Wat Chet Yot (, lit: seven-spired temple) or officially called Wat Photharam Maha Wihan (, from ) is a Buddhist temple (

Wat A wat (, ; , ; , ; ; , ) is a type of Buddhist and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State (Myanmar), Yunnan (China), the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Etymology The word ''wat'' is borrowed from the Sanskrit ''v ...

) in

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

northern Thailand Northern Thailand, or more specifically Lanna, is a region of Thailand. It is geographically characterized by several mountain ranges, which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar to Laos, and the river valleys that cut through them. ...

. It is a centre of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

for those born in the year of the Snake.

Location

Wat Chet Yot is located northwest of the city centre of Chiang Mai along the Super Highway Chiang Mai - Lampang (

Highway 11 Route 11, or Highway 11 can refer to routes in the following countries: International * AH11, Asian Highway 11 * European route E11 * European route E011 Argentina * Provincial Route 11 (Buenos Aires), Buenos Aires Provincial Route 11 Austr ...

), north of the intersection of Huai Kaeo road and Nimmanhemin road.

Construction history

King Tilokarat commissioned the construction of the temple in 1455 CE after he had sent monks to

Bagan Bagan ( ; ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that w ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

to study the design of the Mahabodhi temple there, itself a copy of the

Mahabodhi Temple The Mahabodhi Temple (literally: "Great Awakening Temple") or the Mahābodhi Mahāvihāra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but restored Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, marking the location where the Buddha is said to hav ...

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gayā is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple complex, situated in the Gaya district in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Bihar. It is famous for being the place where Gautam ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

in northern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, the location where

Siddhartha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

, the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

, attained

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. According to the Jinakālamālī chronicle, in 1455 CE the king planted a bodhi tree on the spot and in 1476 CE "had established a large

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

in this monastery", probably for the celebration ceremony commemorating 2000 years of Buddhism. The following year the 8th Buddhist World Council was held at Wat Chet Yot to renew the

Tripitaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons.

(the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

Temple structures

The design of the central sanctuary, the Maha Pho wihan (also called Maha Chedi, ), does indeed somewhat resemble the Mahabodhi temple, clearly having Indian influences. Crowning the

flat roof A flat roof is a roof which is almost level in contrast to the many types of List of roof shapes, sloped roofs. The slope of a roof is properly known as its Roof pitch, pitch and flat roofs have up to approximately 10°. Flat roofs are an anci ...

of the rectangular windowless building are seven

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

s (In Thai: chet yot) which gives the temple its name: a

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

-like spire with a square base set back from the centre surrounded by four smaller similar spires, and, set atop the two smaller annexes of the main building, two bell-shaped chedis. The interior of the building contains a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed corridor which leads to a Buddha statue at its end. Right and left of the Buddha statue narrow stairs lead up to the roof. In days past a bodhi tree grew on top of the roof but which was removed in 1910 CE to prevent the structure from collapse. Women should not climb up to the roof as only men are allowed to enter this part of the temple.Wat Chet Yot (built late 15th century onward)
Asian Historical Architecture: A Photographic Survey. Archived 4 February 2009. The exterior façades of the building feature 70, partially strongly weathered,

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s of Thewada (

Deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...

s), divine beings, the faces of whom have allegedly been modelled after relatives of King Tilokarat.

Other buildings

The extensive temple grounds contain several more chedis (and remains of chedis) in

Lanna The Lan Na kingdom or the Kingdom of Lanna (, , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; , , ), also known as Lannathai, was an Indianized state centered in present-day Northern Thailand from the 13th to the 18th centuries. The cultural developme ...

-style (also called: Prasat-style): all are bell-shaped chedis set on bases, with alcoves on four sides containing Buddha statues. The largest of the chedis contains the ashes of King Tilokarat. In the northeast corner of the temple compound is a small

ubosot The ordination hall (Pali: ''sīmā'') is a Buddhist building specifically consecrated and designated for the performance of the Buddhist ordination ritual (''upasampadā'') and other ritual ceremonies, such as the recitation of the Pāṭimokkha. ...

featuring an exquisitely carved wooden

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

surrounded by double '' Bai Sema'', boundary stones which designate the sacred area of a temple. A pond and a square

mondop The ''mondop'' (, from Pali/Sanskrit ) is a building form in traditional Thai religious architecture featuring a square or cruciform building with a usually pointed roof. In the narrow sense, it refers to an enclosed square building with a roughly ...

are at the southern end of the temple grounds. The mondop features a statue of the Buddha being sheltered by the

nāga In various Asian religious traditions, the Nāgas () are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

Mucalinda Mucilinda (; Pali: ''Mucalinda'') is a nāga who protected Śākyamuni Buddha from the elements after his enlightenment. It is said that six weeks after Gautama Buddha began meditating under the Bodhi Tree, the heavens darkened for seven da ...

. Several Buddha statues showing different

mudra A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As well as being spiritual ges ...

(symbolic hand gestures) are found along the western part of the compound with the explanations of the gestures provided in English on information plaques.

Gallery

File:Chmwatchetyot040823d.jpg, Tilokarat chedi File:Chmwatchetyot0107a.jpg, Chedi Animisa File:Wat Chet Yot 05 Maha Chedi interior.JPG, The interior of the Maha Chedi is undergoing renovation File:Chmwatchetyot040823c.jpg, Gable woodcarving of the ubosot

References

Sources

* Michael Freeman: ''Lanna - Thailand's Northern Kingdom''. River Books, Bangkok 2001, * (Sirisak Khumraksa, Publisher): (''Buddhist Art of Lanna''). Plan Readers Publication, Bangkok 2003,

External links

Wat ched Yod (Seven – Spires Temple)
information via Thai Access Tours {{Authority control Chet Yot