Lan Xang (Lao: ລ້ານຊ້າງ, pronounced [lâːn sâːŋ]), also spelled Lan Sang, was a Lao kingdom that held the area of present-day Laos from 1353 to 1707. For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The kingdom is the basis for Laos's national historic and cultural identity.
The kingdom is conventionally dated from its foundation by Fa Ngum in 1353. Its capital was Luang Prabang until 1560 and Vientiane thereafter. Theravada Buddhism was the state religion, and the Phra Bang was adopted as the kingdom's palladium. The Mekong River carried the kingdom's trade and defined its political geography, and authority was exercised through mueang bound to the king rather than through a centrally administered territory. Lan Xang was invaded by Burma in the sixteenth century and partitioned in 1707 into the kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champasak.
Name
Lān Xāng Hôm Khāo is one romanization of the Lao name ລ້ານຊ້າງຮົ່ມຂາວ ([lâːn sâːŋ hōm kʰǎːw]), meaning 'the Million Elephants and the White Parasol'. The kingdom's name alludes to the power of the king, his ties to Laotian Buddhism, and his army's countless war elephants. Other romanizations include Lan Sang, Lane Sang, and Lane Xang. The name Láncāng is the pinyin romanization of the kingdom's Chinese name 瀾滄, still used for the upper stretches of the Mekong in Tibet and Yunnan.
Other names for the kingdom include the Chinese Nánzhǎng (南掌); the Sanskrit Srī Śatanāganayuta and the Pali Siri Satanāganahuta; the Thai Lan Chang (ล้านช้าง) and Lan Chang Rom Khao (ล้านช้างร่มขาว); the Lanna Lan Chang (ล้านจ๊าง) and Lan Chang Hom Khao (ล้านจ๊างฮ่มขาว); the present Vietnamese name Vương quốc Lan Xang and the historical names Ai Lao (哀牢), Vạn Tượng (萬象, 'Ten Thousand Elephants'), and Nam Chưởng (南掌); the Khmer Lean Cheang (លានជាង), Lean Damri (លានដំរី), or Srei Satneakonhot (ស្រីសតនាគនហុត); and the Burmese Linzin (လင်းဇင်း).
Historical overview
Origins
The geography Lan Xang would occupy had been originally settled by indigenous Austroasiatic-speaking tribes, such as Khmuic peoples and Vietic peoples which gave rise to the Bronze Age cultures in Ban Chiang (today part of Isan, Thailand) and the Đông Sơn culture as well as Iron Age peoples near Xiangkhoang Plateau on the Plain of Jars, Funan, and Chenla (near Vat Phou in Champasak Province).
The Han dynasty's chronicles of the southward expansion of the Han dynasty provide the first written accounts of Tai–Kadai speaking peoples or Ai Lao who inhabited the areas of modern Yunnan and Guangxi, China. The Tai peoples migrated south in a series of waves beginning in the 7th century and accelerated following the Mongol conquest of Yunnan (1253–1256) into the northern reaches of what would become the kingdom of Lan Xang.
The fertile northern Mekong valleys were occupied by the Dvaravati culture of the Mon people and subsequently by the Khmer, where the principal city-state in the north was known then as Muang Sua and alternately as Xieng Dong Xieng Thong "The City of Flame Trees beside the River Dong", (modern city of Luang Prabang).
With the rise of the Sukhothai Kingdom, the principal city-states of Muang Sua (Luang Prabang) and south to the twin cities of Vieng Chan Vieng Kham (Vientiane and Viengkham) came increasingly under Tai influence. Following the death of the Sukhothai king Ram Khamhaeng, and internal disputes within the kingdom of Lan Na, both Vieng Chan Vieng Kham and Muang Sua were independent Lao-Tai mandalas until the founding of Lan Xang in 1353.
