Download or read book What's What in a Wat written by Carol Stratton and published by Silkworm Books. This book was released on 2010-08-10 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As you walk through a Thai temple, a host of unfamiliar objects, shapes, and patterns tug at you from every direction. This handy and lucid guidebook will help you distinguish what is what. It takes you through a representative Thai Buddhist temple, guiding you from structure to structure and element to element, explaining the function and purpose of each, and the symbolism behind the forms. A Thai wat can be a place of bewildering beauty, but this illustrated companion will help you focus your eye and identify what you see. Tourists and residents, novices and scholars will all gain a clearer sense of what a wat is and the role it plays today in the lives of Thai people. Highlights - Detailed guide to Thai temple compounds - Definitions and explanations of architectural elements and structures - Richly illustrated with examples - Presents the temple in the context of Thai society - Author is an art historian specializing in Thai Buddhist art