Khlong Maha Nak
canal in Bangkok, Thailand
Khlong Maha Nak (Thai: คลองมหานาค, pronounced [kʰlɔ̄ːŋ mā.hǎː nâːk]) is a historic khlong (canal) in Bangkok and is considered one of the city's oldest waterways. It begins at Khlong Rop Krung (the old city moat) near Mahakan Fort and Wat Saket's Golden Mount, and extends eastward, ending at the intersection with Khlong Saen Saep in the Ban Khrua quarter, with a total length of 1.3 km (0.8 mi).
The canal was initiated under the royal directive of King Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I) in 1783, one year after the establishment of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (modern-day Bangkok). It was used as a waterway for boating and for performing Khlon Sakkawa (กลอนสักวา), a form of Thai poetic recitation. The canal's name is derived from a similarly named canal in the old Ayutthaya Kingdom and is believed to honor a Buddhist monk named Maha Nak, who originally initiated its construction for strategic purposes following the Burmese–Siamese War of 1547–1549.
The eastern end of the canal connects with Khlong Saen Saep, which has long served as a main waterway for transportation. During the reigns of King Mongkut (Rama IV) and King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), the canal became a popular floating market, as it formed part of the route to Chachoengsao in eastern Thailand. Today, the area hosts the wholesale Bobae Market, known for inexpensive clothing, as well as the city's largest wholesale fruit market, Maha Nak Market (also called Saphan Khao Market). The canal also defines the administrative boundaries of two subdistricts under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA): Si Yaek Maha Nak in Dusit District and Khlong Maha Nak in Pom Prap Sattru Phai District.
The section of Khlong Maha Nak near Bobae is home to one of Bangkok's oldest Muslim communities, centered around the Masjid Maha Nak.
“Khlong Maha Nak” enters the record as canal in Bangkok, Thailand. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Khlong, Maha and canal can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13013740. Authority coordinates are 13.754, 100.511. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1783, 1547 and 1549.
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This entry incorporates text from “Khlong Maha Nak” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.