Phra That Yakhu

Terrain

General Condition

Phra That Ya Khu is located in the north within the city of Fa Daet Song Yang. which is an ancient city with a moat and earth surrounds in an oval shape The condition of the area is a plain. At present, there is a river line and an area receiving irrigation water from the Lam Pao Irrigation Project, Lam Nam Chi, Lam Nam Phan, and large marshes everywhere. To the north of the moat there is a natural waterway connecting the Phan River about 2 kilometers north.

Phan River is about 2 kilometers north of Fa Daet Song Yang town.

Pao River is located in the north, about 5 kilometers from the town of Fa Daet Song Yang.

Chi River is about 10 kilometers south of Fa Daet Song Yang town.

Height above mean sea level

Waterway

Phan River, Pao River, Chi River

Geological conditions

The soil characteristics are mostly sandy loam. and normal sandy soil which has low fertility and soil quality But it is a soil suitable for growing rice, field crops and suitable for growing fruit crops. In the upper part of Kalasin Province, there is a mountain range of Phu Phan, which is the source of the watershed causing the river. streams that flows into the lower plains of the province and flows into the lowland into a large basin with a small mountain range surrounding it, becoming a lake-like basin.

Archaeological Era

era/culture

Archaeological age

Types of archaeological sites

archaeological essence

Phra That Ya Khu is an ancient site in the ancient city of Fa Daet Song Yang. which is an ancient city in the famous Dvaravati culture in the northeast because many sema leaves have been discovered and many of them have beautifully carved images This ancient city is around the 12th-16th Buddhist century by Phra That Yakhu. or Pagoda No. 10 is classified as the remains of a brick pagoda that is more complete than other pagodas in Fa Daet Song Yang city.

Phra That Ya Khu is a relic with a width of 16 meters and a square brick base with stairs leading up on all four sides. Made of large bricks in the style of bricks found in the ancient Dvaravati period, not mortared, the top is an octagonal base. It is an overlapping Ayutthaya style chedi and there is evidence that it was renovated in the Rattanakosin period. The current height is 15 meters. Around Phra That Yakhu has a number of parapets embroidered. Some of the sema leaves are engraved with pictures telling stories about the Buddhist Jataka, such as the Jataka Jataka on the Mahasat Jataka. About 25 meters further south, there are 5 Dvaravati chedi ruins scattered together.

Characteristics of embroidering stone in the northeastern region categorized as

1. Single parapet laying

2. Group pin

3. Place 4 or 8 directional pins around a mound or archaeological site to display a sacred area.

The form of the sema leaf Academics have proposed three types of models:

1. Natural stone block or a slab that has not been stirred into shape.

2. Slab-style with a flattened slab.

3. A stone block with a square, hexagonal, octagonal cut with a pointed tip (Sakchai Saising et al. 2009 :14)

For the sema leaves found at Phra That Ya Khu It is a parapet that surrounds the ancient site. And there is a stone slab pattern that has been cut into a flat sheet.

from archaeological excavations The age of Phra That Yakhu was set in the 12th-16th Buddhist century as a religious place in Buddhism. in the Dvaravati period At the base of the chedi, a parapet is found carved in a picture telling the story of the Buddha's life at the base. with a piece of sandstone parapet Found during the excavation of Phra That Yakhu 11 meters from the base of the relic on the northeast side in a face-down manner, facing the top of the tip of the parapet into the chedi At a depth of about 30 cm from the original soil level, study the histology of the carvings. It can be interpreted as a picture engraved telling the story of the great Jataka. The age can be determined around the 14th-15th Buddhist century (Arunsak Kingmanee 2005:75), as well as the age of the sema leaves at Muang Fa Daet Song Yang (Somchat Manichot 1985:11)

The villagers believed that Phra That Ya Khu was the ashes of the elder monk who founded the village. respected by the townspeople Because the word "Yaku" is the title of the monks of the ancient northeastern region. which when any monk has been ordained for not less than three years The villagers are invited to perform the "Ud Sang" ceremony and then the title is promoted to Yaku Yasa.

Information from interviews with elderly villagers mentions the ancient city in the area where Phra That Yakhu was located. Originally, this area was a desolate area with many remains of pagodas and stone slabs in the shape of leaves. The villagers saw it as a good location. Therefore, a group of villagers migrated from Kamalasai City. They set up houses and took possession of the farm and called their own village Ban Bak Kom. Which is called after the name of the tiger tailed Duan found in the forest near the village. The emigration was followed by monks, who were respected by the villagers, and set up a monastery and became the village temple. This bhikkhu of the villagers was called Yakhu Ngum when this bhikkhu died. Villagers made a shrine to put the ashes in the area of ​​Ban Bak Kom. Later, this village was renamed "Ban Sema". The site of the shrine is the village temple named Wat Phothichai Semaram. Later, when villagers saw that there were more complete remains of pagodas than other places, villagers thought it was containing the ashes of Ya Khu Nhom. Therefore, this pagoda is called Phra That Ya Khu until now (Chaiyot Wan-Utha 1995 :222-225)

However, from the results of archaeological excavations at Phra That Ya Khu Know that Phra That Yakhu has existed since the Dvaravati period. Ages around the 12th-16th Buddhist century, different from the beliefs of the current villagers about the filling of the ashes of monks that villagers respected during the recently established village. Combined with the excavation results, the sema leaf was found carved depicting Buddhist stories at the base of the relics. Therefore, Phra That Ya Khu Khong is not a chedi containing the relics of Phra Thera as the people believe today. The term "Phra That Ya Khu" It was a term that continued until the Fine Arts Department came to renovate it, so it was also called after the villagers (Chaiyot Wan-utha, 1995 :224)

Phra That Yakhu is part of the evidence showing that Fa Daet Song Yang Ancient City is an important city for enshrining Buddhism. It is an ancient city that received the culture from the central Dvaravati. but has developed differently from the template in the central region Especially the popularity of embroidering parapets with images carved on Buddhist stories surrounding the sacred area. or ancient sites that are different from the Dvaravati culture in the central region.