Rue-Si Dat Ton

           Contorted Hermit Mount is a health park near the south Vihara, Built during the reign of King Rama I, it was the center of medical science and knowledge from the Ayutthaya period. Reflected by statues of hermits or Rishi (Rue-si) practising physical exercises. For Thais, a hermit is always treated as an important teacher. In former times, the statues were made of clay, but King Rama III changed them to stone, and only 24 statues are left now from the total of 80.

           The contorted hermit was applied from Indian yogi. The artistic exercise postures are supposed to cure certain aliments of the person who practises it. The inscriptions of prosody framed on the cloisters columns are now kept in Sala Rai or Pavilions.