The cultural memory of the early migrations and the mixing of Tai influence with the indigenous, Mon, and Khmer peoples were preserved in the origin myths and traditions of Lan Xang. The cultural, linguistic, and political roots which highlight the commonality of these early legends can help to understand Lan Xang and its relations with neighboring kingdoms. The Nithan Khun Borum "Story of Khun Borom" was central to these origin stories and formed the introduction to the Phongsavadan or court chronicles which were read aloud during auspicious occasions and festivals. Throughout the history of Lan Xang the legitimacy of the monarchy was tied to the single dynasty of Khun Lo, the legendary king of Muang Sua and son of Khun Borom.
The Conquests of King Fa Ngum
The traditional court histories of Lan Xang begin in the Year of the Nāga 1316 (the nāga a mythical serpent of the Mekong and a protector spirit of the kingdom) with the birth of Fa Ngum. Fa Ngum's Grandfather Souvanna Khampong was king of Muang Sua and his father Chao Fa Ngiao was the crown prince. As a youth Fa Ngum was sent into exile, to a place the Chronicles of Lan Xang name as Mueang Inthapat (เมืองอินทปัต) and modern accounts identify with the Khmer Empire, where he entered the service of a ruler the same chronicle calls Phraya Siri Chunthrarat and is elsewhere named Jayavarman IX, and where he was given princess Keo Kang Ya. In 1343 King Souvanna Khampong died, and a succession dispute for Muang Sua took place.
In 1349 Fa Ngum was granted an army known as the "Ten Thousand" to take the crown. At the time the Khmer Empire was in decline (possibly from an outbreak of the Black Death and the combined influx of Tai peoples), both Lanna and Sukhothai had been established in what had been Khmer territory, and the Siamese were growing in the area of the Chao Phraya River which would become the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit place Lan Xang among three loose confederations of towns that formed in the interior between the end of the 13th century and the middle of the 14th, beside Lan Na on the upper tributaries of the Chao Phraya and an unnamed group at the edge of the hills that Ayutthaya called the mueang nuea or Northern Cities. On their account a lingering warrior ethic and a landscape of river valleys divided by hill ridges kept such confederations loose and fractious, drawn together at intervals by a strong leader and soon after pulled apart by feuds. The opportunity for the Khmer was to create a friendly buffer state in an area they could no longer effectively control with only a moderately sized military force.
Fa Ngum's campaign started in southern Laos, taking the towns and cities in the region around Champasak and moving northward through Thakek and Kham Muang along the middle Mekong. From his position on the middle Mekong, Fa Ngum sought assistance and supply from Vientiane in attacking Muang Sua, which they refused. However, Prince Nyo of Muang Phuan (Muang Phoueune) offered assistance and vassalage to Fa Ngum for assistance in a succession dispute of his own and help in securing Muang Phuan from Đại Việt. Fa Ngum agreed and quickly moved his army to take Muang Phuan and then on to take Xam Neua and several smaller towns of Đại Việt.
The Vietnamese kingdom of Đại Việt, concerned with their rival Champa to the south sought a clearly defined border with the growing power of Fa Ngum. The result was to use the Annamite Range as both a cultural and territorial barrier between the two kingdoms. Continuing his conquests Fa Ngum turned toward the Sip Song Chau Tai along the Red and Black River valleys, which were heavily populated with Lao. Having secured a sizable force of Lao from each territory under his domain Fa Ngum moved down the Nam Ou to take Muang Sua. Despite three attacks the King of Muang Sua, who was Fa Ngum's uncle, was unable to deter the size of Fa Ngum's army and committed suicide rather than be taken alive.
In 1353 Fa Ngum was crowned, and named his Kingdom Lan Xang Hom Khao "The Land of a Million Elephants and the White Parasol", Fa Ngum continued his conquests to secure the areas around the Mekong by moving to take Sipsong Panna (modern Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture) and began moving south to the borders of Lanna along the Mekong. King Phayu of Lanna raised an army which Fa Ngum overwhelmed at Chiang Saen, forcing Lanna to cede some its territory and provide valuable gifts in exchange for mutual recognition. Having secured his immediate borders Fa Ngum returned to Muang Sua.
In 1351 Uthong, who was married to a daughter of the Khmer King Suphanburi, founded the city of Ayutthaya. However, the remains of the Khmer Empire were in direct conflict with the growing power of Ayutthaya and the two became rivals rather than allies. Throughout the 1350s Ayutthaya expanded over western Khmer territories and the Khorat Plateau. In 1352 Angkor was attacked by Ayutthaya in a failed attempt to take the capital.
