Agga Maha Pandita
noble Title
Aggamahāpaṇḍita (Burmese: အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ, pronounced [ʔɛʔɡa̰ məhà pàɰ̃dḭta̰]) is an honorific Burmese Buddhist title conferred by the Myanmar government to distinguished Theravada Buddhist monks.
Etymology
Aggamahāpandiṭa, meaning "foremost great and wise one," is derived from the following Pali terms:
Agga, from Aggasāvaka (အဂ္ဂသာဝက), which was conferred by the Buddha to his foremost disciples, Sariputta and Mahamoggallana.
Mahā, meaning "great."
Paṇḍita, meaning "wise or learned person," and denoting possession of wisdom and knowledge of Tipitaka.
Qualifications
The title is usually awarded to Buddhist monks who are highly proficient in teaching the Dhamma or those who are believed to be enlightened (arahants).
The title is awarded annually in January by the head of the Burmese government, following after rigorous and subtle examination of a monk's wisdom and achievement by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee.
Recipients must meet the following qualifications:
Possesses the Aggamahāganthavācakapaṇḍita title
Has at least 40 years (vassa) in the monkhood
Is an morally upright person (sīlavanta)
Has passed the Dhammācariya examination
Expert writer of Pali commentaries and Pali texts
Expert teacher of Pali commentaries and Pali texts
Serves as an abbot for a monastic college (ပရိယတ္တိစာသင်တိုက်)
Commands authority and influence among Sangha disciples
Free of accusations and disputes
History
Historically, the Buddha had disciples who held title of Aggasāvaka and Mahāsāvaka who were already enlightened Ariyas and regarded as leaders of the communities of monks known as the Sangha.
From 1915 to 1942, the British colonial government conferred the title Aggamahāpaṇḍita (အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ) to 98 monks. From 1951 through 1953, the Burmese government awarded the Aggamahāpaṇḍita title to 15 monks.
“Agga Maha Pandita” enters the record as noble Title. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Agga, Maha and Pandita can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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