Wat Kanlayanamit Woramahawihaan (วัดกัลยาณมิตรวรมหาวิหาร)

Thai. ‘Good Friend Temple’. Name of a first class Buddhist temple of royal rank, located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River (fig.) in Thonburi, at the mouth of the Bangkok Yai Canal and opposite of the southern mouth of the Old City Moat Khlong Khoo Meuang (fig.). It was established in 1825 AD by Chao Phraya Nikonbodin (นิกรบดินทร์), a wealthy Thai-Chinese trader, also known as Toh (โต), who built the temple in honour of King Phra Nang Klao (fig.), on land near the Santa Cruz Church (fig.) in the area of the Kuti Jihn (กุฎีจีน) Community. King Rama III named the temple Kanlayanamit. Kanlayana is a prefix meaning ‘beautiful’ or ‘good’, and Kanlayanamit could be translated as ‘true friend’ or ‘good friend’. It derives from an inscription in the temple, which reads: Wat kanlayanamit khon sanit Kasat sang (วัดกัลยาณมิตรคนสนิทกษัตริย์สร้าง), i.e. ‘Temple built by a true and close friend of the King’. When King Rama VI later introduced the use of surnames for his subjects, the descendants of Chao Phraya Toh took the family name Kanlayanamit after this temple built by their ancestor. Among Toh's descendants is Saphrang Kanlayanamit (สพรั่ง กัลยาณมิตร), a general who served for nearly three decades in the Army Cavalry Corps (fig.) and who was a key leader of the September 2006 coup d'état (fig.) that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawat (fig.). Whereas the ubosot of Wat Kanlayanamit houses a large Buddha image seated in the pahng pah leh laai pose (fig.) and has elaborate murals with scenes from Buddhism and of Thai traditional life and folklore, the main wihaan, which was built by King Rama III in order to help Chao Phraya Toh, houses the principle image known by the names Phra Phutta Trai Rattananayok (fig.) and Luang Pho Toh, as well as by its Chinese name Sampokong (ซำปอกง). It is a circa 15.15 metre tall statue seated in the bhumisparsa pose, which the King had cast after the 19 meter tall gilded Buddha of Wat Phanan Choeng in Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya (fig.), in May 1837. It was for a long time the tallest seated Buddha image in the capital, but in mid-2020 this record was broken by the giant 69 metre tall Phra Phutta Thammakaya Thep Mon Buddha image (fig.) of Wat Pahk Nahm Phasi Chareun, on which construction had started in 2017. In front of the principal wihaan is a more recently built belfry (ho rakhang), which houses the largest existing bell in Thailand (fig.). Adjacent to it is a lesser wihaan that features a smaller Buddha image, also seated in the bhumisparsa pose, and raised on a high pedestal. The inner walls of this hall are decorated with intricate murals depicting scenes of the Ramakien (fig.). Also transliterated Wat Kalayanamitr. See also TRAVEL PICTURE (1), (2) and (3), SEE MAP, and WATCH VIDEO. 回