The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

MONKS AND HlEHAHCHY IN NORTHERN THAILANlJ II 5
this high a title. All nineteen of the full and deputy Somdets in the
country reside in Bangkok.
The next four titles in the honorary system are introduced by the
terms Phra Raja Khana Chan and end in Tham (20), Thep (45), Rat (108),
and Saman (287), the numbers in parentheses representing the total of
such title holders in the entire Thai Sangha of some !75,000 monks.1o
In Cbiengmai Province the highest title held, Thep, bas been given to the
Provincial heads {Chao Khana Changwat) of the two sects. Rat titles are
held only by two monks; one is at War Cbedi Luang (Thammayut), the
other at Wat Pbra Singh (Mahanikaia). lt is worth noting that both are
royal monasteries; that is, they are singled out for royal support and tbe
resulting prestige because they meet some or all of the following criteria:
they are historical monasteries of considerable importance, often with
relics; they have a large number of monks and novices involved in a
monastic education program; and they play an important role ritually
for many laymen and often are pilgrimage sites. The four royal monasteries
in the province are, in order of rank, Phra Singh, Pbra That Doi
Sutbep, Cbedi Luang, and Sri Chom (all in Chiengmai city, except the
last, which is in Cbom Thong District). It is noteworthy that of the
eight holders of honorary titles from the Saman class up to Thep in the
province, five reside at royal monasteries.
When we study the four holders of the Saman title in the province,
we find one is at Wat Phra Singh, one is at Wat Fai Hin (located adjacent
to Chiengmai University), and the remaining two are the two deputy
Province Heads ( Rong-Chao Khana Changwat}. Explaining why these
awards were given will help to elucidate the hierarchical system further.
The abbot of Wat Fai Hin is, to our knowledge, the only monastic bolder
in the entire province of a Parian 9, the highest possible award for Pali
scholarship, and his advanced skills as a teacher of Pali are not readily
available in the north. The honorary title of Saman may be (and often
is) a warded to all who reach the Pari an 7 level of Pali excellence, and it
1 0) Figures on honorary ranks from Department of Religion Winter Fair Exhibit
at Chiengmai, 1973. Figure on total monks in Sangha is the 1965 figure
(Thailand: Official Yearbook 1968: 532).