Lao history revisited: Paradoxes and problems in current research

South East Asia Research

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 387-401

  Lorrillard, Michel ^a  

^a École Française d'Extrême Orient EFEO   (Laos)

Author keywords

Archaeology; Epigraphy; Historiography; Laos

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; LITERATURE REVIEW; SOCIAL HISTORY;

ASIA; EURASIA; LAOS; SOUTHEAST ASIA;

EID: 33845653536     PISSN: 0967828X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5367/000000006778881582     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Auguste Pavie (1898), Mission Pavie, Indo-chine, 1879-1985 - études diverses II: recherches sur l'histoire du Cambodge, du Laos et du Siam, E. Leroux, Paris.
2. I am aware of the difficulties surrounding this term; see Grant Evans, ed (1999), 'Introduction: What is Lao culture and society?' Laos: Culture and Society, Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, pp 1-34. Due to the lack of truly satisfactory criteria, 'Lao' is used here to denote the speakers of a specific language (comprising various local dialects) which possesses certain traits differentiating it from other Tai languages.
3. Phongsavadan haeng Pathet Lao kheu Luang Phra Bang, Vieng Chan, Muang Phuan lae Champasak/Annales du Laos - Luang-Prabang, Vientiane, Tranninh et Bassac (1967), Ministry of Education, Vientiane (originally published by Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, Hanoi, 1927). This work is a compilation of fragments from chronicles that came from Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Xieng Khuang and Champassak. 'Prathet' and 'muang' can both be translated as 'country'; the first also carries the sense of 'state'.
4. See also Paul Le Boulanger (1931), Histoire du Laos français: essai d'une étude chronologique des principautés laotiennes, Plon, Paris. The title Phongsavadan Lao [Lao Annals] given to the first history written in Lao was perhaps wrongly translated in English as 'History of Laos';
5. cf Maha Sila Viravong (1957), Phongsavadan Lao, Ministry of Education, Vientiane,
6. and Maha Sila Viravong (1964), History of Laos, Paragon Book Reprint, New York.
7. See the articles by Martin Stuart-Fox and Bruce Lockhart in this issue.
8. Henri Parmentier (1954), L'art du Laos, École Française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris;
9. a revised edition has been published, edited by Madeleine Giteau: Parmentier (1988), L'art du Laos, École Française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris.
10. Michel Lorrillard (2003-4), 'Les inscriptions du That Luang de Vientiane: données nouvelles sur l'histoire d'un stupa lao', Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient [henceforth BEFEO], Vol 90-91, pp 289-348.
11. Michel Lorrillard, 'Quelques données relatives à l'historiographie lao', BEFEO, Vol 86, pp 219-232.
12. The royal chronicles of Vientiane, which are supposed to have been more detailed than those of Luang Prabang, have disappeared; they were most likely destroyed by the Siamese in 1828. A short text consisting of a kind of chronology - the Chotmaihet Nyo Viengchan - has survived, but it is probably only a very poor reflection of the historiographic tradition that developed in central Laos from the second half of the sixteenth century. This text is partially translated in Pavie, supra note 1, at pp 96-102.
13. A slightly different version transliterated into Thai is in the National Library of Thailand (1969), Prachum phongsawadan [Collected chronicles], Vol 43, Part 70, Kaona, Bangkok, pp 131-161. Some local chronicles were written later in southern Laos, notably the Champassak Chronicle, which dates from no earlier than the beginning of the eighteenth century;
14. see Charles Archaimbault (1961), 'L'histoire de Campasak', Journal Asiatique, Vol 249, pp 519-595. The chronicles of Xieng Khuang were inspired by the traditions of Luang Prabang;
15. Charles Archaimbault (1967), 'Les annales de l'ancien royaume de S'ieng Khwang', BEFEO, Vol 53, No 2, pp 557-673.
16. George Cœdès (1964), Les états hindouisés d'Indochine et d'Indonésie, E. de Boccard, Paris, pp 403-407;
17. and George Cœdès (1968), The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (ed, Walter F. Vella and trans, Susan Brown Cowing), University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, pp 223-226.
18. The inscription is found in George Cœdès (1924), Recueil des inscriptions du Siam, Vol I, Vajirayan Library, Bangkok (Sumanakutaparvata stele).
19. On probable Chinese references to Sam Sen Thai, see Tatsuo Hoshino (1986), Pour une histoire médievale du moyen Mekong, Duang Kamol, Bangkok, pp 180-182.
20. This inscription will be included in a forthcoming volume entitled Les inscriptions du royaume du Lan Xang.
21. e siècles)', PhD dissertation, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. However the richness of these sources had not been exploited until very recently.
22. The 1563 inscription is translated in Prasert na Nagara and Alexander B. Griswold (1979), 'An inscription of 1563 A.D. recording a treaty between Laos and Ayodhyâ in 1560', Journal of the Siam Society, Vol 67, No 2, pp 54-69;
23. reprinted in Prasert and Griswold (1992), Epigraphic and Historical Studies, The Historical Society, Bangkok, pp 788-803.
24. Lorrillard, supra note 6.
