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Wat Tham Chetawan

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Wat Tham Chetawan
วัดถ้ำเชตวัน
The reclining Buddha overlooking the temple complex
Wat Tham Chetawan is located in Thailand
Wat Tham Chetawan
Location within Thailand
Religion
AffiliationTheravada Buddhism
SectMaha Nikaya
Location
LocationSantha subdistrict, Na Noi district, Nan province
CountryThailand
Coordinates18°16′22″N 100°34′41″E / 18.2727996°N 100.5781288°E / 18.2727996; 100.5781288
Architecture
FounderKhruba Noi Yanwichai
Established28 February 2023 (temple registration)

Wat Tham Chetawan (Thai: วัดถ้ำเชตวัน), also known locally as Wat Khruba Noi (Thai: วัดครูบาน้อย),[1][2] is a Theravada Buddhist temple in Santha subdistrict, Na Noi district, Nan province, northern Thailand. It stands in a wooded limestone canyon around a group of caves called Tham Chetawan.[3][4] The cave was in Buddhist religious use by at least 1885, but the modern complex was developed from a long-neglected area by the monk Khruba Noi Yanwichai around 2012–2013 and was formally registered as a temple by Thailand's National Office of Buddhism on 28 February 2023.[5][4][6]

Khruba Noi undertook a solitary retreat in one of the caves from 2014 to 2017, which drew national media attention, and the site later featured in national tourism coverage of Nan.[7][1][2] The cave is also the type locality of a millipede species described in 2021.[8]

Historical cave site

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Tham Chetawan was a place of Buddhist worship well before the present temple. Two inscriptions found in the cave are catalogued in the database of inscriptions in Thailand maintained by the Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, a public agency under the Ministry of Culture; both are attributed to Tham Chetawan in Santha, Na Noi district, Nan province.[5][9]

The older inscription, dated 1885 (2428 BE), is carved on the base of a wooden Buddha image in the Māravijaya attitude and recorded by the National Library of Thailand as นน. 2131. It states that Pho Saen Thanasombat and his family had the image made to sustain Buddhism; it is written in Tham Lanna characters in the Pali and Thai languages, and provides dated evidence of worship at the site by 1885.[5] A second inscription, dated 1930 (2473 BE), is a rectangular black slate slab of nineteen lines (register นน. 2130) recording that, under Sathu Chao Chanthayanarangsi together with relatives, disciples and lay supporters, two Buddha images, a chedi, a vihara sheltering a Buddha footprint, the footprint altar, a boundary wall and a nāga staircase were built in the cave, completed and celebrated the same year. The Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre entry is based on an epigraphic study by Yutthaphon Naksuk published in 2008.[9] They document religious use of the cave before the modern temple was registered in 2023.[5][9][6]

Modern development

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Around 2012–2013 Khruba Noi, a monk of the khruba (Lan Na) tradition, developed the then-neglected cave area into a Buddhist site known as Phutthasathan Tham Chetawan (พุทธสถานถ้ำเชตวัน).[4][3] The complex is built in the Lan Na style and includes a vihara, a large assembly hall, monks' quarters, a chedi, a 15-metre (49 ft) reclining Buddha, a white-jade Buddha image, a drum tower, natural caves and a museum.[4][1][2] In 2025 Daily News credited Khruba Noi with transforming the previously neglected area into a Buddhist site and meditation centre.[2]

From 12 July 2014 to 15 October 2017 Khruba Noi undertook a solitary retreat in one of the caves, lasting three years, three months and three days.[10][7] He emerged on 15 October 2017 to large crowds, and the event, together with his years of unshaven hair, attracted national media coverage and public debate.[7][11]

During a multi-site enforcement operation in May 2015, while Khruba Noi was still in retreat, district officials asked the temple committee to open the barred entrance to the cave. The request was refused, and about 1,000 Na Noi residents gathered outside the district office, accusing the officials of disturbing the retreat and demanding their transfer; the officials denied attempting a forced entry and agreed to seek reassignment.[12][13]

