Everything about Lan Xang totally explained
The
Lao kingdom of
Lan Xang or
Lan Ch'ang (
Pali: Sisattanakhanahut, lâansâang - "million" + "elephant",
Vietnamese: Vạn Tượng) was established in
1354 by Somdetch Brhat-Anya Fa Ladhuraniya Sri Sadhana Kanayudha Maharaja Brhat Rajadharana Sri Chudhana Negara (otherwise known as
Fa Ngum).
Exiled as an infant to
Cambodia, the Lao prince from
Xieng Dong Xieng Thong (called
Muang Sua when the Lao claimed it from the
Khmer Empire in 698) eventually married one of the Khmer king's daughters and in
1349 set out from
Angkor at the head of a 10,000-man army. Fa Ngum organized the conquered principalities into provinces (
muang), reclaimed Xieng Dong Xieng Thong from his father and elder brother and was crowned king of Lan Xang at
Vientiane, the site of one of his victories (Victory of
Phay Nam), in June
1354. The "million elephants" of the kingdom's name was an allusion to his formidable war machine. Lan Xang extended from the border of
China to Sambor below the
Mekong rapids at
Khong Island and from the Vietnamese border to the western escarpment of the
Khorat Plateau. It was one of the largest kingdoms in
Southeast Asia. Muang Sua was the first kingdom established by the
Tai in Khmer territory.
The first few years of Fa Ngum's rule from his capital Xieng Dong Xieng Thong were uneventful. The next six years (
1362-
68), however, were troubled by religious conflict between Fa Ngum's lamaistic Buddhism and the region's traditional
Theravada Buddhism. He severely repressed popular agitation that had anti-Mongol overtones and had many pagodas torn down. In 1368 Fa Ngum's Khmer wife died. He subsequently married the daughter of the king of
Ayutthaya, who seems to have had a pacifying influence. For example, she was instrumental in welcoming a religious and artistic mission that brought with it a statue of the
Buddha, the
Phra Bang, from which the capital city was renamed
Luang Prabang. It became the palladium of the kingdom. Popular resentment continued to build, however, and in 1373 Fa Ngum withdrew to
Muang Nan. His son,
Oun Heuan, who had been in exile in southern
Yunnan, returned to assume the regency of the empire his father had created. Oun Heuan ascended to the throne as King
Samsenethai (which means 300,000 Thai) in
1393 when his father died, ending
Mongol overlordship of the middle Mekong Valley. Thai history records Samsenthai and all following rulers of Lan Xang as vassals paying tribute to Ayutthaya.
The kingdom, made up of
Lao,
Thai, and various ethnic
hill tribes, lasted in its approximate borders for another 300 years and briefly reached an even greater extent in the northwest. Fa Ngum's descendants remained on the throne at Luang Prabang for almost 600 years after his death, maintaining the independence of Lan Xang to the end of the
17th century through a complex network of vassal relations with lesser princes. At the same time, these rulers fought off invasions from
Vietnam (
1478-
79),
Siam (
1536), and
Burma (
1571-
1621).
In
1694, however, Lan Xang fell prey to a series of rival pretenders to its throne, and, as a result of the ensuing struggles, split into three kingdoms in
1707:
Luang Prabang,
Vientiane, and
Champasak.
Muang Phuan enjoyed a semi-independent status as a result of having been annexed by a Vietnamese army in the
15th century, an action that set a precedent for a tributary relationship with the court of
Annam at
Hué.
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