Wat Khlong Hae, Hat Yai
high-definition creative commons photographs from Wat Khlong Hae, Hat Yai together with further information.
use j/k or left/right arrow
to navigate through the photos below
Wat Khlong Hae in Hat Yai is currently split into two temples, a Burmese and Mon temple on one side of the river, and a Thai temple on the other side. A full history of this temple can be found at the bottom.
The Burmese and Mon Temple
The Burmese/Mon temple has a very elaborate mini-Shwedagon which is very well designed and is in good repair. With its gold and red colours, and multiple stūpas, it is very attractive. While we were there the top of the stūpa was under repair.
The Thai Temple
The Thai temple is on the other side of the river, and can be accessed via a bridge. It is a fairly normal Thai-style temple, with no outstanding features, but there are a series of interesting brass sculptures of direct disciples and famous monastics of the present day.
The Legendary Tale of the Khlong Hae Temple
This pagoda was started on May 13, 2014, to preserve the spirit of the people of Kelantan. It was built with the faith and dedication of Thai, Burmese, and Mon people living in Thailand.
During the 18th century, in the year 1719, in the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, a Stūpa was constructed to enshrine relics. Once the construction was completed, there was a consecration ceremony for the relics. It was celebrated on the designated days, and news was sent to various distant cities, including Kantang, Trang, and Krabi, which were part of Thailand at that time.
Upon receiving the news, these cities organized processions to participate in the consecration ceremony. It was believed that those who joined this grand ceremony would receive great blessings and bring prosperity to their lives and families. These cities arranged processions by land and water, using boats and horses, carriages, and people on foot.
Kelantan was one of the places that participated in this procession, and they traveled by boat. Before departing, the faithful individuals were encouraged to contribute valuable items to be placed inside the Stūpa as offerings. Once they had gathered valuable items, these items were placed in containers and stored in containers shaped like birds, known as Nok Khuum in Thai, which can be interpreted as "silver birds" or "golden birds."
It's unclear what material these bird-shaped containers were made of, but the birds represented a source of luck and prosperity. Those who placed valuable items inside the bird containers believed that it would bring them good fortune and protect their possessions from thieves during the journey.
During the procession, people sang and chanted prayers to engage those living along the riverbanks to join in the offerings. The journey continued, and at nightfall, they camped wherever they found a suitable spot. It turned out that they had been rowing the boat in the wrong direction when they reached a junction.
They had mistakenly believed that it was the closest route to the river's mouth in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. However, as they continued to row, they realized they were getting further away, and the canal was getting narrower. They realized they had gone off course and needed to find a place to stop for the night.
They eventually found a suitable place to rest and spend the night on an island in the middle of a convergence of three rivers. There was a piece of land in the middle of the three river branches that looked like a small island. One river flowed from the south, another from the west, and when they merged, they became a single river heading east. The group of Kelantan devotees decided to rest for the night on this mid-river island.
In the morning, they prepared to continue their journey to Nakhon Si Thammarat as quickly as possible because they had wasted time going in the wrong direction. As they were loading their belongings onto the boat, they unexpectedly encountered a procession of horses passing by.
They inquired about the procession and were informed that the procession had just returned from Nakhon Si Thammarat. The celebration of the Stūpa was now complete, and the relics had been enshrined. They had already performed the closing ceremony of the Stūpa, and they could not bring any more offerings or belongings to be placed inside the Stūpa.
When the procession of Kelantan Buddhist monks learned of this news, they were filled with sadness, as they had missed the opportunity to contribute valuable items for the Buddhist offerings. They held a meeting to discuss the way forward, and everyone had different opinions. Some suggested returning the offerings to their original owners, while others proposed dividing the offerings among themselves.
However, the majority agreed not to take any of the belongings back, as they had all come with the intention of making offerings. They decided to transform this place into a Stūpa and bury all the valuable items they had brought as offerings to be dedicated to Buddhist worship.
Once everyone reached a consensus, they began digging the location designated to become the Great Stūpa. After digging the hole, they placed the items at the bottom, which were filled with valuable objects such as silver and gold birds. These bird containers were filled with golden and silver rings before they were buried.
Following this, they performed the religious rituals, reciting prayers and suttas, to commemorate the virtues of the Lord Buddha. Subsequently, they gathered celestial beings to help guard and protect all these precious items to ensure that nobody would misuse them for personal gain, as everything had been offered for the sake of the Sāsana.
An elder took a roll of cloth and began to meditate and focus her thoughts on the cloth roll. She intended to close the mouth of a tube to protect the items inside. Afterward, she sealed the tube with the cloth roll. Then, an elderly man arrived with grains of rice. After he had finished threshing the rice, he scattered the grains around the hole. Another elder, who was dedicated to living a virtuous life, brought clear water in a container and sprinkled it to sanctify the area around where they were about to bury the treasures. Afterward, they buried all the items.
They conducted a ceremonial offering to dedicate the merits to those who would safeguard the belongings, which were numerous, including statues of guardian spirits, Chiang Mai spirits, black spirits, and thief spirits. Once the burial was complete, they submerged the gong used in the ceremony into the river as a symbol of devotion to Buddhism.
The locals then called this place Khlong Khong Hae.
Later, news of the buried treasures reached a group of foreign treasure hunters who used metal detectors to search for items. When they arrived at the location indicated by the markers, they started digging. After digging for a while, they encountered a swarm of large ants that prevented them from continuing.
The foreigners called a local shaman to perform a ritual. Miraculously, the ants transformed into grains of rice, and seeing that it was safe, they resumed digging and discovered a snake coiled at the entrance to the hole. With the help of the local shaman, the snake also transformed into a cloth roll. The villagers later referred to this cloth roll as the Yai Cloth Roll.
Subsequently, a temple was constructed near the site where the treasures were buried. This temple is situated at the convergence of two rivers : one from the south, known as Khlong Toei, and one from the west, known as Khlong Lan. They join together to form a river that flows eastward. The temple is located at the confluence of these two river branches.
When surveyors asked the villagers for a name, the local residents with a Southern dialect mentioned Khlong Khong Hae. However, the surveyors, who spoke in a Central Thai dialect, misunderstood the name as Khlong Khong due to the rapid speech. Therefore, the village was officially named Khlong Hae, a name that continues to be used to this day.
based on a sign inside the temple.
Photographs by Anandajoti Bhikkhu
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License