Mahawithayahlai Maha Chulalongkon Ratcha Withayahlai (มหาวิทยาลัย มหาจุฬาลงกรณราชวิทยาลัย)

Thai. ‘Chulalongkorn the Great Royal Seminary University’. Name of a public Buddhist university in Thailand, founded in 1887 by King Rama V, and in English usually referred to as Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University. It began offering academic classes in 1889 in Bangkok, yet in the 2000, a new and larger main campus has been built in the tambon Lamsai (ลำไทร) of the amphur Wang Noi (วังน้อย) in Ayutthaya, while the university now also has several extension campuses nationwide, as well as preparatory schools for novices called Maha Chulalongkon Ratcha Withayahlai (fig.). The university houses a Faculty of Buddhist Studies, a Faculty of Education, a Faculty of Humanities, and a Faculty of Social Sciences (fig.). In the back of the main campus in Ayutthaya is Phra Ubosot Klahng Nahm (fig.), i.e. the ‘Assembly Hall in the Middle of the Water’ (fig.), a project of Luang Pho Panya Nanthaphikku (fig.), who was associated with the university. The university is colloquially referred to by its abbreviated name M. Ch. R. (มจร.). See MAP. 回