Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
was simply known as Wat Mai Yai Faeng, the New Temple of Grandmother Faeng. She
was the founder of the Paorohit family, and when Rama
V
ascended the throne her des-
cendants carried out some renovations and petitioned the king to name the temple. The
name he selected was Wat Kanikapon, which means “temple built from the earnings of
prostitution”.
The temple is a relatively plain one, and appears to have undergone few substantial
changes since it was built. Many original objects and buildings can still be found in the
compound, including the principal Buddha image, the
wiharn
, a cloister with several
Buddha images, one small stupa, several lacquered gold-leaf painted cupboards, and the
bell tower. Roses decorate the entrance arch and the gable ends, and the detailing around
the window frames evokes the image of green curtains, symbolising the temple's origins.
Madame Faeng invited Father To, a renowned monk who later rose to the ecclesiastical
title of Somdet Phra Phutthachan, to deliver a sermon for the temple's opening, and al-
though his remarks do not appear to have been particularly flattering and he is reported
to have said that funds raised in this way through sin were worth less in terms of merit
making than were more legitimately raised funds, a statue of the monk was placed in the
courtyard. The temple founded and runs a primary school, which comes under the aus-
pices of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. A bust of Grandmother Faeng can be
found in a niche behind the
ubosot
, although it's not a very good one and looks like it has
been made from a mould used for monk images, to the extent that the poor lady has to
have a wig to hide her bald head.
Another lady commemorated in a temple, although in a completely different context,
can be found at Wat Kanma Tuyara, whose name translates as “Temple of Kan's Mother”.
Kan Sakhonwasi had been a courtier at the time of Rama
IV
and his mother, Klin, lived in a
house on this site. The temple, a civil temple of the Thammayut Nikaya sect of Buddhism,
founded by Rama
IV
, was built in the garden in 1864. Today, the large gateway dominates
narrow Mangkon Road. he
ubosot
is tall and narrow, a style of the time but also being
practical in the confined space, and there is a distinctive bell-shaped pagoda that takes its
design from Thammekka Pagoda in India. The principal Buddha image is of gilded bronze
and is enshrined in a wooden image house that is covered with gold leaf and decorated
with chips of coloured glass. As a neat domestic touch, the temple window frames are
painted with four floral patterns in a vertical row consisting of figures of fruit trays sur-
rounded by bunches of flowers.
One of the larger Chinese shrines in Bangkok is the Li Thi Miew Shrine further down
Phlab Phla Chai Road, near the police station. This Taoist shrine has a large roof, on which
