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Laos
Index
A number of princely fiefdoms based on wet rice
cultivation and
associated with the pottery and bronze culture of Ban
Chiang
developed in the middle Mekong Valley from the first
century A.D.
These fiefdoms exercised power over their neighbors, in
circumstances of generally sparse populations, through
expanding
and contracting spheres of influence best described by the
term
mandala (see Glossary).
Commerce, marriage
contracts, and
warfare served to expand a mandala.
Thus, a plurality of power centers occupied the middle
Mekong
Valley in early times. Sikhôttabong was a mandala
whose
capital was located on the left bank of the Mekong at the
mouth of
the Xé Bangfai and then moved westward as a result of the
expansion
of Champa, an Indianized state on the coast of Vietnam
founded in
192 A.D. Cham, descendants of Champa, were present at
Champasak
(Bassac) in the fifth century. The Mon kingdom of
Candapuri, the
earliest name of present-day Vientiane, (Viangchan) was
another
mandala. The social structure of Sikhôttabong and
Candapuri
appears to have been strongly hierarchical, with an
aristocracy, a
commoner class, and a slave class. The fact that some
kings came
from the commoner class appears to indicate the presence
of some
sort of consensus in effecting royal succession. At its
peak,
another important regional power, Funan, had its
mandala
incorporate parts of central Laos. The smaller but also
important
Mon kingdom of Dvaravati (through which
Theravada Buddhism--see Glossary--reached
Laos in the seventh and eighth
centuries) was
centered in the lower Menam Valley beginning in the fifth
century
(see Buddhism
, ch. 2).
In the seventh century, a northwesterly migration of
Thais from
their region of origin in northwestern Tonkin brought to
the Ta-li
region in what is present-day Yunnan, China, a successor
state to
the Ai Lao kingdom. This new kingdom, Nan-chao, expanded
its power
by controlling major trading routes, notably the southern
Silk
Road. Culturally, this polyethnic, hierarchical, and
militarized
state was to have a great influence on later societies in
Indochina, transmitting the Tantric Buddhism of Bengal to
Laos,
Thailand, and the Shan state, and possibly Cambodia, and
the
political ideology of the maharaja (protector of
Buddhism).
Nan-chao was organized administratively into ten
prefectures called
kien. This term seems to be the origin of
place-names
keng (for example, Kengtung), chiang (for
example,
Chiang Mai), and xiang (for example, Xiangkhoang).
Moreover,
the population and army of Nan-chao were organized in
units of 100,
1,000, and 10,000, a form later found in Indochina. Also,
the title
chao (prince), appears to have been of Nan-chao
origin.
Another branch of this same migration began at the
headwaters of
the Nam Ou and followed it downstream to Louangphrabang
and
continued on through Xaignabouri to Chiang Mai.
As a result of the expansion and contraction of
mandala,
places of importance were known by more than one name.
Muang Sua
was the name of Louangphrabang following its conquest in
698 A.D.
by a Thai prince, Khun Lo, who seized his opportunity when
Nan-chao
was engaged elsewhere. Khun Lo had been awarded the town
by his
father, Khun Borom, who is associated with the Lao legend
of the
creation of the world, which the Lao share with the Shan
and other
peoples of the region. Khun Lo established a dynasty whose
fifteen
rulers reigned over an independent Muang Sua for the
better part of
a century.
In the second half of the eighth century, Nan-chao
intervened
frequently in the affairs of the principalities of the
middle
Mekong Valley, resulting in the occupation of Muang Sua in
709.
Nan-chao princes or administrators replaced the
aristocracy of Thai
overlords. Dates of the occupation are not known, but it
probably
ended well before the northward expansion of the Khmer
Empire under
Indravarman I (r. 877-89) and extended as far as the
territories of
Sipsong Panna (see Glossary)
on the upper Mekong.
In the meantime, the Khmers founded an outpost at Xay
Fong near
Vientiane, and Champa expanded again in southern Laos,
maintaining
its presence on the banks of the Mekong until 1070.
Canthaphanit,
the local ruler of Xay Fong, moved north to Muang Sua and
was
accepted peacefully as ruler after the departure of the
Nan-chao
administrators. Canthaphanit and his son had long reigns,
during
which the town became known by the Thai name Xieng Dong
Xieng
Thong. The dynasty eventually became involved in the
squabbles of
a number of principalities. Khun Cuang, a warlike ruler
who may
have been a Kammu (alternate spellings include Khamu and
Khmu)
tribesman, extended his territory as a result of the
warring of
these principalities and probably ruled from 1128 to 1169.
Under
Khun Cuang, a single family ruled over a far-flung
territory and
reinstituted the Siamese administrative system of the
seventh
century. Muang Sua next became the Kingdom of Sri
Sattanak, a name
connected with the legend of the naga (mythical
snake or
water dragon) who was said to have dug the Mekong
riverbed. At this
time, Theravada Buddhism was subsumed by Mahayana
Buddhism.
Muang Sua experienced a brief period of Khmer
suzerainty under
Jayavarman VII from 1185 to 1191. By 1180 the Sipsong
Panna had
regained their independence from the Khmers, however, and
in 1238
an internal uprising in the Khmer outpost of Sukhodaya
expelled the
Khmer overlords.
Data as of July 1994
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