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Selected biography 1
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/1 Somdetch Brhat-Anya Fa Ladhuraniya Sri Sadhana Kanayudha Maharaja Brhat Rajadharana Sri Chudhana Negara, better known as Fa Ngum (Laotian: ຝ້າງູ່ມ [fȁːŋum]; 1316 – 1393, born in Muang Sua, died in Nan), established the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang in 1354.
Fa Ngum conquered western Nghệ An as well as the valleys between Red River and Black River in Vietnam (Tonkin) and modern day Isan in Thailand. In 1352–1354, he conquered Muang Sing, Muang Houm, Chiang Hung, Pak Ou and Pak Beng. In 1353, he conquered Vietiane, Xiang Khoang and then Luang Phrabang. He fought the ultimate battle against his uncle near Xiang Dong Xiang Thong and won, becoming the undisputed master of the land, which he named Lan Xang and in keeping with his Khmer wife's wishes, made Theravada Buddhism the state religion.
Selected biography 2
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/2 Sisavang Phoulivong (or Sisavangvong, Lao: ພຣະບາທສົມເດັຈພຣະເຈົ້າມະຫາຊີວິຕສີສວ່າງວົງສ໌) (14 July 1885 – 29 October 1959) was king of the Kingdom of Luang Phrabang and later the Kingdom of Laos from 28 April 1904 until his death on 29 October 1959.
He was born at Luang Phrabang on 14 July 1885. His father was Zakarine, King of Luang Phrabang and his mother was Queen Thongsy. He was educated at Lycée Chasseloup-Laubat, Saigon and l'École Coloniale, Paris.
He succeeded his father as King of Luang Prabang after the death of his father, 25 March 1904. Luang Phrabang was then a French protectorate within French Indochina. He ascended the throne, at the Royal Palace, Luang Prabang, 15 April 1904, and was crowned there, 4 March 1905. He led the country into independence from French Indochina in 1953. In 1954 he celebrated his Golden Jubilee, becoming the longest-reigning king in Asia until King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who surpassed his reign in 2001.
After illness he passed away and was ceremoniously cremated and buried in That Luang in 1961. His funeral procession was transported by the royal funeral carriage, a 12-metre-high wooden hearse with a carved seven-headed serpent. Many representatives were at the state funeral including Prince Bhanubandhu Yugala, who represented Thailand.
Sisavangvong University was named in his honour and statues erected in his memory.
Selected biography 3
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/3 King Sourigna Vongsa (ສຸຣິຍະວົງສາທັມມິກຣາດ [suliɲa voŋsaː tʰammikraːt])[missing tone] was the ruler of Lan Xang. In 1637, Sourigna Vongsa ascended the throne after the nobles elected him over his two older brothers. King Suriya Vongsa reigned for 57 years which Laos experienced “The Golden Age” in terms of territory, prestige and power.
He assured stability by immediately banishing any possible rivals, sending one of his brothers to Vietnam and the other one into a solitary priesthood, and sending his cousins west, towards Siam. He was a strict and austere monarch, and ran the country according to firm laws. He was greatly respected as a ruler, and within five years of his ascension, his reputation reached the Dutch representatives of the Dutch East India Company who were in Phnom Penh.
The king claimed to recognize no other as his equal, though he concluded friendly treaties with neighboring countries. With King Narai of Ayutthaya, he built the Phra That Si Song Rak (Stupa of the Affectionate Two) at Dan Sai (now in Loei province of Thailand) to commemorate their friendship and set the boundary of their kingdoms.
Selected biography 4
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/4 King Photisarath (also spelled Phothisarath, Phothisarat, or Potisarat) (1501–1547) son of King Visoun of Lanxang, is considered to be the most devout of the Lao kings. He banned spirit worship and built temples upon the sites of spirit shrines. His elephant fell and crushed him while he sought to display his prowess to the diplomatic corps. His son Setthathirath returned from Chiang Mai to succeed him to the throne of Lan Xang.
Phothisarath was ruler (1520–47) of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang whose territorial expansion embroiled Laos in the warfare that swept mainland Southeast Asia in the latter half of the 16th century. King Chairachathirat of the Ayutthaya Kingdom invaded Vientiane with a large army in 1540, captured Muang Khouk and crossed the Mekong, but succumbed to a rout at the battle of Sala Kham, the remnants fleeing for their lives and leaving enormous casualties behind. Phothisarath himself allied himself with Burma, sent out 3 campaigns against the Ayutthaya Kingdom: the first to Phitsanulok in 1535, the second one to Vieng Prangarm in 1539, and third was sent in 1548 to Vieng Prab (now Sawangaburi) where he brought back 20,000 families to settle in the Lan Xang kingdom.
In 1548, following the ascension of King Maha Chakkraphat and queen Suriyothai to the Ayutthaya Kingdom throne, Burmese king Tabinshwehti planned an attack, starting the Burmese–Siamese War. Tabinshwehti asked Phothisarath to attack Ayutthaya from the North which eventually resulted in the famous death of Suriyothai in defense of her husband.
