DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0457
406
FURTHER INDIA.
Book VIII.
days of its glory, it seems to have merited the title they
bestowed upon it of the “Venice of the East,” and the remains
justify their eulogiums. Some of the buildings, however, seem
to have been constructed of brick and wood; and as the city
has now been practically deserted for more than a century, the
wild fig-trees have everywhere inserted their roots into the
masonry, and decay has progressed rapidly among the wooden
erections. As described by recent visitors, nothing can be more
wildly picturesque than this once splendid city, now overgrown
with jungle; but such a stage of decay is, of all conditions,
the least favourable to the researches of the antiquary. Four-
nereau, however, was able not only to measure and work out
the plans of some twenty temples, which are illustrated in his
work already referred to, but to classify and describe the various
constructions found in the enclosures of the temple, giving
them the local names, and thus throwing an entirely new light
on Siamese architecture.
Vat is the name given to the outer enclosure of a temple,
which was always rectangular, and generally of greater length
473. Transverse section of the Bot of Vat Jai, Sukhodaya.
than width. The enclosure walls were as a rule about 3 ft. thick,
and from 12 to 14 ft. high. The most important building in the
Vat was the Bot—the sacred temple—and usually the first built.
This would seem to correspond with the Burmese Thein, or
ordination hall for priests,1 but in Siam it was always included
in the temple enclosures, where it stood opposite the principal
1 Sanskrit, Uposathd-gara, or Upasthdna-sdla.—Ante, vol. i. pp. 213, 242.
FURTHER INDIA.
Book VIII.
days of its glory, it seems to have merited the title they
bestowed upon it of the “Venice of the East,” and the remains
justify their eulogiums. Some of the buildings, however, seem
to have been constructed of brick and wood; and as the city
has now been practically deserted for more than a century, the
wild fig-trees have everywhere inserted their roots into the
masonry, and decay has progressed rapidly among the wooden
erections. As described by recent visitors, nothing can be more
wildly picturesque than this once splendid city, now overgrown
with jungle; but such a stage of decay is, of all conditions,
the least favourable to the researches of the antiquary. Four-
nereau, however, was able not only to measure and work out
the plans of some twenty temples, which are illustrated in his
work already referred to, but to classify and describe the various
constructions found in the enclosures of the temple, giving
them the local names, and thus throwing an entirely new light
on Siamese architecture.
Vat is the name given to the outer enclosure of a temple,
which was always rectangular, and generally of greater length
473. Transverse section of the Bot of Vat Jai, Sukhodaya.
than width. The enclosure walls were as a rule about 3 ft. thick,
and from 12 to 14 ft. high. The most important building in the
Vat was the Bot—the sacred temple—and usually the first built.
This would seem to correspond with the Burmese Thein, or
ordination hall for priests,1 but in Siam it was always included
in the temple enclosures, where it stood opposite the principal
1 Sanskrit, Uposathd-gara, or Upasthdna-sdla.—Ante, vol. i. pp. 213, 242.