Temple status

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On 4 November 2022 the Nan Provincial Office of Buddhism visited Khruba Noi to advise on the application to establish the temple and a Pariyattitham school.[14] The site was registered as a community temple (wat ratsadon) of the Maha Nikaya fraternity, under the name Wat Tham Chetawan and temple code 66155040001, by the National Office of Buddhism on 28 February 2023.[6] It was granted its visungkhamsima—the royal grant of consecrated ground for an ordination hall (ubosot)—by an announcement of the Office of the Prime Minister dated 25 March 2025 and published in the Royal Gazette on 10 April 2025, with a designated boundary of 13 by 26 metres (43 by 85 ft).[15][16]

In 2023 the temple was among the 25 finalist attractions—five of them in the North—of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's "Unseen New Chapters" campaign,[17] and in 2024 the authority listed it among five recommended sites in Nan in a national travel guide.[18]

The cave in scientific literature

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Tham Chetawan is the type locality of Glyphiulus promdami, a cave-dwelling millipede described as a new species in the journal ZooKeys in 2021 from a holotype collected in the cave in 2018.[8] An updated catalogue of the millipedes of Thailand published in 2023 confirmed the record from "Chetawan Cave, Na Noi District, Nan".[19] The species has also been recorded from Tham La-ong in Nan and from Tham Pha Phrai Wan in neighbouring Phrae province.[8]

Khruba Noi

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Khruba Noi Yanwichai (1989–2023), who developed the site, was a Theravada monk of the khruba tradition and a disciple of Khruba Boonchum; he received full ordination in 2009 at Wat Santha in Na Noi district.[10] He died at the temple on 31 August 2023, aged 34,[20] leaving a testament that bequeathed the temple's property to the temple itself under the governance of its abbot and committee.[21]

