Wat Suan Dok, Chiang Mai

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Wat Suan Dok

Wat Suan Dok is a major Thai temple in Chiang Mai. It is due to this temple that the famous Wat Doi Suthep was built. It was built by King Ku Na in 1371 for the famous monk Sumana. The name Suan Dok means "flower garden". It was a wiang, or fortified settlement. It got its name because it was built on the site of a former royal flower garden.

The monk Sumana had received a vision about a relic in Sri Lanka. So he went there to get it and brought it back to Chiang Mai, to be enshrined in Wat Suan Dok. However, just as the relic was about to be enshrined, it broke into two. It is regarded as inauspicious to keep both pieces in the same temple. Therefore, another piece of the relic was placed on a white elephant, and the elephant was sent out to locate a new place to enshrine the relic. This was how the location of Wat Doi Suthep was determined.

The original compound of Wat Suan Dok covers an area across the present-day Suthep Road, that if you look to the other side of the road from Wat Suan Dok, you can still see the earthen ramparts which was part of the earlier fortification of the temple.

Wat Suan Dok has a distinctive chedi. This chedi dates from the 14th century when Wat Suan Dok was built, and houses the relic brought back by the monk Sumana.

Another distinguishing feature of Wat Suan Dok is the numerous royal tombs in its compound. These tombs hold the remains of several generations of the Chiang Mai royal family. They were collected from different places in Chiang Mai and brought here to be buried collectively by Princess Dararatsami in 1909.

To the east of the chedi is a large building which is a sala gan parian, or preaching hall. It was built in 1932 by Khru Ba Srivichai, the famous monk who built the road to Doi Suthep and left his mark in many temples in Chiang Mai. Built in the central Thai size, and not the Lanna style of Chiang Mai, two Buddha statues back to back, one standing, another seated in the bhumisparsa position.

Getting there

Wat Suan Dok is located on Suthep Road, which leads west out of the old city of Chiang Mai. It is approximately 1 kilometer from Suan Dok Gate at the old city wall.