Money Town - 22 Walks in Bangkok - page 46

tity, and are no longer aware of their Cham ancestry. They study Arabic, in order to read
the Koran, and they celebrate Muslim festivals such as Eid, but they speak Thai and regard
themselves as Thai. Their children attend Thai schools, which in this district are either
Buddhist or Catholic oriented and where provision is made for them as Muslims, but oth-
erwise they follow the standard Thai curriculum. Aside from eschewing pork, their food
is essentially Thai, the stalls and eating-houses around the mosques serving noodles, and
beef, chicken and seafood. The casual visitor passing through these communities would
probably not notice any difference to the traditional Thai Buddhist communities in the
city, except for the sight of the occasional woman wearing a headscarf.
The Cham Muslims are Sunni, but as if to emphasise yet another level of tolerance in
this most tolerant of societies, there is another Muslim community almost directly next
door, this time formed of Shias, and with their own mosque, Kudi Charoen Phat. This
can be found by following the footpath from Tonson Mosque past the big old bodhi tree
and heading alongside the canal where within a couple of minutes it leads to Itsaraphap
Road. The mosque is on the corner, and is in yet another distinctive architectural style, a
Western panya building, a form that was a familiar sight alongside the canal during the
reign of Rama V . A single-storey structure with a green tiled roof, it has no dome. Kudi
Charoen Phat was founded by a group of Muslims who had played an active role in court
life during the Ayutthaya era, and who had resettled here when Thonburi became the cap-
ital. A Muslim place of worship registering with the Ministry of Interior becomes known
officially as a mosque, or masyid in Thai, and the fact that Kudi Charoen Phat retains the
old word kudi in its name indicates that it is not registered as such, and is run quite inde-
pendently under its own administrative council.
Around the bodhi tree that stands between the two Muslim communities are clustered
the buildings of an Ayutthaya-era Buddhist temple, Wat Hong Rattanaram. Founded by a
wealthy Chinese named Nai Hong, it was designated a royal monastery by King Taksin,
being adjacent to the palace, and was a significant centre of religious education. Taksin
had the temple area expanded greatly, and a large ordination hall was constructed in front
of the old one, together with other structures, and consequently the compound today
sprawls over an extensive area. More renovations took place in the time of Rama III . he
grand ordination hall is built of brick and lime, and its two-tiered roof has gables decor-
ated with the design known as hamsa , with two niches housing gilded stucco hamsa fig-
ures, facing each other, and the projected eaves supported by square columns and brack-
ets with more hamsa figures. The door arch has elements of both Chinese and Western
styles, and the door and window panels are finely decorated with stucco-moulded figures.