Wat Mai Wang Khian

Rating: 4.6/5 (5 votes)

Operating day: Daily

Operating time: 08.00 - 17.00

 

Wat Mai Wang Khian Chiang Khan, Chiang Klang, Nan. Wat Mai Wang Khian covers an area of 4 rai, 3 ngan, and 85 square wah. The temple was granted permission for establishment on July 25, 1977, by the Department of Religious Affairs and was officially recognized as a temple on December 9, 1983, by the Ministry of Education.

 

The land title deed is No. 16242, recorded in Book 163, Page 42, in Chiang Klang District, Nan Province, dated June 11, 2015. The plot number is 514, survey page 2530, located in Chiang Khan Subdistrict, with a total area of 2 ngan and 64 square wah.

 

The boundaries of the temple are as follows: to the north, it borders the village public road; to the south and east, it adjoins villagers' farmland; and to the west, it borders the public road connecting Chiang Klang to Ngaeng in Pua District.

 

The temple structures include a monks’ residence measuring 9 meters by 14 meters, a vihara (main hall) measuring 9 meters by 19 meters, a sermon hall measuring 6.5 meters by 11.9 meters, and a bell and drum tower measuring 3.05 meters by 3.13 meters.

 

As of June 29, 2015, there were 160 families, totaling 602 individuals, supporting and maintaining the temple.

 

The succession of abbots includes Phra Somsak Passannajitto (1977–1980), Phra Intasorn Intasaro (1981–1985), Phra Samran Kowito (1988–1991), Phra Aphichai Aphichato (1992–1993), and Phra Athikan Nathee Jantavaro, who has served from 1993 to the present.

 

The temple holds various annual religious and cultural events such as almsgiving, building sand pagodas, and Buddha bathing during the Songkran festival, as well as the Bai Sri Su Kwan ritual and water-pouring ceremony for elders and the village headman on April 15. On April 16, the temple conducts annual merit-making for both the temple and the village. Other activities include ceremonies on Asalha Puja and Buddhist Lent days, the Sangkha Na or rice-blessing ceremony in the middle of Lent, the end-of-Lent merit-making, and the offering of Kathin robes at the Buddha Footprint Shrine in Ban Lao, Phra Phutthabat Subdistrict on the eighth waning moon day after Lent.

 

Additional events include the Loy Krathong ceremony to honor the Goddess of Water and the Buddha’s footprint during the Yi Peng festival, the new rice offering after the harvest season, the temple’s founding anniversary on December 9, and a traditional Thai-style year-end celebration to welcome the Buddhist New Year.