The Old City Gates
Part of Ancient Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai Old City's five gates, known in Thai as pratu, or entrance ways, tend to be noisy places, teeming with life and vibrating to the throb of a continuous stream of traffic. To be sure, they were not always like this. Photographs and descriptions which have come down to us from times past show that the traditional gateways were narrow structures, easily closed at night, designed for merchants and travellers on foot, elephants from the surrounding hills, and mule trains from nearby Yunnan rather than for modern vehicular traffic.
In contrast to the corner bastions, which date in their present form from the late 18th century, Chiang Mai's gateways are uniformly modern structures, loosely recreated from old photographs and oral history by the city authorities, in conjunction with the Department of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai Rajabhat University and "a group of dedicated private citizens" between 1966 and 1969.
Pratu Thaphae The most authentic of these reconstructions is Pratu Thaphae, the city's eastern entrance. Originally established by King Mangrai in 1296, this gate was for many centuries known as Pratu Chiang Ruak after a neighbouring village located beyond the city walls. Thus, according to the Chiang Mai Chronicle, in 1456/57 King Borommatrailokanat of Ayutthaya (1448-63) sent a spy called Han Phrom Sathan to reconnoitre the defences of Chiang Mai. He tried to slip in through Chiang Ruak Gate, but aroused the suspicion of the gatekeeper and was arrested. After being beaten and interrogated he was expelled through "the north gate" [Pratu Hua Wiang; today's Pratu Chang Puak].
The name Pratu Thaphae was first applied to a gate in the outer earthen ramparts built or restored by Chao Kavila in about 1800 and situated by Wat Saen Fang - the name Thaphae, or "Raft Landing" derives from its location close to the River Ping. At some stage during the 19th century Pratu Chiang Ruak became known colloquially as Pratu Thaphae Nai, or "Inner Thaphae Gate", in contradistinction to Kavila's gate, which was called Pratu Thaphae Nok, or "Outer Thaphae Gate". Following the demolition of this outer gate in the late 19th century the name Pratu Thaphae came to be applied to the former Pratu Chiang Ruak, a designation which holds today.
Nowadays Pratu Thaphae is distinguished by being the only gateway to Chiang Mai Old City which is not designed for a flow of vehicles. Closely paralleling a photograph taken in 1899, about 5 metres across and protected by heavy, steel-bound wooden doors (which are usually left open), the reconstructed gate sits on a flagstone square, surrounded by traffic, dominating an area which has become the focal point of Chiang Mai political rallies, festivals and celebrations of all kinds. A popular meeting place for locals and visitors alike, on ordinary evenings crowds of young men gather there to play sepak takraw, or simply to chat with each other and the local girls.
David Henley / CPA
Chiang Mai: Thaphae Gate by night.
The guardian deity Surakkhito represents Pratu Thaphae, and presides over the city's foundation. It is associated cosmologically with Wat Buppharam.
Pratu Chiang Mai Proceeding clockwise around the Old City, the next gate encountered is Pratu Chiang Mai. Founded by Mangrai in 1296, restored by Kavila in about 1800, and rebuilt entirely in 1966-69, this gateway traditionally led to the old Lamphun Road. In its present incarnation Pratu Chiang Mai has been widened to allow a heavy flow of traffic, and an extensive market - Gat Pratu Chiang Mai - has grown up in the vicinity, selling a wide variety of fresh and cooked goods, general household items and hardware. On a still day the fragrance of joss sticks burning at the well-maintained shrine of San Chao Pu Pratu Chiang Mai, located just to the east of the main gateway, is faintly discernible in the air.
Pratu Chiang Mai is first mentioned by this name in the Chiang Mai Chronicle in 1319, when Prince Khrüa a was preparing to usurp the throne of Lan Na from his nephew, King Saen Phu (1318-19; 1324-28). According to the Chronicle, Khrüa attempted to reassure his nervous nephew, saying: "Uncle has come to pay his respects to [the deceased] King Mangrai. Don't be suspicious of uncle. Don't close the city gates to him". The text continues: "Then Phraya Khrüa arranged for armed men to go to the Chiang Mai Gate and the Suan Dok Gate, intending to capture Saen Phu at dawn". Saen Phu saw through the ruse, "and hurriedly withdrew through Pratu Hua Wiang (now Pratu Chang Puak). An earlier name for the Pratu Chiang Mai was apparently Pratu Tai Wiang or "Southern Gate to the Walled City".
The guardian deity Choeyaphumo represents Pratu Chiang Mai and presides over the city's nobility and administration. It is associated cosmologically with Wat Nantaram.
Pratu Suan Prung Located in the Old City's south-western quarter, this gate is something of a curiosity. Unlike the other four gates - all of which were founded by King Mangrai in and around 1296 - Pratu Suan Prung dates from the reign of King Sam Fang Kaen (1401-1441), who is reported to have built it for his mother, who had a palace outside the city walls at Suan Rae (near today's Suan Prung Hospital). It was the royal mother's habit to enter the city on a daily basis to supervise construction of Wat Chedi Luang, and the king built the new gate to afford her more direct access than via more distant Chiang Mai Gate further to the east. Suan Prung Gate is mentioned in the Chiang Mai Chronicle, which records that on the evening of February 8, 1546, invading troops from Ayutthaya, having been driven back from the Hua Rin Bastion, attempted to storm Pratu Suan Prung, but were again defeated. Two days later they withdrew to the south.
