A third-class royal monastery on the Tak Bai river whose ordination hall was put on the national register by itself in 1975, and whose grounds waited twenty-seven years to be registered with it.
วัดชลธาราสิงเห · Wat Chonthara Singhe
By the BAANLYY Editorial Team · Last checked 5 October 2026
| Official name | วัดชลธาราสิงเห — Wat Chonthara Singhe |
|---|---|
| Where | Che He, Tak Bai, Narathiwat |
| Royal temple class | Third class royal temple, Saman (พระอารามหลวงชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ) Sangha Supreme Council resolution 672/2558 of 21 December B.E. 2558, published by the National Office of Buddhism, which names the monastery as พระอารามหลวง ชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ once for each of the four assistant abbots it appoints |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 92, part 136, special issue, p. 21, 21 July B.E. 2518, registering the ordination hall; extended by vol. 119, special part 117 ง, p. 13, 29 November B.E. 2545 Two instruments, both read as page images. The first registers พระอุโบสถวัดชลธาราสิงเห — the ordination hall and nothing else — with a monument area of about 1 rai 3 ngan 1 tarang wa. The second, twenty-seven years later, recites that first announcement and then determines an additional boundary of about 51 rai 1 ngan 18 tarang wa for the monastery as a whole, which is also where the alternative name วัดพิทักษ์แผ่นดินไทย enters the gazette. Note that the same issue carries an unrelated four-monument registration on page 7; the Chonthara Singhe instrument is on page 13. |
| Coordinates | 6.262382, 102.050473 Fine Arts Department FADGIS monument point layer, record 0005310, matching object id 594831 returned by the department identify service for the same monument, and confirmed to fall inside the department own polygon for Tambon Che He, Amphoe Tak Bai, Narathiwat |
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
The two state bodies do not start the story in the same year. The department dates the monastery to B.E. 2403 and its ordination hall to B.E. 2416; the Tourism Authority writes that in 1873 — which is B.E. 2416 — Tak Bai still belonged to Kelantan, and that the founder had to ask the Raja of Kelantan for the land. Read together, the 1873 figure looks like the hall rather than the monastery, but neither body says so.
Stand on the river terrace here and Malaysia is a few hundred meters away. That is the whole reason this monastery is the best known building in Narathiwat. When Siam and Britain settled the boundary in B.E. 2452 the question was where the line through Tak Bai should run, and the Fine Arts Department register states plainly what happened next: King Chulalongkorn pointed out that Tak Bai district contained Wat Chonthara Singhe, a Buddhist foundation, and argued that this stretch of ground should therefore be Siamese. The British side agreed and the border was moved down to the Kolok river. The Tourism Authority tells the same story in almost the same words and adds that Buddhism, the temple and its art were used as a bargaining mechanism. Both are state bodies. Neither quotes the document.
What is beyond argument is the dating of the buildings. The register puts the ordination hall at B.E. 2416, in the reign of King Chulalongkorn, in the middle of the compound, facing north to the river. It is brick and stucco under fired clay tiles, with the roof stepping down in three tiers front and back, square columns with no lotus capitals, and a gable of molded stucco showing Indra on the three-headed elephant Erawan. Doors and windows are set in crown-shaped surrounds. Eight boundary stones in their own shrines ring the hall inside a low wall.
Inside is the part that makes art historians travel. The murals run through the Traiphum cosmology and the life of the Buddha — the descent from Tavatimsa, the great renunciation, the Buddha teaching his father — and in among them the painter put the Tak Bai he could see out of the door. There are Chinese men with queued hair carrying goods to market on shoulder poles, a trading caravan of ox carts, and boats and rafts of several named kinds. The register says this is what makes the paintings valuable: they document how people in this district actually lived.
The chedi on the east side was begun around B.E. 2456 to 2462 and finished in B.E. 2484. It is a Lankan bell on a tall square terrace wide enough to walk around, with a railing, a high bell, a harmika above the neck, and the rings tapering to a finial with a glass ball at the tip. Against its south base is a hall built in B.E. 2484 under Phrakhru Sitthisarawit, 5.90 meters by 9.90, holding a stucco reclining Buddha 7.40 meters long and 2 meters across, head to the south, face lacquered and gilded, the body set with glass. There is an inscription on the back of the arm that the register transcribes only in part.
Then there are the monks houses, and they are the reason to allow an hour rather than twenty minutes. Five are described in the register and dated by their own inscriptions: the former abbot house of B.E. 2475, two stories in wood with three porches and a garuda seizing a naga painted on the gable; the kuti of Phrakhru Wimon, B.E. 2482, with the sun drawn by a lion and the moon drawn by a horse on the ceiling; and Kuti Sitthisanpradit of B.E. 2498, now the local museum, where the ceiling carries Rahu swallowing the sun and moon and the beam boards show the nareephon tree with hermits and gandharvas gathering its fruit. The department has been restoring the main buildings here since B.E. 2527 and says the work is still going on.
The ordination hall of B.E. 2416: brick and stucco, three stepped eaves front and back, square columns without capitals, and Indra on Erawan molded on the gable, inside a low wall with eight boundary-stone shrines.
The murals in that hall: Traiphum and the life of the Buddha, with queued Chinese traders carrying goods on shoulder poles, an ox-cart caravan and several kinds of river boat painted in among them.
The chedi on the east side, begun about B.E. 2456 and finished B.E. 2484 — a Lankan bell on a square circumambulation terrace with a railing, rings tapering to a glass ball at the tip.
The reclining Buddha hall at the chedi south base, 5.90 by 9.90 meters, holding a stucco image 7.40 meters long with a gilded face and a body set with glass, its base and walls faced with imported ceramics.
Five wooden monks houses with dated inscriptions, including the former abbot house of B.E. 2475 and Kuti Sitthisanpradit of B.E. 2498, which now holds the monastery local museum.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | A working royal monastery. Cover shoulders and knees, and take your shoes off before going into the ordination hall or the reclining-Buddha hall. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | On the south bank of the Tak Bai river in Tambon Che He, in the town of Tak Bai, about 34 km from Narathiwat town. The Tourism Authority lists parking. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
Because of the boundary settlement of B.E. 2452. The Fine Arts Department register states that King Chulalongkorn pointed to this Buddhist monastery as the reason Tak Bai should be Siamese, that the British side accepted it, and that the line was moved down to the Kolok river. The name followed from that episode.
Only the ordination hall. The instrument of 21 July B.E. 2518 registers พระอุโบสถวัดชลธาราสิงเห with about 1 rai 3 ngan 1 tarang wa. The rest of the monastery came in under a second instrument of 29 November B.E. 2545, which added about 51 rai 1 ngan 18 tarang wa.
Yes, third class, Saman rank. A Sangha Supreme Council resolution published by the National Office of Buddhism names it พระอารามหลวง ชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ four times in one document.
They mix the standard subjects with the town outside. Among the Traiphum and life-of-the-Buddha scenes the painter recorded Chinese traders with queued hair carrying goods on poles, an ox-cart caravan and several kinds of river craft — which is why the register treats them as a record of local life.
No official source consulted publishes any. The tourism authority page was rendered in full and gives an address and a description with no times behind them.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Narathiwat’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Last checked 5 October 2026
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.