Maha Sarakham province

Maha Sarakham province, also called Maha Sarakham or Mahasarakham (มหาสารคาม,, , ) is one of the 76 provinces (changwat) of Thailand which lies in central northeastern Thailand, also called Isan. Its neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise): Kalasin, Roi Et, Surin, Buriram, and Khon Kaen.

The town of Maha Sarakham is the provincial capital. It is the home of Mahasarakham University, one of the largest universities in northeast Thailand with 41,000 students (2017), and Rajabhat Mahasarakham University.

Geography
The province is mostly a plain covered with rice fields. Only in the north and east are there small hills. The province is between 130 and 230 m above sea level. The main river is the Chi. The total forest area is 214 km² or 3.8 percent of provincial area.

History
From the 8th to 10th centuries, several Buddhist relics originated from the ancient town of Champasi which is now in Amphoe Na Dun. Such relics, such as the relic of The Buddha has led speculation of an kingdom being located in the province. During this time and after, the province continued as a Buddhist center in Isan.

Maha Sarakham was originally a satellite town of Roi Et, founded in 1865. The governor of Roi Et sent 9,000 people to populate the new town, and one of his cousins as its governor. In 1868 the central government in Bangkok declared Maha Sarakham a province of its own under the supervision of Bangkok. One of the reasons was that this step weakened the power of Roi Et.

On April 3, 2023, provincial police arrested a 38-year-old man who they seized 322,000 methamphetamine tablets from him. He had been selling these in Ubon Ratchathani province and several other nearby provinces.

Symbols
The provincial seal shows a tree in front of rice fields, symbolizing the richness of resources in the province.

The provincial flag shows the seal in the middle, in a brown horizontal strip. Above and below is a yellow strip. The brown color symbolizes the strength and the perseverance of the people in the province, who live in the rather dry climate; the yellow color symbolizes the robes of Buddhist monks as evidence of the faith of the people.

The provincial tree is the woman's tongue tree (Albizia lebbeck). The tree symbol was assigned to the province in 1994 by Queen Sirikit. The provincial flower is the West Indian jasmine (Ixora).

Provincial government
The province is divided into 13 districts (amphoes). The districts are further divided into 133 subdistricts (tambons) and 1,804 villages (mubans).

Local government
As of 26 November 2019 there are: one Maha Sarakham Provincial Administration Organisation (ongkan borihan suan changwat) and 19 municipal (thesaban) areas in the province. Maha Sarakham has town (thesaban mueang) status. Further 18 subdistrict municipalities (thesaban tambon). The non-municipal areas are administered by 123 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations - SAO (ongkan borihan suan tambon).

Human achievement index 2022
Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the Human achievement index (HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.