Century-old Pagoda Found Under Trash

[george]

Century-old pagoda found under trash

BANGKOK: -- An ancient pagoda was found accidentally under a pile of garbage behind a temple in Samphanthawong district on Thursday and plans are to restore it back to its original beauty.

Pinit Kanchanachusak, a city councillor for Samphanthawong, said he was informed on Thursday afternoon about the discovery of a more than 100-year-old pagoda near Wat Samphanthawong.

This led to an inspection by himself, assistant Samphanthawong district chief Wisut Pakkranok and temple secretary-general Phra Khru Palad Sampatviriyajarn.

He said the inspection found a five-metre-high pagoda that was in deteriorating condition.

He said it was located behind the temple, adjacent to Vanich 1 road and some houses. Its three-metre-wide base was damaged by the roots of a large bodhi tree.

Phra Khru Palad Sampatviriyajarn said the ancient pagoda was discovered by chance by temple staff who were investigating tree trimmers' complaints of mysterious incidents whenever they trimmed that bodhi tree. The temple staff removed a fence and a big pile of trash near the tree and found the pagoda, half-covered with garbage.

According to the monk, only one side of the pagoda could be cleaned because the other side was beneath a house. So, the temple asked the house owner to demolish the encroaching part of the house which happened to be a restroom.

Words engraved on the pagoda showed it was built in 1853 for about 640 baht and was opened the following year.

The temple will ask the Fine Arts Department to inspect the pagoda and will then arrange a careful restoration of the structure and adjacent areas.

''This pagoda had been found by some senior monks of this temple so long ago, and then forgotten.

Only its top was visible and people thought it was a stupa containing dead people's remains, he said.

Not until the pile of garbage was removed, did they realise it was an old pagoda,'' the monk said.

Samphanthawong Temple was built in the Ayutthaya period and named Wat Koh, until it was declared a royal temple by King Rama IV in 1796.

--The Post 2005-06-25