Pratu Suan Prung stands near to Jaeng Ku Ruang, the most ill-fated of the city's bastions, and is set in the most inauspicious section of the city walls. It has for many centuries been used by the citizens of Chiang Mai to take their dead for cremation south of the city beyond Pratu Hai Ya, a custom which continues to the present day. In this, as Wyatt and Wichienkeeo point out in their translation of the Chiang Mai Chronicle, Pratu Suang Prung is similar to the Pratu Phi or "Spirit Gate" of both Phrae and Kengtung, also the Pratu Mara or "Devil's Gate" of both Sukhothai and Kamphaengphet.
Today Suan Prung is perhaps the quietest and most attractive of Old Chiang Mai's gates, with a relatively low flow of traffic. No guardian deity is associated with Pratu Suan Prung, no doubt because of its inauspicious nature.
David Henley / CPA
Chiang Mai: Ancient stele set in wall of Pratu Suan Dok.
Pratu Suan Dok Continuing west and then north beyond Ku Ruang corner, the ancient walls extend for some distance behind the local garden centres towards Chiang Mai's western entrance, Pratu Suan Dok or "Flower Garden Gate". In former times outside this gateway lay the gardens of King Ku Nu who, in 1371, founded Wat Suan Dok, or "Flower Garden Temple". This was once a fortified wiang, or monastery, built on the site of a royal garden and surrounded by its own moats. Pratu Suan Dok is one of the locations mentioned in the Chiang Mai Chronicle in relation to Prince Khrü's planned coup against King Saen Phu in 1319 [above]. It is also mentioned in the Chronicle's account of the year 1345, when King Pha Yu (1337-55) interred the ashes of his father, King Kham Fu (1328-37) "near the Suan Dok Gate, where he had a chedi built to enshrine them, and he built a temple there for monks to live in" [Wat Phra Singh].
Today the temple, situated on Suthep Road about one kilometre west of Pratu Suan Dok, is frankly of more interest to the visitor than the gateway itself. During the daytime Pratu Suan Dok suffers from the curse of Chiang Mai's moatside traffic - especially during the afternoon rush hour when the local schools empty - but it can be a fine place to watch the sunset over Doi Suthep in the early evening.
The guardian deity Surachato represents Pratu Suan Dok and presides over the spirituality of the city's inhabitants. It is associated cosmologically with Wat Suan Dok.
Pratu Chang Puak Finally, set square in the centre of the Old City's northern wall, is the venerable Pratu Chang Puak - not that the gateway itself is especially remarkable today. Originally established by King Mangrai in 1296, this gate was once known as Pratu Hua Wiang, or "Head of the City Gate", for it was by this way that rulers of the Kingdom of Lan Na once entered the capital en route to their coronation. During the reign of King Saen Muang Ma (1385-1401), however, the neighbouring Chang Puak or "White Elephant" monument was established, and the name of the northern gate was subsequently changed to Pratu Chang Puak.
During the present, first decade of the twenty first century, Pratu Chang Puak must rate as perhaps the least attractive of the ancient entrances to Chiang Mai Old City. Reconstructed in 1966-69, it is far wider than it appears in old photographs and has little of the studied authenticity of Pratu Thaphae, and none of the charm of Pratu Suan Prung - though it does share some similarities with Chiang Mai Gate in having an extensive market at Gat Pratu Chang Puak, just north of the moat.
The guardian deity Khantharakhito represents Pratu Chang Puak and presides over the city's power. It is associated cosmologically with Wat Chiang Yeun.
Pratu Si Phum Gate The city's sixth gate, Pratu Si Phum or "Light of the Land Gate", no longer exists. According to the Chiang Mai Chronicle, King Tilokarat (1441-1487), desiring to attain the status of cakkavattiraja or "universal monarch" consulted with a supposedly knowledgeable Burmese ascetic from Pagan. The Burmese, Mang Lung Lwang, was secretly in the service of the Siamese, and sought to destroy the good fortune of Chiang Mai. To this end, he advised Tilokarat to cut down an auspicious banyan tree at Ban Sri Phum, tear down the fortifications at that point, and build a new palace on the spot. The work was undertaken in 1465-66, and included the construction of a new gate, named Pratu Sri Phum, thought to have stood approximately where Mun Muang Soi 7 faces the moat today.
As a result of the plot of the Burmese ascetic, Chiang Mai lost its protective banyan tree and "became a defiled place, as if the glory of the city had been sullied with urine and defecation". Mang Lung Lwang's deception was unmasked, and he was beaten and thrown into rapids on the Mae Ping. The new gate was not immediately torn down, however, for the Chronicle later notes that in 1551, following his coronation, King Mae Ku (1551-64) left the city via Pratu Sri Phum to circumambulate the city walls.
It is not known when Pratu Sri Phum was eventually torn down. It seems that its name was changed at some point to Pratu Chang Moi, or "Drowsy Elephant Gate", as the northernmost gate in the nearby Kamphaeng Din, or Earthen Ramparts, was later designated Pratu Chang Moi Nok or "Outer Drowsy Elephant Gate". It too no longer exists, having been torn down in the early 20th century, but a sign erected by Chiang Mai Municipality on Sithiwong Road, by the banks of the Khlong Mae Kha where the bridge used to stand, suggests that it took its name from the nearby gate into the Old City called Pratu Chang Moi Nai, or "Inner Drowsy Elephant Gate". Either way, no sign of Pratu Sri Phum survives today.
Text by Andrew Forbes, images by David Henley. © CPA Media, 2006
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David Henley / CPA
Chiang Mai: Pratu Suang Prung with dead yang trees since cut down.
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