Vientiane remained independent and powerful, and the growing power of Ayutthaya threatened regional stability. In 1356 Fa Ngum marched south to take Vientiane for failing to support his earlier advance on Muang Sua. In 1357 he took Vientiane and the surrounding plains, and marched south to assert Lao control over the areas seized by Ayutthaya. Fa Ngum moved across the Khorat Plateau taking the major cities along the Mun and Chi Rivers and moving as far south as Roi Et.
In Roi Et, Fa Ngum directly challenged Ayutthaya, which acknowledged Lan Xang's control over the Khorat Plateau. Uthong sent 100 elephants, gold, silver, over 1,000 pieces of ivory and betrothed his daughter Nang Keo Lot Fa to be a second wife to Fa Ngum. By 1357 Fa Ngum had established the mandala for the Kingdom of Lan Xang which extended from the borders of the Sipsong Panna with China south to Sambor below the Mekong rapids at Khong Island, and from the Vietnamese border along the Annamite Range to the western escarpment of the Khorat Plateau. It was thus one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia.
King Samsenthai and Queen Maha Devi
Fa Ngum again led Lan Xang to war in the 1360s against Sukhothai, in which Lan Xang was victorious in defense of their territory but gave the competing court factions and the war weary population a justification to depose Fa Ngum in favor of his son Oun Huean. Fa Ngum became an exile in Muang Nan, where he died between 1373 and 1390.
In 1371, Oun Huean was crowned as King Samsenthai (King of 300,000 Tai) a carefully chosen name for the Lao-Khmer prince, which showed preference for the Lao-Tai population he governed over the Khmer factions at court. Samenthai consolidated the gains of his father, and fought back Lanna in Chiang Saen during the 1390s. In 1402 he received formal recognition for Lan Xang from the Ming Empire in China.
In 1416, at the age of sixty, Samsenthai died and was succeeded by his son Lan Kham Daeng. The Viet Chronicles record that during the reign of Lan Kham Daeng in 1421 the Lam Sơn Uprising took place under Lê Lợi against the Ming, and sought Lan Xang's assistance. An army of 30,000 with 100 elephant cavalry was dispatched, but instead sided with the Chinese.
The death of Lan Kham Daeng ushered in a period of uncertainty and regicide. From 1428 to 1438 seven kings ruled Lan Xang; all were killed by assassination or intrigue guided by a Queen known only by her title as Maha Devi or as Nang Keo Phimpha "The Cruel". It is possible that in 1438 she ruled Lan Xang as the first and only female leader, before being drowned in the Mekong in 1438 as an offering to the naga.
In 1440 Vientiane revolted, but despite the years of instability the capital at Muang Sua was able to suppress the rebellion. An interregnum began in 1453 and ended in 1456 with the crowning of King Chakkaphat (1456–1479).
The White Elephant War with Đại Việt
In 1448 during the disorder of the Maha Devi, Muang Phuan and some areas along the Black River were annexed by the kingdom of Đại Việt and several skirmishes took place against Lanna along the Nan River. In 1471 Emperor Lê Thánh Tông of Đại Việt invaded and destroyed the kingdom of Champa. Also in 1471, Muang Phuan revolted and several Vietnamese were killed. By 1478 preparations were being made for a full-scale invasion of Lan Xang in retribution for the rebellion in Muang Phuan and, more importantly, for supporting the Ming Empire in 1421.
Around the same time, a white elephant had been captured and brought to King Chakkaphat. The elephant was recognized as a symbol of kingship throughout Southeast Asia and Lê Thánh Tông requested the animal's hair to be brought as a gift to the Vietnamese court. The request was seen as an affront, and according to legend, a box filled with dung was sent instead. The pretext having been set, a massive Viet force of 180,000 men marched in five columns to subdue Muang Phuan, and was met with a Lan Xang force of 200,000 infantry and 2,000 elephant cavalry in support which was led by the crown prince and three supporting generals.