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

llliiHJlllST P!LGHIMAGE IN NORTHEASTERN THAILAND 189
of the "really real" (the world as conditioned by kamma) and the world
of everyday reality.
V. The Merit-seekers
The movements of pilgrims to the That Phanom shrine reveal a
range of variation between two dominant patterns: (a) tbe devotional
journey bet ween home residence and one specific shrine; (b) the general
excursion to a number of places which includes both devotions and sightseeing.
In general, the former is practiced by a large group of pilgrims
from a single village, located close to tbe shrine, which organizes itself
annually for the purpose of making a joint donation to the shrine. The
latter, for the most part, is performed by groups of urbanites or villagers
whose visits to the shrine, infrequently or seldom undertaken, rarely
involve specific group donations. For the former, ritual veneration of
the sacred object at the shrine is usually performed by the entire group
as a single ceremonial act; for the latter,
•
the devotions are pursued
singly (with no representative leading the entire group in worship), even
thougb the members of the group may enter the shrine precincts together.
Geographic and temporal factors influence these patterns of pilgrim
movement. For the most part, there are more journeys undertaken to
the Tbat Phanom shrine from villages in the district than from adjacent
districts, provinces, and regions.
The following figures (from the record
of signatures in the shrine registration book between February 1971 and
February 1972) on the regional distribution of pilgrims indicate that the
majority of devotees at the shrine are inhabitants of the region in which
it is located:
Table I. Regional distribution of pilgrims at Wat Pbra That Phanom
Northeast : 5155
Central: 958
North: 19
South: 16
TOTAL: 6148
The following cautionary remarks should be borne in mind with
regard to there figures.
First, because of the isolated location of the