Phor Than Klai and the communities of Nakhon
Phor Than Klai Wajasit (พ่อท่านคล้าย วาจาสิทธิ์), known in Chinese as 婆譚凱 or 婆坦該, was revered in southern Thailand for words believed to come true. He spent much of his monastic life at Wat Suan Khan (วัดสวนขัน; also written 瓦算坎寺 in Chinese) in Nakhon Si Thammarat, and became closely involved in Wat That Noi. Local memories also recall him bringing together labour and donations for roads, bridges and education.
His lay name was Klai Sinin. His father was In; his mother's name appears as เนี้ยว or เหนี่ยว, and his elder sister was Pheng. He learned Thai and Khom writing from his father, arithmetic from Khru Kham, and southern shadow puppetry from Thong Sak. Accounts give both B.E. 2417 and 2419 as his birth year, with differing days and months; these remain unresolved alongside the reported age of ninety-six.
Pheng married Sai Phettharit (ซ้าย เพ็ชรฤทธิ์). The couple had no biological children and adopted Khrun (ครื้น). As a boy, Klai stayed with his brother-in-law in Khlong Thom, Krabi, helping clear farmland.
An injury to his left foot changed his daily life. Family recollections and local biographies describe a falling tree striking him during land clearance. He lost part of the foot and subsequently walked with a bamboo prosthesis. Accounts include treating the injury himself and using herbs; this episode should not be imitated as medical treatment.
His relative Ajahn Dam (อาจารย์ดำ ธาตุน้อย) recalled that he sent disciples to find bamboo with its stem pointing east, then fashioned his own everyday prosthesis from it.
Ordination and study
Two traditions describe his novice years: one places him at Wat Wang Muang under Thong Pathumasuwanno, while another records Wat Chandi under Phra Athikan Chan in B.E. 2438. Their sequence remains unclear. Accounts agree more closely on full ordination within the water boundary at Wat Wang Muang, commonly dated to B.E. 2439.
Family recollections describe his command of the Patimokkha, the monastic disciplinary text. A Chinese retelling says he memorised it in nine months to pass a test before ordination. The Thai accounts consulted also describe fluent recitation; the nine-month period and the arrangements for the test still await comparison with further records.
Phra Khru Krai of Wat Hat Sung served as preceptor, Sang of Wat Mai Riang as kammavaca teacher, and Thong of Wat Wang Muang as anusavana teacher. Lom Thirachoto administered the refuges and precepts before the ceremony. Klai received the monastic name Chandasuvanno, for which several Thai spellings are recorded.
His studies extended beyond protective objects and ritual knowledge. A local chronology places him with Phra Khru Ka Kaeo, or Si, at Wat Na Phra That for Pali in B.E. 2441; with Nu at Wat Sam Phan, Surat Thani, for meditation in 2443; back with Krai in 2445; and at Wat Makham Thao in Ranot, Songkhla, in 2447. The last temple should not be confused with Luang Pu Suk's Wat Pak Khlong Makham Thao in Chai Nat.
Carrying his wandering monk's umbrella, he sought meditation practice in forests, hills and caves while teaching along the way. His biography places these journeys as far south as the border and Malaysia, with a stay at Wat Phutthathiwat (วัดพุทธาธิวาส) in Betong, Yala.
The abbacy and the stupa
Biographies date the start of his abbacy at Wat Suan Khan to B.E. 2445 or 2448. A study published in B.E. 2566 reproduces an appointment document whose authors read the date as 10 June B.E. 2472. The relationship between his earlier temple responsibilities and formal appointment remains unclear; the different dates await clarification from original temple records.
Wat That Noi's development was connected with a local road. Biographies describe a road dividing Wat Chandi's grounds and villagers developing the other section around B.E. 2500. The later white stupa drew on the form of Nakhon's great relic stupa and became the resting place of Klai's body. Other construction at the temple was continued after his death.
A publication of the Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture, describes the Wat That Noi stupa as Phor Than Klai's final construction. That characterisation places the stupa within his building work only; it does not supply a full building sequence, participants, costs, or a completion date.
Accounts place the award of his ecclesiastical title, Phra Khru Phisit Atthakan, in B.E. 2492 and a further promotion in B.E. 2500. Other versions give different years, and some sequences are internally inconsistent. Precise dates still await confirmation in formal records.