25. The Vat Ho Phra Keo stele is the most important, in terms of size and length, of all the Lao inscriptions found in Laos and north-east Thailand. It is connected to some important works conducted at the temple between 1811 and 1813, which clearly paved the way for those carried out several years later at Vat Sisaket. This discovery could lead to hypotheses about the degree of influence of Siamese architectural traditions on the construction of these two temples. The text is included in Thawat Punnothok (nd), Sila chareuk Isan [Inscriptions of North-East Thailand], Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, pp 381-392, but the link to the temple in Vientiane is not mentioned.
26. See the Prasert and Griswold volume, supra note 12.
27. John C. Eade (1995), The Calendrical Systems of Mainland South-East Asia, Brill, Leiden;
28. Eade (1996), The Thai Historical Record - A Computer Analysis, Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, Tokyo.
29. Le Boulanger, supra note 3;
30. Maha Sila Viravong, supra note 3;
31. Oukham Phomvongsa (1958), Khwampenma khong Lao leu lao leuang sat Lao [The origins of the Lao, or telling stories about the Lao nation], Yuvasamakhom haeng Pathet Lao, Vientiane.
32. For a critical discussion of the modern historiography of Laos, see Michel Lorrillard (1995), 'Les chroniques royales du Laos: essai d'une chronologie des règnes des souverains lao (1316-1887)', doctoral thesis, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris.
33. Phothisarat had married a Lanna princess, and Setthathirat - his son by this queen - held the throne of Lanna for several years before returning to Lan Xang. Old bronze Buddha images whose manufacture places them in the artistic traditions of Lanna have been found in several provinces of Laos; these will be examined in a future publication.
34. Madeleine Giteau, while cautious about the dating of the Vat Manorom Buddha (which she calls 'perhaps the oldest authentically Lao statue, although it has Thai art parent-age'), does not contest the existence of Lao statuary production in bronze from at least the middle of the fourteenth century. See Giteau (2001), Art et archéologie du Laos, Picard, Paris, p 147; this book is the best description of Lao art published so far.
35. Maha Kham Champakeomany (1974), Pavat phrathat chedi Vat Samkhan [History of the Stupa of Vat Samkhan], Ministry of Religion, Vientiane seems to have been the first to introduce the theory of the existence of this separate kingdom;
36. cited in Pierre-Marie Gagneux (1976), 'Tendances actuelles de la recherche historique en République Démocratique Populaire Lao', Asie du Sud-Est et Monde Insulindien [ASEMI], Vol 7, No 4, p 9. Certain Thai historians also mention the existence of this kingdom, based on the legendary Lao chronicle of the Urangkhathat; however, they tend to locate it on the right bank of the Mekong (now the Thai side) rather than on the left;
37. see, for example, Srisakra Vallibhotama (1990), Aeng arivatham Isan/A Northeastern Site of Civilization, Sinlapawatthanatham, Bangkok, pp 20-33.
38. One of the imaginative discussions of the Sikhottabong kingdom can be found in Souneth Phothisane and Nousai Phoummachan (2000), Pavatsat Lao (deukdamban - pachuban) [Lao History, (Ancient Times to the Present)], Ministry of Information and Culture, Vientiane, pp 51-54.
39. The inscription is translated in Louis Finot (1903), 'Notes d'épigraphie: L'inscription sanskrite de Say-Fong', BEFEO, Vol 3, No 1, pp 18-33.
40. See also Georges Maspéro (1903), 'Say-Fong: une ville morte' in the same volume, pp 1-17. Finot argued that 'if the stele was erected where it was discovered, this would mean that at the end of the twelfth century AD the entire Mekong valley, at least as far as Vientiane, was under the authority of the kings of Cambodia' (p 18).
41. Michel Lorrillard (2001), 'D' Angkor au Lan Xang: une révision des jugements', Aséanie, No 7, pp 19-33.
42. The paragraphs dedicated to Vat Phou in the recent work Pavatsat Lao (Souneth and Nousai, supra note 21 at pp 55-59) are extremely weak regarding the archaeological richness of the site and the surrounding region. The Lao literary traditions (in particular the legend of Khatthanam) are used to conceal the historic hiatus that exists for this region between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. As for Say Fong, the absence of remains leads Lao historians to remain extremely evasive on this 'civilization'; in Pavatsat Lao, the authors limit themselves to mentioning that this site was a centre of government as late as the twelfth century (pp 53-54), but it could well have been part of a vast space that extended south to Champassak, where the Khmer had played a role since at least the tenth century.
43. It was also during the eighteenth century that an ethnically Lao dynasty reigned in Champassak. It is entirely probable that the current 'ethnic Lao' of southern Laos are the result of a mingling with Austro-Asiatic-speaking populations, which was much more significant in scale than was the case in the northern region.
44. It is completely incorrect to consider the site of Souvanna Khom Kham, several kilometres upstream from the provincial capital of Bokeo, as an 'ancient Lao' city. This site is clearly linked to the town of Chiang Saen, which is situated almost directly opposite on the other side of the Mekong, and was thus subject to the political and cultural influence of Lanna;
45. Michel Lorrillard (2000), 'Souvanna Khom Kham on Chiang Saen rive gauche?' Aséanie, Vol 5, pp 57-68. In the sixteenth century, this influence extended to the region of Muang Sing (present-day Luang Nam Tha) before the the Tai Leu became politically dominant there.
46. See, for example, David K. Wyatt and Aroonrut Wichienkeeo (1995), The Chiang Mai Chronicle, Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, p 99.
47. Gagneux, supra note 12, at p 4.