A temple founded around 1902 by a wandering forest monk known as Luang Pho Rod, named in a 2018 Royal Gazette list of ancient monuments. The Fine Arts Department's own English name for the site appends a royal sub-rank its Thai name and its own history do not carry, and this page corrects the record rather than repeating the department's own transliteration.
วัดโฆษิตวิหาร · Wat Khosit Wihan
| Official name | วัดโฆษิตวิหาร — Wat Khosit Wihan |
|---|---|
| Where | Talat Yai, Mueang Phuket, Phuket |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Named in a Royal Gazette list of ancient monuments; not registered Royal Gazette vol. 135, part special 165 ง, 12 July B.E. 2561 (2018), p. 27 Named in a Fine Arts Department list of ancient monuments published in the Royal Gazette — a bare list under the department's general administrative power, not a registration under section 7 of the Ancient Monuments Act and not a royal-elevation decree of any kind. The register gives no boundary area for this entry. |
| Coordinates | 7.899160, 98.390054 Fine Arts Department register, monument 0017436 |
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 Fine Arts Department's own English-language field for this monument reads 'Wat Khosit Worawiharn,' appending the royal sub-rank Worawiharn — but the Thai name in the same register row is plainly วัดโฆษิตวิหาร, with no วรวิหาร suffix, and neither the department's history note nor its 2018 gazette listing states that the temple holds any royal class. This page treats the English name as a transliteration artifact rather than a fact about the temple's status, and sets royalClass to null accordingly.
Wat Khosit Worawiharn — the Fine Arts Department's own English rendering, discussed below — stands on Thep Kasattri Road within Phuket Town's Talat Yai subdistrict, and its Thai name is plainly วัดโฆษิตวิหาร, Wat Khosit Wihan, with no royal-grade suffix attached. The department's own history note tells a founding story typical of a hilltop forest temple: a wandering monk known as Phra Rod, or Luang Pho Rod, arrived on foot practising dhutanga forest asceticism and made camp at the base of a hill; the local community, drawn to his practice, is said to have built him a temple and asked him to stay as its founding abbot.
The temple's earliest names describe the physical site rather than any person: Wat Khok Saeng, for a large saeng tree that stood there, then Wat Khok Chae, before settling on Wat Khosit Wihan. The Fine Arts Department dates the founding to approximately B.E. 2445 (1902) and records an unusually precise date for its royal land grant, 25 April B.E. 2455 (1912) — a day-level figure this register rarely supplies elsewhere in the province.
The building itself, per the department's own art-and-culture note, is Rattanakosin in period, dating from the reigns of Rama V and VI: a brick-and-plaster structure under a two-tiered tile roof, its gable decorated with stucco ornament and finished with the standard Thai roof furniture of chofa, bairaka and hang hong. The monument was named in a Royal Gazette list of ancient monuments on 12 July B.E. 2561 (2018) — a bare gazette listing under the department's general administrative power, distinct from a formal registration under the Ancient Monuments Act and, crucially, distinct from any decree elevating a temple's royal status.
That last distinction matters because the department's own English-language field for this monument names it 'Wat Khosit Worawiharn,' appending the royal sub-rank Worawiharn to a temple whose Thai name carries no such suffix and whose own register entry states no royal class at all. This page treats that English name as a transliteration artifact of the department's own database rather than as evidence of the temple's status, and states royalClass as null — the honest value when no register or gazette entry supports a grade, regardless of what an English label elsewhere in the same government system implies.
BAANLYY does not represent this temple and nothing on this page is legal or religious advice.
The Rattanakosin-period main hall, Rama V–VI in style: brick-and-plaster construction under a two-tiered tile roof.
Stucco ornament on the gable and the standard Thai roof furniture — chofa, bairaka and hang hong finials — per the Fine Arts Department's art-and-culture note.
The temple's setting at the foot of a hill in Talat Yai, consistent with the founding account of a forest monk's hillside shelter.
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 temple. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off before entering the main hall. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | 228 Moo 6, Thep Kasattri Road, Talat Yai, Mueang Phuket, Phuket 83000, per the Fine Arts Department's register. |
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.
Not on the evidence this page found, despite the name. The Fine Arts Department's own English-language field for this monument appends the royal sub-rank 'Worawiharn,' but the Thai name in the same register row is plainly วัดโฆษิตวิหาร with no such suffix, and neither the department's own history note nor its 2018 gazette listing states that the temple holds any royal class. This page treats the English name as a transliteration artifact of the department's database and states royalClass as null rather than repeating an unsupported grade.
The Fine Arts Department's own history note credits a wandering forest monk known as Phra Rod, or Luang Pho Rod, who arrived on foot practising dhutanga forest asceticism and made camp at the base of a hill; local people are said to have built him a temple and asked him to remain as its founding abbot, around B.E. 2445 (1902).
Wat Khok Saeng, named for a large saeng tree that marked the founding site, and later Wat Khok Chae, before the temple settled on its present name, Wat Khosit Wihan, per the Fine Arts Department's own register — which also records that the department's own English transliteration elsewhere appends a royal sub-rank neither older name, nor the Thai name today, ever carried.
It is named in a Royal Gazette list of ancient monuments dated 12 July B.E. 2561 (2018), which is the Fine Arts Department's general power to list protected sites rather than the formal registration process under section 7 of the Ancient Monuments Act. That is a real but lesser legal position than full registration, and this page states it as such.
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 Phuket’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.