6 - Re-exploring the Buddhist “foundation Deposits” at Chedi Chula Prathon, Nakhon Pathom

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The ruins of Chedi Chula Prathon lie at the very heart of ancient Nakhon Pathom and date to approximately the second half of the first millennium, often labelled as the “Dvāravatī Period” (Figure 6.1). The monument was partially excavated for the first time by Pierre Dupont and his team in 1940 (Figures 6.2 to 6.4) and excavated again in 1968 by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand. The original appearance of the complete monument remains something of a mystery, since it was missing its superstructure and there seemed to be no comparable complete structures from this period with which to compare it. The question of the superstructure has, therefore, raised much speculation and discussion.

Scholars subsequently focused much attention on the fine stucco and terracotta panels which were discovered at the foundation's base in 1968 (Figure 6.5). Various iconographic studies of the latter and disputes over their interpretation have divided the scholarly community with no consensus yet to be found. The panels were first studied by Jean Boisselier who saw illustrations of jātakas, revealing strong Indonesian or “Śrīvijaya influence”, Mahāyāna in inclination. Later on, Piriya Krairiksh, in the course of carrying out research for his PhD dissertation, interpreted these reliefs as Sanskrit avadānas rather than Pāli jātakas and saw evidence for a (Mūla)sarvāstivāda presence in Chedi Chula Prathon. Not long thereafter, Nandana Chutiwongs indicated that Piriya's deductions were somewhat inadequate. All that can be safely concluded from these reliefs is that narrative traditions different from those transmitted in Pāli by the Mahāvihāra Theravādins of Sri Lanka may also be represented in the art of central Thailand. Some of these traditions may have been Mūlasarvāstivādin, but they might just as well have belonged to other schools or nikāyas using Sanskrit, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, or different Prakrits such as, respectively, the Dharmaguptakas, the Mahāsāṃghikas, or the Mahīśāsakas, to name just a few.

That is not all that can be said, however, about Chedi Chula Prathon. I have recently shown, for instance, the need to reconsider the material deposits from the site that were found in an archaeological context while paying particular attention to the well preserved khakkhara finial now displayed at the National Museum in Bangkok.