Casting Ceremony for the “Four Devas” Bronze Bell, Wat Chulamanee

The casting ceremony for the “Four Devas” bronze bell of Wat Chulamanee will be held on 5 September 2026 at 16.09 hrs, on the ground beside the Phra Phutthachinnarat hall at Wat Chulamanee, Samut Songkhram.

The bell is cast in bronze and bears four devas seated in flame-arch niches (ruean kaeo) set around its body — the origin of the name “Four Devas bell”. The master model has been sculpted and the clay mould built up over it; the bell now awaits the appointed hour for the pouring.

Dimensions and weight

• Size — 12 kam · 36 inches (91.44 cm)

• Height — 77 inches (195.58 cm)

• Weight — 800 kilograms

Bronze bells (“long hin” bronze)

A bronze bell — known in Thai as a “long hin” bell — is cast from an alloy of copper and pure tin. It is strong and durable, and is prized for a voice that is bright and resonant, soft and deep, and that carries far longer than bells of other metals. Such bells are made as offerings to the Buddha and hung in the bell towers of temples.

• The metal — an alloy of copper and tin in the proper proportion, finished by the stone-polishing process (long hin), which gives the metal its density.

• The voice — resonant, deep and mellow, with a power that carries into the distance.

• Durability — it withstands impact and does not crack easily.

The ornament of the bell

The finished master model is covered with Thai ornament over its whole body:

• Four devas — seated in flame-arch niches on all four sides of the bell, each in full royal attire and each enthroned above a base bearing a different emblem (a demon mask, an elephant, a bull, a lion mask), with a Khom-script syllable inscribed beneath.

• The crown — formed of nagas coiling upward to carry the suspension ring.

• Four striking bosses — each inscribed above with a Thai word: “lap” (gain), “chok” (fortune), “ngoen” (silver) and “thong” (gold).

• The bands of ornament — scrolling vine and kanok flame motifs within the pilasters, prachamyam rosettes dividing the registers, and tiers of lotus petals at the shoulder and the lip of the bell.

Progress of the work

Luang Pho Itthi — Phra Samut Wachirasophon Vi., abbot of Wat Chulamanee, travelled in person to the foundry to see how the work was progressing. A board installed at the foundry identifies it as a “bell-making learning centre” at Ban Chat Yai, Moo 3, Rang Bua Subdistrict, Chom Bueng District, Ratchaburi, the workshop of the craftsman Somphon Thamthae.

This set of photographs records the work in sequence: sculpting the devas and their arches in clay on iron plates, taking plaster moulds from them, pressing out the ornament, building the master model of the bell, and finally packing clay over the model layer by layer with iron framing and wire mesh to form the mould for the pouring on the day of the ceremony.

Photographs of the work in progress