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 อันซีน ‘น่าน’ โซนใต้ แอ่วเมืองสวรรค์นักปฏิบัติธรรม ชมหัตถกรรมผ้าพื้นถิ่นชุมชนแดนเหนือ [Unseen southern Nan: visit a haven for Dhamma practitioners and northern community handicrafts]. Thairath (in Thai). 31 August 2023. Archived from the original on 13 August 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 เดินทางขึ้นเหนือฟังเรื่องเล่าชุมชนเก่า [Travelling north to hear stories of old communities]. Daily News (in Thai). 18 May 2025. Archived from the original on 28 May 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 วัดถ้ำเชตวัน ที่เที่ยวน่าน วัดสวยท่ามกลางหุบเขา ณ อำเภอนาน้อย [Wat Tham Chetawan, a Nan attraction: a beautiful temple amid the valley in Na Noi district]. Kapook (in Thai). 30 August 2023. Archived from the original on 22 May 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 รำลึก "ครูบาน้อย" เยือน "วัดถ้ำเชตวัน" อันซีนแห่งใหม่ใน จ.น่าน [Remembering "Khruba Noi": visiting Wat Tham Chetawan, a new unseen site of Nan]. MGR Online (in Thai). 4 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 November 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 จารึกฐานพระพุทธรูปถ้ำเชตวัน [Inscription on the base of the Buddha image, Tham Chetawan] (in Thai). Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre. Archived from the original on 9 March 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 ทะเบียนวัด: วัดถ้ำเชตวัน (รหัสวัด 66155040001) [Temple registry: Wat Tham Chetawan (temple code 66155040001)] (in Thai). National Office of Buddhism. Archived from the original on 9 November 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 มองต่างมุม พระหนุ่มผมยาว 'ครูบาน้อย' เข้าถ้ำไม่ออก 3 ปี มีอะไรในกอไผ่! [A different view: the long-haired young monk "Khruba Noi", three years in the cave without coming out]. Thairath (in Thai). 19 October 2017. Archived from the original on 19 November 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 Likhitrakarn, Natdanai; Golovatch, Sergei I.; Jantarit, Sopark (2021). "Two new species of the millipede genus Glyphiulus Gervais, 1847 (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Cambalopsidae) from caves in northern Thailand". ZooKeys. 1056: 173–189. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1056.71395. PMC 8397691. PMID 34522154.
  9. 1 2 3 จารึกถ้ำเชตวัน [Tham Chetawan inscription] (in Thai). Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  10. 1 2 เส้นทางธุดงควัตร "ครูบาน้อย" เกจิดังเมืองน่าน [The thudong path of "Khruba Noi", a renowned monk of Nan]. Thai PBS (in Thai). 2 September 2023. Archived from the original on 2 March 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  11. ↑ พลังศรัทธา...ชาวน่านแห่รับ ครูบาน้อย หลังจำพรรษาในถ้ำมืด นานกว่า 3 ปี [Power of faith: Nan people flock to receive Khruba Noi after over three years in the dark cave]. Amarin TV (in Thai). 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 13 August 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026 – via Kapook.
  12. ↑ คนนาน้อยเดือด! ฮือไล่ นอภ.-ปลัด หลังบุกถ้ำเชตะวัน "ครูบาน้อย" ชี้เหยียบย่ำศรัทธา [Na Noi residents in uproar, driving out the district chief after the intrusion at "Khruba Noi's" Chetawan cave]. MGR Online (in Thai). 12 May 2015. Archived from the original on 13 August 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  13. ↑ ชาวน่านต้านค้นถ้ำเชตะวันรบกวนครูบาน้อย [Nan residents oppose a search of Chetawan Cave that would disturb Khruba Noi]. Post Today (in Thai). 12 May 2015. Archived from the original on 13 August 2026. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  14. ↑ ผอ.พศจ.น่าน และคณะ เข้ากราบนมัสการครูบาน้อย ญาณวิไชย หัวหน้าที่พักสงฆ์ถ้ำเชตวัน [The director of the Nan Provincial Office of Buddhism and staff pay respects to Khruba Noi Yanwichai, head of the Tham Chetawan monastic dwelling] (in Thai). Nan Provincial Office of Buddhism. 4 November 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  15. ↑ ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานวิสุงคามสีมา (งวดที่ ๒ ประจำปี ๒๕๖๗ จำนวน ๒๒๐ วัด) [Announcement of the Office of the Prime Minister: royal grant of visungkhamsima (2nd batch of 2024, 220 temples)] (PDF). Royal Gazette (in Thai). 142 (Special 163 Ngo). p. 3 and annexed list, entry 65. 10 April 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  16. ↑ ทะเบียนวัด: วัดถ้ำเชตวัน (รหัสวัด 66155040001) — วิสุงคามสีมา [Temple registry: Wat Tham Chetawan (temple code 66155040001) — visungkhamsima] (in Thai). National Office of Buddhism. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "TAT announces 25 finalist attractions in 'Unseen New Chapters' campaign". Tourism Authority of Thailand. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  18. ↑ 365 วัน มหัศจรรย์เมืองน่าเที่ยว: 5 สิ่งต้องห้ามพลาด น่าน [365 days of wonderful cities to visit: 5 must-not-miss things in Nan] (in Thai). Tourism Authority of Thailand. 9 June 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  19. ↑ Likhitrakarn, Natdanai; Srisonchai, Ruttapon; Golovatch, Sergei I. (2023). "An updated catalogue of the millipedes (Diplopoda) of Thailand". Tropical Natural History. 23 (Supplement 7): 51–92. doi:10.58837/tnh.23.7.258815.
  20. ↑ สิ้น 'ครูบาน้อย ญาณวิไชย' วัดถ้ำเชตวัน เมืองน่าน [Death of Khruba Noi Yanwichai of Wat Tham Chetawan, Nan]. Komchadluek (in Thai). 31 August 2023. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  21. ↑ เปิดรายละเอียดพินัยกรรม 'ครูบาน้อย ญาณวิไชย' สั่งเสียลูกศิษย์ก่อนละสังขาร [The details of Khruba Noi Yanwichai's testament, his last instructions to his disciples]. Thai Post (in Thai). 1 September 2023. Archived from the original on 20 April 2026. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
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