﻿THE WAT CHANG PAGODA OF BANGKOK, SIAM 

 By I. M. CASANOWICZ 



The Wat Chang ("great monastery") pagoda, of which the 

 United States National Museum possesses a model in wood, is con- 

 sidered the most magnificent one in Bangkok, the capital of Siam. It 

 is an octagonal brick structure rising in three elegantly tapering 

 stages upon a quadrangular platform, the whole conveying the idea 

 of a gigantic bell (plate xlv). Staircases lead up from one stage to 

 the other. Upon the last rests the dome, which, however, is more 

 in the form of a cone or an octagonal prism with a rounded, dome- 

 like top, than of a hemisphere, terminating in a metal tree-shaped 

 spire. Four smaller domes, likewise surmounted by spires, sur- 

 round the principal one. Underneath each of these are rectangular 

 niches which formerly held images of Buddha. Rows of sculptured 

 images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (candidates for Buddahood, or 

 future Buddhas, and saints), seated on mythical animals, surround 

 the octagon at various stages, and the" whole building is lavishly 

 adorned both in color and carving. Its outside plastering is wrought 

 into a mosaic by means of porcelain of different colors set in it so as 

 to form figures of elephants, griffins, demons, flowers, etc. It is 

 assumed that the pagoda measures, from the base to the tip of the 

 spire, about 250 feet in height. It is surrounded by an ornamental 

 carved rail, at the four corners of which are small pagodas of a 

 design similar to the central one, and in the niches are still seen the 

 Buddha images riding elephants. In the center of each side is a 

 kind of decorative gate, joining by platforms with the main pagoda, 

 the whole thus constituting a cruciform plan. Inside the enclosure 

 are dwellings for the monks in attendance on the sanctuary, flower 

 and fruit gardens, ponds, grottos, and various stone images. 



Pagodas 1 are religious structures which originated with Buddhism 

 in India and are characteristic of Buddhist countries. Their original 

 purpose was to receive the relics of Buddha, or the remains of such 

 of his disciples as distinguished themselves by piety or learning. 

 Thus, according to tradition, the remains of Buddha, after cremation 

 of his body, were divided into eight portions and distributed among 

 his followers, who erected pagodas over them, and legend makes 



1 The word pagoda is probably derived from the Singhalese dagoba or 

 dagaba; in Sanskrit stupa, Pali thupo, whence Anglo-Indian tope. 



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