This temple was firstly called Werukattatharam means the temple of the eleven clumps of the bamboo. The old document written that after the founding of Chiang Mai around 1297 A.D. Phaya Mangvai built this temple in an area of tha eleven clumps of the bamboo for Phra Thera Chan and Smghol (Lanka) monks to reside.

Later on, a tunnel (in Thai U-Mong) was constructed by the command of Phaya Kuena in this temple. Since then, the temple was named U-Mong Thera Chan or Wat U-Mong.

In the past this temple was regarded as Aranyawasi (forest) temple, for it was located in the western jungle zone of Wiang Suan Dok, or in the area outside of Chiang Mai City. This temple has a round bell style Chedi situated on a short circular base (the style Chedi resembles Sapata Chedi in Pakan the 15th century A.D.).

On the wall of the cellar beneath the base of the Chedi was decorated with mural paintings of the Ex-Buddha images sitting in rows of the niclies.

This principal Chedi of the temple is situated on an open court of the mound and in the seige of a boundary wall. The Chedi has a Naga staircase built on the south side. On the east of the Chedi is an open wide roof of the tunnel. Situated on the lower mound, the tunnel doorway is facing towards the south.

The tunnel which houses Buddha images has a wall decorated with mural paintings of trees, flowers and birds. The wide court in the front of the runnel which contains pavilions, monk’s residences, a stone pillar with a lion sculpture on its top and an old base of Vihaia surrounded by a boundary wall with its main gate lying on the south side. In addition on the west, another gate is open to the Naga staircase of the Chedi.

Identified from historic documents, architectural style and mural painting, this temple is assumed to be build in the 15th-16th centuries A.D.

Later in 1947 Chao Chuen Sirorol built Dhamma garden in the temple, and invited Phra Dhamma Kosajarn (Panya Nantha Phikkhu) to come for an abbot of the temple. U-Mong temple is one of the significant monasteries of Chiang Mai.

Asoke Pillar in U Mong Temple, Chiang Mai

This pillar is a replica and a remembrance of those set up by king Asoke the Great of India around 327 BC. He was one of the greatest upholders of the Buddhist faith that the world has ever known,spreading the Lord Buddha’s word wide.

This replica is an important reminder of the far reaching influence of King Asoke’s peaceful interpretation of Buddhism. This pillar is symbolic of the true faith of Buddhism.