Wat Asokaraam (วัดอโศการาม)

Thai. Name of a Buddhist temple in Samut Prakan, named after the Indian-Mauryan Emperor Asoka, who ruled India from 273 to 232 BC and during whose reign Buddhism was adopted as the state religion and promoted throughout his empire. The temple features an Asoka the Great Monument (fig.), as well as an Asoka Pillar in the form of a tall sandstone column with a single statue of a lion (fig.), similar to the pillars this ruler had erected throughout his vast empire after his conversion to Buddhism, in order to propagate the teachings of the Buddha. The temple was completed in 1954 AD and named after the Indian-Mauryan ruler by the founder Luang Pho Lih (fig.), after he had spent a Buddhist Lent in Sarnath (fig.), and whose coffin is kept in a side room of the main prayer hall after his demise in 1961. The temple's wihaan, i.e. the main prayer hall, houses a replica of the Phraphutta Chinnarat Buddha image (fig.) in Phitsanulok. The temple's  compound is also home to the Phra Thutangkha Chedi (map - fig.). This white edifice has a square floor plan and is topped with 13 bell-shaped stupas. There is a large stupa in the centre, surrounded by 12 smaller ones arranged diagonally in 4 rows of 3, in descending order from the central peak. Usually transliterated Wat Asokaram and the pagoda-hall is also spelled Phra Dhutanga Chedi. See also TRAVEL PICTURES (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5), as well as MAP. 回