What are those things in Thai monasteries called?

[tamdrin]

Hey guys,

Living in Thailand I often see laypeople offering water, in a ritualized way, to monks in the morning before the morning meal. My question is what are those devices they use to offer the water called? Would they be a type of urn?

Thanks!

[Dhammanando]

I've never seen laypeople offering water to monks "in a ritualized way". Are you referring to the ritualized pouring of water (i.e., for merit dedication) after they've presented their food to the monks? If so...

For the act of pouring water to dedicate merit Thais don't use the common verb "to pour water" (i.e., เทน้ำ / thei nam) but a special verb, กรวดน้ำ / kruat nam, that's only ever used in this context.

The water container is just called a ที่กรวดน้ำ / thii kruat nam ("thing that you use to kruat nam").

The little bowl that you pour the water into is called a ฐาน / thaan ("base").

The two items together are called a ชุดกรวดน้ำ / chut kruat nam ("a kruat nam set").

.

kruat nam.jpg (16.1 KiB) Viewed 1797 times

[tamdrin]

I've never seen laypeople offering water to monks "in a ritualized way". Are you referring to the ritualized pouring of water (i.e., for merit dedication) after they've presented their food to the monks? If so...

For the act of pouring water to dedicate merit Thais don't use the common verb "to pour water" (i.e., เทน้ำ / thei nam) but a special verb, กรวดน้ำ / kruat nam, that's only ever used in this context.

The water container is just called a ที่กรวดน้ำ / thii kruat nam ("thing that you use to kruat nam").

The little bowl that you pour the water into is called a ฐาน / thaan ("base").

The two items together are called a ชุดกรวดน้ำ / chut kruat nam ("a kruat nam set").

.
kruat nam.jpg

Yes, that's it Bhante! Thanks, do we have a word in English?

[Dhammanando]

Thanks, do we have a word in English?

I don't know of any standard way of referring to it in English. It's rather too small to be called a "jug", "pitcher", "ewer" or "amphora". "Carafe", "flagon" and "decanter" all have unwelcome associations with booze. A flask is usually of glass, not brass. So what does that leave us with? Just "vessel" and "container", afaik. Perhaps: "a pattidāna pouring vessel".

[chownah]

At funerals in my thai village when they pour the water they often use empty energy drink bottles like bottles of M-150 or Carabao Deng for the thii kruat nam (For westerners these are thai versions of Red Bull energy drink) and a drinking glass or cup for the thaan. Funerals are usually done at the deceased's home and when it is time for the merit to be dedicated they have many bottles already filled with water each sitting in a glass or cup ready for people to use at the appropriate time. In my village the energy drink bottles used are called "quat nam yat" which in english would be a "water bottle for pouring". When people go to the temple to do this ritual everyone brings their own bottle which can be a bottle of any type; even just a plain old ordinary store bought water bottle (often a very small one) will do or anything else..... and the thaan (the bowl which receives the water) is just anything that can hold the amount of water that is poured.

My question is that I have seen on television His Majesty the King with a bottle looking somewhat like a thii kruat nam but which has a valve and when the valve is turned it shoots out a strong but thin stream of water for quite some distance (3-4 meters or so I guess). He uses it to spray (bless?) buddha figures and associated paraphernalia....is this related to a thii kruat nam?.....there is no thaan used in conjunction this bottle's use.
chownah

[Dhammanando]

In my village the energy drink bottles used are called "quat nam yat" which in english would be a "water bottle for pouring".

Yes, in the north and northeast, for kruat nam they use the Lao word yaat nam / ຢາດນ້ຳ.

My question is that I have seen on television His Majesty the King with a bottle looking somewhat like a thii kruat nam but which has a valve and when the valve is turned it shoots out a strong but thin stream of water for quite some distance (3-4 meters or so I guess). He uses it to spray (bless?) buddha figures and associated paraphernalia....is this related to a thii kruat nam?

I don't think so. When Thai royalty do kruat nam they use the same utensils as anyone else. The only difference is that the act and the utensils get called by longer and fancier names. In Royal Court Thai kruat nam is song lang thaksinothok (ทรงหลั่งทักษิโณทก) and the thii kruat nam is a phra tao thaksinothok (พระเต้าทักษิโณทก).

The ceremony you describe sounds more like พิธีสรงน้ำพระ / phithee song nam phra — the Songkran ceremony of bathing Buddha statues and the stūpa-shaped brass reliquaries containing your deceased relatives' ashes.