The present King, whom we may call for short King Mahamongkut (he has
more names than the Hohenzollerns), is a graduate of Oxford, a man of
the world, and a great patron of Buddhist scholarship. This has been a
tradition of his house for centuries and in no small degree the
present interest in Pāli learning in Western countries is due to the
enthusiasm of the ruling house of Siam, which has presented splendid
libraries of the sacred books to many universities and temples. The
King summons the monkish candidates for degrees in Pāli learning to
undergo examinations every three years; and for nine days in the
comparatively cool weather of the early part of the year makes a royal
festival in their honour, during which they are undergoing an
examination which increases every day in stiffness. Those who survive
to the end are given the degree _Pareean ek_, or "first-class
honours," and with it goes a small pension; those who drop out before
the end are given second-, third-, or fourth-class degrees. So the
knowledge of the sacred books is kept alive and some of these Siamese
scholars reach a remarkable degree of proficiency. Their influence has
been potent in a renaissance of Pāli learning in Burma and Ceylon.