Wat Chai Si Temple

Wat Chai Si Temple is a temple of great importance -historically, archeologically as well as socially, and is most notable for its mural paintings. Other feather in its cap is the fact that it was declared a National ancient monument on 20th August 2001. Rent a car in Khon Kaen and enjoy an uninterrupted drive to the temple.

Highlights:
The temple’s main highlight other than its murals is definitely the Sim or which is also normally called Ubosot which contains the murals. It was built in 1917 and is believed to be influenced by Vietnamese craftsmanship.

Built of bricks which were plastered with lime, the ubosot’s walls are covered with murals- from floor to ceiling. It had a dilapidated roof style that was then more popular in Northeastern; however later on the roof which extended on both the sides anf finally was replaced by Rattanakosin styled roof. In 1993 the new roof was also extended to protect murals from the exposure of sunlight and other elements.

All About Wat Chai Si Temple’s Murals

Murals depict various episodes taken from the past lives of Buddha and also include glimpses of the punishments that culprits face in Buddhist hell plus other scenes from local traditional folks. Another interesting fact about the place is that the murals are not in any specific order and hence like all other temples that feature murals, at Wat Chai Si Temple no specific narrative has been used. Instead individual scenes from various above stated themes have been created in a haphazard manner which also makes them difficult to comprehend at a single go.

Moreover as one observes them closely, it dawns that they are also not ‘that’ refined, some of the murals are found to be disproportionate and some have been drawn crudely. Nevertheless, despite its pros and cons the murals make this temple worth visiting.