[ { "id": 206892, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 169, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\nVISIT TO THE SUKHOTHAI SITES IN THAILAND\n\n163\n\nThe first overseas tour of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society went to Thailand from 1-6 February 1973. Twenty members took part.\n\nThe purpose of the tour was to visit the historical sites of Sukhothai, Srisachanalai and Kampengpetch in the centre of the country; these are the abandoned cities of the Sukhothai kingdom which asserted its independence from the Khmers about 1220, reached its apogée under Ramkamheng (r. ± 1275—1317), and declined after the foundation in 1350 of Ayuthia, which subjugated the northerly kingdom in 1378, when the Sukhothai king, Mahadharamaraja II, transferred the capital to Pitsanuloke to reign as a vassal of Ayuthia. The Sukhothai kingdom is famous for its export celadons which in recent years have found their merited place in world porcelain collections for their originality and texture.\n\nHowever, the tour first stayed in Bangkok and, using a converted rice barge, saw some old temple paintings in Dhonburi and Nonthaburi.\n\nWat Chalermprakiad on the Chao Phrya River is a picturesque and half-ruined temple built by King Rama III in memory of his mother. The temple is surrounded by a double wall, the inner one having square towers with circular openings showing the strong Chinese artistic and architectural influences in Siam during that king's reign (1824-1851). The building to the right of the central edifice is in a state of total ruin, but still has its original doors and windows with their lacquer and mother-of-pearl exteriors and their lotus-painted red and blue interiors. Those of the main building, which is in a far better state of preservation, are predominantly red and green. There is excellent stucco work over the doors and windows and broken porcelain is used for characteristic decoration on the roof lines. The rustic setting of the temple, with its teak kuti or monks' houses surrounded by rain trees and breadfruit trees dominated by the tapering white chedi in the centre, left a strong impression of dignified serenity.\n\nWat Po Bang O, off Klong Bangkrouay, is a small old temple also in rural surroundings which has interesting examples of original 18th century paintings with some 19th century overlay showing", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206895, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 172, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "166\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nthe surrounding countryside reposing in the benediction of its large standing Buddha. The museum of Sukhothai also displayed a number of very fine pieces, not least the magnificent walking Buddha, phra lila, a purely Sukhothai invention.\n\nThe sister city of Srisachanalai is further to the north of Sukhothai but of the same period. It is famous for the Sangkaloke variation on Sukhothai celadons, and it is from there that the Chalieng wares came. To get to the site one has to cross the river Yom in a boat below the rapids; the ruins are visited on foot. The entire spread of the area was seen from the top of Wat Khao Phanom Pleung. Wat Chang Lom, with its stucco-on-laterite elephants around giving it its name, dates from the beginning of the Sukhothai period. Wat Chedi Chet Tao has among other chedi the characteristic lotus-bud finial which was also seen in Wat Mahathat in Sukhothai; as in that temple, too, there were also some good stucco remains, here, of a Buddha seated under a protecting naga. Wat Uttayan Yai is another ruined temple, and between it and the high city wall still remaining are the ruins of Wat Nang Phya, the walls of the chapel containing some delicate decorative stucco work. In the ruins of the palace is an interesting covered arched sanctuary,\n\nThe site of Kampengpetch lacks the hills of Sukhothai or Srisachanalai but is surrounded by denser secondary jungle which adds to the attraction of the area. Wat Chao Awat Yai has little of particular note apart from the deep rectangular pool before it from which the blocks of laterite were cut to erect the building. The elephants surrounding the central section of Wat Chang Rob are better preserved than at Srisachanalai and finer in their detail, and there is a stucco decoration of Bo trees and demons on the walls between them. Wat Phra Si Irayabot has in the middle of the jungle a vast laterite platform for a vihara and behind it a most unusual construction with four Buddhas placed round a high core in standing, walking, sleeping and seated positions. The first two are still in good condition but little remains of the last two. All these temples lie outside the old city walls, inside which are to be found the ruins of Wat Prathat and Wat Phra Keo, with their bare outlines of laterite Buddhas and fallen chedi. The new museum at Kampengphet was also visited by special arrangement and contains some exceptional pieces, notably an U-Thong Buddha and some torsos of Hindu deities which seemed to have found more favour in Kampengpetch than in the other cities of Sukhothai.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206926, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 203, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "Plate XIII. Tour to Thailand, February 1973. The tour leader, Michael Smithies, with the driver of the Society's bus at Wat Chang Rob, Kampengpetch Thailand.\n\n: Photograph by courtesy of Harry Weinrebel", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 } ]