In the olden days, after a royal cremation, the ashes would be taken in a boat procession to float before Wat Phathum Khongkha. If a royal white elephant died, its bones wrapped in white cloth would be treated likewise.
This temple was also an execution field for members of the royal family in the early Rattanakosin Period, as evident in the existent 48-by-60-inch execution stone on which several royal-family members were executed from the First to the Third Reigns. The guilty person would be put in a red sack and beaten to death with a fragrant sandalwood club.