Wat Chet Yot

About

Wat Chet Yot, formally Wat Photharam Maha Wihan, stands northwest of Chiang Mai's old city. Its Thai name means 'seven-spired temple', a direct reference to the seven slender chedi that crown its principal sanctuary. The wat holds particular significance as a place of pilgrimage for devotees born under the zodiacal sign of the Snake.

King Tilokarat commissioned the temple in 1455 CE after sending monks to study the design of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bagan — itself a Burmese reflection of the original Mahabodhi at Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. The king planted a bodhi tree on the site that same year, and in 1476 raised a larger sanctuary for the celebration commemorating two thousand years of the Buddha Sasana.

The following year, the temple hosted the eighth Buddhist World Council, convened to renew the Tripitaka. The central Maha Pho wihan, with its pyramid-like central spire surrounded by four smaller pyramidal spires and two bell-shaped chedis upon the side annexes, recalls its Indian model. Its exterior bears seventy stucco reliefs of devas, whose faces tradition holds were modelled on relatives of King Tilokarat.

A barrel-vaulted corridor leads through the central building to a Buddha image. Across the grounds, Lanna-style chedis hold the ashes of King Tilokarat, and a square mondop near the southern pond shelters a Buddha protected by the naga Mucalinda.

History

Wat Chet Yot was founded in 1455 by King Tilokarat of Lanna, who first dispatched monks to study the architecture of the Mahabodhi temple at Bagan in Burma. The Jinakalamali chronicle records the king's planting of a bodhi tree at the new site and the construction of a major sanctuary in 1476, very likely for the great festival marking two millennia of Buddhism.

The following year, in 1477, the temple was chosen as the venue for the eighth Buddhist World Council, where the Tripitaka was reviewed and renewed. The largest of the Lanna-style chedis on the grounds today holds the cremated remains of King Tilokarat himself.