Ancient Manuscripts Returned to Bangkok Temple
Chakravarti Rajavasum Temple in Bangkok has completed a major conservation project that cataloged over 2,370 palm-leaf manuscripts, including a rare 307-year-old text from the Ayutthaya period and 70 manuscripts spanning Thailand's Rattanak
On August 4, 2025, Phra Thammavatcharavissuthi, abbot of Chakravarti Rajavasum Temple and advisor to the Zone 10 ecclesiastical council, led the monastic contingent, while Kanistha Chotikvanij, Deputy Director-General of the Fine Arts Department, led the lay delegation at a handover ceremony for the temple's ancient document conservation and archival project. The initiative discovered the temple's oldest palm-leaf manuscript, dating to the late Ayutthaya period and now 307 years old, along with over 70 manuscripts from the Rattanakosin era. The Fine Arts Department's National Library conducted this collaborative project from April 24, 2024, to July 6, 2025, bringing together the department, the monastic community, and the public to promote cultural heritage preservation and build a network of local volunteer guardians of artistic and cultural legacy among both monks and laypeople.
The work represents a crucial step in making cultural heritage preservation visible and raising awareness among local communities. Temples now serve as documented repositories of these invaluable treasures, safeguarded by the monastic order.
Key accomplishments include: (1) Conservation and cataloging of 2,374 palm-leaf manuscripts comprising 15,137 volumes and 75 Thai books, making this one of Bangkok's largest and most important research collections. (2) Discovery of the collection's oldest manuscript, created during the reign of King Taksin of Thonburi in 1719 (Chakrasakharaj), now 307 years old, titled Sikkhapat Vinichay, an exegesis on the Vinaya Pitaka. (3) Survey of two rare Thonburi-era manuscripts created in 1777 and 1779 (Chakrasakharaj), now 249 and 247 years old respectively—Sarsangkaha, describing the Buddha's virtues, and Chariyapitaka, detailing the bodhisattva's previous perfections—notable because the Thonburi period lasted only 15 years. (4) Identification of approximately 70 Rattanakosin-era palm-leaf manuscripts spanning from the First through Seventh Reigns, representing the largest such collection ever surveyed and cataloged, reflecting the temple's prominence since the Third Reign. (5) Documentation of ornate illustrated Thai manuscripts from the Rattanakosin era, including a hand-drawn white Thai manuscript dated 1878 created by a patron for Buddhist merit, comprising ethical teachings and recitation texts from the Fifth Reign.
