The forest monastery outside the east wall, on the same road as Wat Chedi Yot Thong: a Lankan chedi on a moated mound, the footings of an ordination hall with its stone sema still in the ground, and — in the state register's own judgement — the least damaged temple in the city.
วัดอรัญญิก · Wat Aranyik
| Official name | วัดอรัญญิก — Wat Aranyik |
|---|---|
| Where | Nai Mueang, Mueang Phitsanulok, Phitsanulok |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Read directly from the Fine Arts Department's register in this run: monument id 0004620, status line โบราณสถานขึ้นทะเบียนและกำหนดเขตที่ดินโบราณสถาน, register status 5 on the department's GIS layer — registered, with the monument's land boundary determined. No gazette announcement for this temple was opened in this run and none is cited. The state cultural-environment register carries the site separately, with coordinates that agree with the department's to within about twenty metres. |
| Coordinates | 16.826285, 100.278153 Fine Arts Department, FADGIS monument layer, monument id 0004620, read in WGS84 in this run; the state cultural-environment register gives 16.826256, 100.277944 for the same site |
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.
Wat Aranyik is a type-name in the same way that Wat Mahathat is. The Fine Arts Department's register returns monuments of this name in Ang Thong, Ratchaburi and Nakhon Pathom as well as this one, and any of them may be meant by an unqualified reference. This entry is monument id 0004620 in Tambon Nai Mueang, Mueang Phitsanulok, on Thanon Phaya Suea outside the line of the old city wall.
Wat Aranyik stands on Thanon Phaya Suea in Tambon Nai Mueang, outside the line of the old Phitsanulok wall and on the same road as Wat Chedi Yot Thong. The name is the point of it: an aranyik is a forest-dwelling monastery, sited deliberately beyond the town for the monks who followed the forest discipline, and its position outside the wall is not an accident of later growth but the original arrangement.
The state cultural-environment register describes a compound organised around a moated mound. A ditch was cut around the raised ground the monuments stand on; the principal chedi on it is a Lankan bell on a round base with a throne redented in the yo-mum mai sip song manner; and in front of the chedi is the earthen mound of the ordination hall, where stone sema and Buddha images have been found. The register notes that those images are old enough to be of Chiang Saen style, which is a real observation about what is on the ground and not a date for the temple.
The register's other remark is the one worth quoting. Of all the monuments in its Phitsanulok list, it says, this is the temple that has been damaged least; what decay there is comes from natural causes rather than from people. It credits the abbot with taking that seriously — studying the original layout of the compound with the older residents of the area, and buying back temple land from the people who held it. That is a small piece of administrative prose about conservation actually working, and it is unusual enough in this material to be worth carrying.
The temple also holds a large quantity of ceramic antiquities, which the register records as being in the temple's own keeping rather than in a museum. Nothing consulted says what they are or where they came from.
What is missing here is any founding record at all. No register entry, gazette announcement, inscription or excavation report reachable in this run names a founder, a reign or a year. The Fine Arts Department carries the site as a registered monument with its land boundary determined, which establishes that the state regards it as an ancient monument and nothing more than that.
The moat cut around the raised ground the monuments stand on — the arrangement the state register describes first, and the thing that makes the compound legible as a planned monastery rather than a scatter of ruins.
The principal chedi: a Lankan bell on a round base, with the throne above it redented in the yo-mum mai sip song manner, per the cultural-environment register.
The mound in front of the chedi, which is the footing of the ordination hall, with stone sema and Buddha images recovered from it. The register notes the images are old enough to be of Chiang Saen style.
The temple's own holding of ceramic antiquities, which the register records as substantial and as remaining in the temple's keeping.
The position itself: outside the old wall, on the road that also leads to Wat Chedi Yot Thong, which is how the two are usually seen in one trip.
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 | Not established from an official source. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Thanon Phaya Suea, Tambon Nai Mueang, Mueang Phitsanulok 65000, outside the line of the old city wall on the east side, along the same road as Wat Chedi Yot Thong. Thanon Phaya Suea branches off Thanon Ekathotsarot a little north of Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat. |
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.
An aranyik is a forest-dwelling monastery — the establishment placed deliberately outside the city wall for monks following the forest discipline, as against the town monastery inside it. The name is a category, not a unique title, which is why the Fine Arts Department's register returns monuments of this name in Ang Thong, Ratchaburi and Nakhon Pathom as well as this one. The Phitsanulok temple is monument id 0004620 on Thanon Phaya Suea in Tambon Nai Mueang.
Nothing consulted establishes that. No register entry, gazette announcement, inscription or excavation report read in this run names a founder, a reign or a year. What the state cultural-environment register offers is stylistic: Buddha images recovered from the ordination-hall mound are old enough to be of Chiang Saen style. That places the objects rather than dating the temple, and this guide prints no founding year here.
A moat cut round the mound the monuments stand on; a principal chedi in the form of a Lankan bell on a round base, with the throne above it redented in the yo-mum mai sip song manner; and in front of it the earth mound of the ordination hall, where stone sema and Buddha images have been found. The temple also keeps a large collection of ceramic antiquities of its own.
By the state's own assessment, better than any other in the city. The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning's cultural-environment register records that this is the temple in its Phitsanulok list that has been damaged least, that such decay as there is comes from natural causes, and that the abbot has studied the compound's original layout with older residents and bought temple land back from the people holding it.
No official source consulted publishes hours, so this guide prints none. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has no page for this temple — the address under its name returns the site's error page, which was checked in a rendering browser for this run. It is on Thanon Phaya Suea, the same road as Wat Chedi Yot Thong, and the two are easily seen together.
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 Phitsanulok’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.
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.