Wat Bang Khae Yai (วัดบางแคใหญ่)

Name of an ancient Buddhist temple in Samut Songkhram, which dates from the Ayutthaya period and was renovated in the reign of Rama II. The temple's ubosot, i.e. the main prayer hall, houses a Buddha image in the maravijaya pose. The temple has several murals, including frescoes painted on the wooden walls of the abbot's kuti (fig.). They are believed to date from period of the Nine Armies War, i.e. the Burmese-Siamese War (1785-1786), when the Thai Army went to war with Burma, passing through villages of the Mon, Thawai, Tai Yai and Karen communities, and hence depicts the lives of people found along the way. One scene, i.e. that of a Mon man and a girl, dressed in a skirt that covers her breasts, pounding rice is depicted on a Thai postage stamp issued in 2020 to mark the annual Thai Heritage Conservation Day. These murals are believed to have been commissioned by Chao Phraya Wongsah Surasak, the former governor of Ratchaburi who later rose to the position of Samuha Kalahome, or Minister of Defence. A statue commemorating him stands in the temple’s garden, while in front of the murals is a shrine with a smaller bronze likeness and his framed portrait, flanked by the portraits of King Rama I and King Rama II (fig.). See also TRAVEL PICTURES (1) and (2), POSTAGE STAMP, and MAP. 回