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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Recent historical research has shown that the Mongols,
who
destroyed Nan-chao in 1253 and made the area a province of
their
empire--naming it Yunnan--exercised a decisive political
influence
in the middle Mekong Valley for the better part of a
century. In
1271 Panya Lang, founder of a new dynasty headed by rulers
bearing
the title panya, began his rule over a fully
sovereign Muang
Sua. In 1286 Panya Lang's son, Panya Khamphong, was
involved in a
coup d'état that was probably instigated by the Mongols
and that
exiled his father. Upon his father's death in 1316, Panya
Khamphong
assumed his throne.
Ramkhamhaeng, an early ruler of the new Thai dynasty in
Sukhothai, made himself the agent of Mongol interests, and
in 1282-
84 eliminated the vestiges of Khmer and Cham power in
central Laos.
Ramkhamhaeng obtained the allegiance of Muang Sua and the
mountainous country to the northeast. Between 1286 and
1297, Panya
Khamphong's lieutenants, acting for Ramkhamhaeng and the
Mongols,
pacified vast territories. From 1297 to 1301, Lao troops
under
Mongol command invaded Dai Viet but were repulsed by the
Vietnamese. Troops from Muang Sua conquered Muang Phuan in
1292-97.
In 1308 Panya Khamphong seized the ruler of Muang Phuan,
and by
1312 this principality was a vassal state of Muang Sua.
Mongol overlordship was unpopular in Muang Sua.
Internal
conflicts among members of the new dynasty over Mongol
intervention
in their affairs resulted in continuing family upheavals.
Panya
Khamphong exiled his son Fa Phi Fa and most likely
intended to
leave the throne to his younger grandson, Fa Ngieo. Fa
Ngieo,
involved in various coups and coup attempts, in 1330 sent
his two
sons to a Buddhist monastery outside the Mongol realm for
safety.
The brothers were kidnapped in 1335 and taken to Angkor,
where they
were entrusted to King Jayavarman Paramesvara, whose
kingdom had
acknowledged Mongol suzerainty since 1285.
Data as of July 1994
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