Lanka Style Chedi in the Tipitaka Hall Painting Wat Bowonniwet Vihara: Preliminary Remark on the Origin and Style of Art

Abstract

The objective of this article is to study the background and the style of Chedi in the mural of the Tipitaka hall of Wat Bowonniwet Vihara, Bangkok. This art was created during King Rama 4 and 5 and under a sect of Buddhism like the Dhammayuttutika Nikaya.

The result of study is that the wall above the window in the west portrays the stories of Buddhism in Lanka. There are the 2 patterns of circle-shape Chedi there. The first is circle-shape Chedi with the low circular base and it was notably in the large semi-circular shape (dome: the same position as the bell of the circular pagoda in Thai art). Its pattern is consistent with the circle-shape Chedi in the Lanka's art which had normally created the circle-shape Chedi with the circular base and the large dome as a long-time popular style in the Lanka's art. The second is the circle-shape chedi with the circular base which is higher than the first. This is similar to a pattern of Chedi in the Lanka art in the Kandy period. Both patterns are different from the ones in the paintings of the temples of the Dhammayuttutika Nikaya sect. The latter portray the Chedi with the high base and the slender bell, the popular pattern of circle-shape Chedi in the Thai art.

The obvious result of study is: the circle-shape Chedi in the paintings in tipitaka hall of Wat Bowonniwet Vihara is different from the ones in the paintings of Dhammayuttutika Nikaya sect. This is because it follows the original Lanka art.