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Wat Sangkhawat, Ayutthaya: the river battle that changed Phraya Tak's mind
Wat Sangkhawat is a deserted temple in the rice fields south-east of Ayutthaya's city island. Today only a brick mound is left, and few people stop here. But in the war of the second fall the fields around this temple were the river battlefield where Phraya Phetchaburi was killed, in a fight in which, the chronicles record, Phraya Tak's force did not go to his aid. Many historians see this fight as the point at which Phraya Tak stopped believing that standing on the defensive inside the city would work.
This place through the periods
A temple in the fields south-east of the city. The royal chronicles call it Wat Ton Sangkhawat. No record of its founding has been found. In peacetime it was the temple of a community of rice farmers along the canal.
In November 1766 the Burmese and Mon flotilla moved into the flooded fields near this temple. Phraya Phetchaburi's flotilla was surrounded and broken, and he was killed. The chronicles say the forces of Phraya Tak and Luang Son Seni did not go to his aid. After this fight Phraya Tak moved his camp to Wat Phichai.
The royal chronicles say that on the night the city fell, 7 April 1767, King Ekkathat fled by small boat and hid in a thicket near Ban Chik, beside Wat Sangkhawat. He went without food for eleven or twelve days, until the Phra Nai Kong whom the Burmese had left in charge of the city had people search for him. They carried him by boat to the Pho Sam Ton camp, and he died as soon as he arrived.
The temple was deserted along with the old capital. No record of restoration in the Thonburi years has been found.
What remains is a large brick mound in the middle of the rice fields, with a small shelter housing Buddha images, fragments of boundary stones and traces of the moat around the temple.
A battle in the flooded fields, November 1766
Late in 1766 the floods covered the fields around the city. The Burmese, who had boats ready, moved their forces by water into the fields to the south-east. Phraya Phetchaburi (Rueang) and Phraya Tak, whose flotilla was stationed at Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, went out to meet them. The royal chronicles as translated into English by Richard Cushman say the Burmese and Mon flotilla moved to the fields near Wat Ton Sangkhawat. Phraya Phetchaburi's flotilla was surrounded and routed. 41 died on the Burmese side and more than 70 on the Siamese side, and Phraya Phetchaburi was killed in the fighting.
The chronicles record that the forces of Phraya Kamphaeng Phet (Phraya Tak) and Luang Son Seni held back and did not go to his aid. This passage has been interpreted in very different ways: some say he chose to preserve his force when he saw the fight could not be won, others that it reflects discord among the commanders.
Phraya Tak's turning point
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab explained that after this fight Phraya Tak lost confidence that the city could be held, and so moved his camp to Phraya Phetchaburi's former camp near Wat Phichai, on the east bank of the Pa Sak River. About a month and a half later, on 3–4 January 1767, Phraya Tak led about a thousand Siamese and Chinese soldiers out through the Burmese siege to the east.
Reading the battle of Wat Sangkhawat together with the breakout helps to show that Phraya Tak's departure from the capital did not come about in a single night, but took shape gradually out of several defeats in the fields around the city.
The night of the fall: King Ekkathat at Ban Chik
The Royal Autograph version of the royal chronicles says that when the Burmese broke into the city on the night of 7 April 1767, King Ekkathat fled by small boat with two royal pages and hid in a thicket near Ban Chik, beside Wat Sangkhawat, and that the pages then abandoned him. The Burmese could not find him. About ten days later the main Burmese army went home, leaving the Phra Nai Kong (Suki) to hold the city from the Pho Sam Ton camp. The Phra Nai Kong had people search until they found the king, who had gone without food for eleven or twelve days. They carried him by boat to the Pho Sam Ton camp, and he died as soon as he arrived. The Phra Nai Kong then had the body buried at Khok Phra Men in the centre of the city. Other sources tell it differently: see the notes at the end of this page.
Some months later, after King Taksin had taken the Pho Sam Ton camp, the chronicles record that he had King Ekkathat's body exhumed and cremated according to royal custom.
Wat Sangkhawat today
What is left of the temple is a large brick mound with a small roof over its top. A shelter on the east side houses a Buddha image in the posture of subduing Mara and fragments of other images. Around the mound are fragments of boundary stones, stucco ornament and collapsed subsidiary chedis. Traces of the moat, and brick rubble found far from the mound, show that the temple was once much larger than what you see. The way in is a small road through the fields; use a navigation app and go in the daytime.
Where historians still disagree
- Was Phraya Phetchaburi killed or captured: the sources differ. Some versions say he died in the fighting; some works say he was captured.
- Why Phraya Tak did not help: the chronicles give no reason, and interpretations still differ widely.
- How King Ekkathat died: the Thai chronicles say he died on arrival at the Pho Sam Ton camp after being brought there from Ban Chik; the Burmese chronicle says he was shot at a city gate.
Visiting information
- It is a deserted temple in the fields with no staff on site. Go in the daytime, and do not go alone in the evening.
- Use a navigation app; the access road is narrow and is a farm track.
- Do not climb the ruin mound, and do not take away brick fragments or potsherds.
Frequently asked questions
When was the battle of Wat Sangkhawat?
In November 1766 (BE 2309), in the flood season, while the Burmese armies were besieging Ayutthaya.
Where did King Ekkathat die?
The Royal Autograph version of the royal chronicles says he hid at Ban Chik beside Wat Sangkhawat until the Burmese commander, the Phra Nai Kong, had people find him and carry him to the Pho Sam Ton camp, where he died as soon as he arrived. The Burmese chronicle says he was shot at a city gate.
Notes
- How King Ekkathat died: this page follows the Royal Autograph version of the royal chronicles (part 2, chapter 10 and part 3, chapter 1), because it gives the fullest account. The Burmese side says he was killed by a gunshot at the west gate of the city as it fell. The 1769 letter of Ok-phra Phiphat Kosa says only that the king and the royal family were killed or fled. No third source yet confirms either side.
- Wat Sangkhawat - Ayutthaya Historical Research
- Siege of Ayutthaya (1766–1767) - Wikipedia
- King Ekkathat, the last king of Ayutthaya, in Burmese documents – Silpa Wattanatham (in Thai)
- Royal chronicles, Royal Autograph version, part 2, chapter 10 (the fall of the city) - Wikisource (Thai)
- Royal chronicles, Royal Autograph version, part 3, chapter 1 (King Ekkathat found at Ban Chik) - Wikisource (Thai)
Last updated 13 November 2026