Roads bridges and schools
His public works included the road from Chandi market to Wat Suan Khan and bridges over waterways including Khlong Chandi, the Tapi and Sela. These linked villages, temples and markets, easing everyday journeys. Recorded totals differ, with some project lists repeating names.
Education was another sustained concern. Academic interviews identify Wat Khuan, Wat Suan Khan and Wat Manao Wan schools, and Phisit Anuson secondary school, alongside support for monastic study and examinations. Their development was connected with his patronage; the respective school histories are still needed to clarify responsibility for founding, fundraising and administration.
Villagers recalled Wat Suan Khan’s almsgiving hall as a refuge during war and political unrest. During the rains retreat, some seventy to a hundred monks and novices reportedly stayed to study and practise alongside Klai.
Local accounts also associate him with temple repairs, Buddha images, stupas, wells and ponds. Wat Maprang Ngam and Wat Boranaram belong to this wider network beyond Suan Khan and That Noi. Villagers contributed labour and offerings to construction organised around their temples.
Students and memories of teaching
Among those who came to study was Phor Than Chuen Inthapanyo, later abbot of Wat Nai Prap in Kian Sa, Surat Thani, and called 龍婆川 in Chinese. His biography says his father brought him to Klai as a young man to learn divination, exorcism and rites against harmful magic.
Chuen's biography preserves a scene of transmission: while he washed the elder's robe, Klai caught water running down after bathing and gave it to him to drink, before beginning his instruction. This is a ritual recollection, not a practice to imitate; the subjects described do not establish that Chuen inherited every teaching his master possessed.
A family interview also recalls Luang Pu Moon of Wat Ban Chan coming to study. Another account, of travelling in the rain, identifies Roem, the abbot of Wat Tai, as a disciple. These recollections do not give detailed dates or subjects for either man’s studies.
Rain and birds in devotional memory
Three further stories concern his words coming true. A thief he advised to ask rather than steal reportedly became a lifelong beggar. When construction lacked sand, he said it would arrive; a storm brought supplies that night. Hill villagers digging where he indicated are likewise said to have found water.
One story follows Khru Chong and companions taking Klai to a kathina offering at Wat Maprang Ngam. Returning that afternoon, they carried him in a chair. As the sky darkened, they considered shelter, but he urged them onwards. Rain reportedly followed the party without reaching it until they entered Wat Tai’s kitchen, when it poured down around them.
Another construction story tells of ropes snapping as workers raised a large timber pillar. It crashed down without injuring anyone. Seeing Klai standing quietly nearby, the gathering believed they had received his protection.
Krachang Tharaphon (กระจ่าง ธราพร) recounted an encounter while sweeping the temple. Klai asked him to collect tamarind leaves, recited over them and scattered them. According to the story, the leaves became egrets and flew through the temple grounds.
A local man, Chak (จักร), retold the restoration story of Wat Boranaram. Klai dreamed that Phor Than Chao Fa asked him to repair an abandoned temple. Following the dream, he found two old stupas, commissioned an image of the earlier elder and began restoration. Its eventual completion, the story says, strengthened local belief in his effective words.
A separate tradition concerns bringing back the Phra Uchen image by boat. A candle stayed alight in heavy rain until Sarawat Sen lifted the image, when it went out. Rain did not reach the returning boat; villagers welcomed the image in procession and celebrated its arrival at Wat Suan Khan.
Sacred objects and temple support
In B.E. 2498, Wat Suan Khan issued a copper portrait medal to support a multipurpose hall. It became the familiar first issue, also known as the double-border type. Collector accounts distinguish cracked and uncracked states around the mole at the mouth, names used for the differing states of the die.
Devotees also treasured photographs, cloth talismans and remnants of chewed betel, while temples and disciples commissioned later objects for fundraising. Lifetime consecrations and posthumous commemorative issues have different organisers and production histories. An object bearing his portrait after his death is distinct from one he personally consecrated.
Final illness and later remembrance
During his final illness, Klai travelled to Bangkok for treatment and died at Phramongkutklao Hospital on 5 December B.E. 2513, at the recorded time of 23:05. The research identifies 22 November as his departure for treatment, while another version gives it as his death date. The customary age of ninety-six remains alongside differing birth years.
Devotees continued to visit his body in a glass coffin inside Wat That Noi's stupa. In B.E. 2563, Wat Suan Khan announced an amulet fundraising project for temple repairs, equipment for the hospital named after him, and scholarships at the temple school. This later project continued his tradition of community support. These were announced purposes rather than completed expenditure records; who founded the hospital remains to be established.