This Monday, Chalermchai Dongchan will be one of the four devotees chanting the Vessantara Jataka or Maha Chat Kham Luang in front of Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua at the Emerald Buddha Temple.
“Chanting Maha Chat Kham Luang has been my proud mission since 2010,” the 42-year-old civil servant with the Culture Ministry’s Religious Affairs Department tells TPBS World.
Maha Chat Kham Luang chant is an expression of worship. It is performed at a sacred temple, where the Emerald Buddha statue is enshrined. The chant is a tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation since the Sukhothai Period.
The scriptures
From passion to proud mission
One of Chalermchai’s uncles worked for the Religious Affairs Department. At the age of 14, Chalermchai accompanied his uncle to the department during his school break. While he was there, he heard the chant of Maha Chat Kham Luang for the first time and was immediately spellbound.
“It was mesmerizing. I fell in love with the beautiful chanting. Its intonation was harmonious, amazing, and far from boring,” Chalermchai recalled.
The young boy looked around and noticed that there were about 20 people rehearsing the beautiful chants. One month later, he discovered that the number had dropped by half to 10.
Chalermchai would only learn later why the number had fallen so suddenly. By then, he had started work at the Religious Affairs Department himself. In retrospect, he wasn’t so surprised: the answer was simple … chanting Maha Chat Kham Luang was very difficult.
Chalermchai Dongchan
Tough screening
Two former ceremonial chiefs of the Religious Affairs Department conducted training for male civil servants, government officials, and temporary workers interested in becoming Maha Chat Kham Luang chanters. The training was done orally, clause by clause, without any guide.
“It’s because some words are spelt the same but pronounced differently,” Chalermchai explains. “We also had to practice the rise and fall of the vocal pitch. We needed to understand that some syllables must be long while some others must be short for the whole chant to sound smooth.”
Those who successfully completed the course would also have to chant in unison during additional training. Each ceremony required four chorists and their tones must be similar and harmonious to achieve a perfect chant.
Today, four officials fill the posts of key chanters backed up by an alternate team of 30. A guidebook on how to chant with karaoke-style instructions is also available.
Hard work
Chalermchai said that with so many responsibilities in their day jobs, the chanters find it hard to make time to practise together. When he is not assigned to chanting, Chalermchai serves as a Senior professional-level civil servant at the Religious Affairs Department.
It requires determination and lots of preparation to ensure several officials can come together for rehearsal sessions. Before his team chants at a ceremony, all four members will have worked together for about a month to ensure they are voice perfect.
“You will chant fluently only after you have trained hard for at least a year,” Chalermchai said.
He practised for two years before being appointed for the first time as a chanter of Maha Chat Kham Luang in 2010 with an order signed by the director-general of the Religious Affairs Department.
A guide to chanting Maha Chat Kham Luang with karaoke-style instructions prepared by the Religious Affairs Department
Maha Chat Kham Luang chant in 2023
Chalermchai will chant Maha Chat Kham Luang alongside three other chanters when His Majesty the King performs merit-making ceremonies to mark the Asalha Bucha Day and the Buddhist Lent Day next week, as well as for the change of the Emerald Buddha’s attire.
Next generation of chanters
Chalermchai says any male member of the Religious Affairs Department can join Maha Chat Kham Luang chanting training, no matter their age and the position they hold..
“Women are welcome to learn and to practice but they cannot perform at actual ceremonies,” he explained.
By Thai PBS World
