DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0459
Chap. III.
SIAM.
407
entrance. In Burma it seems sometimes to have been built in
a separate enclosure of its own. The Bot was rectangular on
plan, and was divided into central and side aisles by columns
in stone, carrying open timber roofs covered with glazed tiles
in bright colours. The illustration of the Bot of the Vat Jai
at Sukhodaya (Woodcut No. 473) shows that in section it
resembled that of an early Christian church with nave and side
aisles. The roofs over the side aisles were at a lower level than
that of the central aisle, leaving space for a clerestory, which
consisted of pierced terra-cotta slabs. Similar perforated screens
were built in between the outer columns of the aisles. In
important temples the Bot had double aisles on each side. The
system of tenoning beams into the columns is similar to that
which is found in Chinese temples and halls, but here in Siam
the columns are sometimes crowned with capitals carved with
lotus leaves, the main beams and plates resting on the top of the
capitals, the transverse beams across the aisles, and the beams
carrying the clerestory being tenoned into the columns.
The principal feature in the Bot, admission to which was
confined to the priests, was the great altar carrying a gilded
statue of Buddha, which was always placed in the central
aisle, in the last bay but one. The Bot, which was always
preceded by a porch, as a rule stood opposite the east entrance
of the enclosure.
In its rear was the principal Phra, or stupa, of the temple,
of which there were two types of design (Plate XLVI.), the
Phra-Prang and the Phra-Chedi. The former is of a type
peculiar to Siam; about half-way up is the cell, with its entrance
door on the eastern side, access to which was obtained by a
steep flight of steps, and recessed niches on the three other
sides; the form which it takes differs in many essential respects
from those we find either in India or Burma. The top, or upper
part (Woodcut No. 472), has a domical shape, which we can
easily fancy to be derived from the stupa, but the upright part
looks more like the Xikhara of a Hindu temple than anything
Buddhist.
The Phra-Chedi is based apparently on the stupas of India,
the cell containing the relics of Buddha, however, being placed
underground, and reached in the larger examples by secret
passages in the thickness of the walls. There is also some-
times one characteristic Siamese feature not found in India
or Cambodia, in the lower storey of the annulet spire, round
which a series of detached columns or piers are built, giving
the aspect of a classic peristyle; this exists in one of the Phra-
Chedis of Vat Jai', at Sukhodaya, and in the great example at
Phra Pathom. The enormous structure now existing of the
SIAM.
407
entrance. In Burma it seems sometimes to have been built in
a separate enclosure of its own. The Bot was rectangular on
plan, and was divided into central and side aisles by columns
in stone, carrying open timber roofs covered with glazed tiles
in bright colours. The illustration of the Bot of the Vat Jai
at Sukhodaya (Woodcut No. 473) shows that in section it
resembled that of an early Christian church with nave and side
aisles. The roofs over the side aisles were at a lower level than
that of the central aisle, leaving space for a clerestory, which
consisted of pierced terra-cotta slabs. Similar perforated screens
were built in between the outer columns of the aisles. In
important temples the Bot had double aisles on each side. The
system of tenoning beams into the columns is similar to that
which is found in Chinese temples and halls, but here in Siam
the columns are sometimes crowned with capitals carved with
lotus leaves, the main beams and plates resting on the top of the
capitals, the transverse beams across the aisles, and the beams
carrying the clerestory being tenoned into the columns.
The principal feature in the Bot, admission to which was
confined to the priests, was the great altar carrying a gilded
statue of Buddha, which was always placed in the central
aisle, in the last bay but one. The Bot, which was always
preceded by a porch, as a rule stood opposite the east entrance
of the enclosure.
In its rear was the principal Phra, or stupa, of the temple,
of which there were two types of design (Plate XLVI.), the
Phra-Prang and the Phra-Chedi. The former is of a type
peculiar to Siam; about half-way up is the cell, with its entrance
door on the eastern side, access to which was obtained by a
steep flight of steps, and recessed niches on the three other
sides; the form which it takes differs in many essential respects
from those we find either in India or Burma. The top, or upper
part (Woodcut No. 472), has a domical shape, which we can
easily fancy to be derived from the stupa, but the upright part
looks more like the Xikhara of a Hindu temple than anything
Buddhist.
The Phra-Chedi is based apparently on the stupas of India,
the cell containing the relics of Buddha, however, being placed
underground, and reached in the larger examples by secret
passages in the thickness of the walls. There is also some-
times one characteristic Siamese feature not found in India
or Cambodia, in the lower storey of the annulet spire, round
which a series of detached columns or piers are built, giving
the aspect of a classic peristyle; this exists in one of the Phra-
Chedis of Vat Jai', at Sukhodaya, and in the great example at
Phra Pathom. The enormous structure now existing of the