earth to witness”.

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