Wat Mahaprutaram, Bangkok, Thailand

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Wat Mahaprutaram a very old Buddhist temple on a 5.6 acre piece of land in Sampheng, the Chinatown district of Bangkok. It is located overlooking one of the old canals of Bangkok, the Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem, along Maha Prutaram Road, which meets Charoen Krung Road just in front of Hualamphong Railway Station. Wat Mahaprutaram has been around as early as and perhaps even before the Ayutthaya period three hundred years ago. During the Ayutthaya period, it was known as Wat Takien, named after a miracle tree in the vicinity.

In 1852, King Rama IV (@ King Mongkut) reconstructed the temple and made it a royal monastery. At the same time, the king renamed it Wat Mahaprutaram, in honor of the chief abbot of the temple, Phramaha Pruttacarya.

Wat Mahaprutaram contains the Big Presiding Buddha image of Early Sukhothai style. The Buddha is in the subduing mara (demon) posture. It is 3 meters wide and 4.1 meters tall. In front of it are six smaller seated Buddha images. The ubosot (Phra Ubosatha Hall) was built in 1854. Within the compound of Wat Mahaprutaram is a Bodhi tree. It was brought from Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, during the reign of King Rama IV over a hundred and forty years ago, and is called the Lanka Bodhi Tree.