Selected biography 5
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/5 Chao Anouvong (Lao: ເຈົ້າອານຸວົງສ໌; Thai: เจ้าอนุวงศ์; RTGS: Chao Anuwong), or regnal name Xaiya Setthathirath V (Lao: ໄຊຍະເສດຖາທິຣາຊທີ່ຫ້າ; Thai: ไชยเชษฐาธิราชที่ห้า; RTGS: Chaiya Chetthathirat Thi Ha), (1767 – 1829), led the Lao rebellion (1826–28) as the last monarch of the Kingdom of Vientiane. Anouvong succeeded to the throne in 1805 upon the death his brother, Chao Inthavong (Lao: ເຈົ້າອິນທະວົງສ໌; เจ้าอินทวงศ์), Xaiya Setthathirath IV, who had succeeded their father, Phrachao Siribounyasan (Lao: ພຣະເຈົ້າສິຣິບຸນຍະສາຣ; พระเจ้าสิริบุญสาร) Xaiya Setthathirath III. Anou was known by his father's regal number until recently discovered records disclosed that his father and brother had the same regal name.
The most significant legacy of Anouvong's Lao Rebellion was the impact of the forced population transfers throughout the region. As a consequence of the warfare and population transfers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there are now over 19 million ethnic Lao living in the Isan region of Thailand, while less than 6 million live in the independent country of Laos.
Several accounts of the Siamese-Lao conflict have been written by historians and authorities, many in direct conflict with one another. In particular, the accounts of the Siamese heroines Thao Suranari (or “Lady Mo”) and Khunying Bunleu have been popularized and possibly exaggerated. During the 1930s, Field Marshall Phibun promoted Siamese legends as part of a political and military campaign to unify all of the Tai peoples.
Selected biography 6
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/6
King Setthathirath (Lao: ເສດຖາທິຣາດ; 1534–1571) or Xaysettha (Lao: ໄຊເສດຖາ; Thai: ไชยเชษฐาธิราช Chaiyachetthathirat) is considered one of the great leaders in Lao history. Throughout the 1560s until his death, he successfully defended his kingdom of Lan Xang against military campaigns of Burmese conqueror Bayinnaung, who had already subdued Xieng Mai (Chiang Mai) in 1558 and Ayutthaya in 1564. Setthathirath was a prolific builder and erected many Buddhist monuments including Wat Xieng Thong in Louang Phrabang and the That Luang in Viangchan.
Setthathirath also known as Chaiyachettha or Chaiyaset or Jayajestha, Son of the King Photisarath of Lan Xang, he was crowned King of Lanna after the death of his grandfather, Ketklao the previous King of Lanna, who died without a male heir to the throne and gave his daughter Princess Yotkhamtip in marriage to his father King Photisarath of Lan Xang.
After the death of King Photisararath, the nobles of Lan Xang were divided, a group supported Prince Tha Heua, another group of nobles led by Phya Vieng, Saen Marong and Kwan Darmpa supported Prince Lanchang who was born from an Ayutthayan princess. Prince Tha Heua and Prince Lanchang began to split the Kingdom up between them, when Prince Settathathirath was still in Chiang Mai. Hearing of the news of his half brothers, King Settathathirath quickly returned to Lan Xang leaving the affairs of Chiang Mai under Queen Chiraprapha's leadership, taking with him the Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha), the Saekkam and the Sihing buddha images.
In 1572, a conspiracy between Lord Phya Nakhon and the former abbot of Wat Maximavat, who held personal grudges against Setthathirath, led to the king's murder in the southern frontier of the country. He was 38 years of age.
Selected biography 7
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/7 Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa (Somdej Chao Maha Oupahat Pethsarath Ratanavongsa lit: His Highness (the) Vice-King Phetsarath Ratanavongsa) (Lao: ເພັຊຣາຊ; 19 January 1890 – 14 October 1959) was the 1st Prime Minister of Laos from 8 April to 20 October 1945, and was the first and last vice-king of the Kingdom of Laos.
He was born on 19 January 1890 in Luang Prabang, the second son of Oupahat Bounkhong and his second wife, Princess Thongsy. As the country's last oupahat, he became a leading figure of modern Laos. He established the system of ranks and titles of the civil service, promotion and pension plans, and created a Lao consultative assembly, reorganized the king's Advisory Council. Phetsarath reorganized the administrative system of the Buddhist clergy, and established a system of schools for educating monks in Pali. He created the Institute of Law and Administration to train entry level officers (Samien) who would then move up the ladder as Phouxouei, Chao Meuang, and Chao Khoueng successively. He set up rules to reward, reassign, and promote deserving civil servants, and created the judicial system, including civil and penal codes.
In part because of his popularity and in part because of his perceived saksit power, many Lao people hang his picture in their homes.
Selected biography 8
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/8 Prince Souvanna Phouma (7 October 1901 – 10 January 1984) was the leader of the neutralist faction and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos several times from 1951–1954, 1956–1958, 1960 and 1962–1975.
He was the son of Bounkhong, the last vice-king of Luang Prabang and a nephew of King Sisavang Vong of Laos, given a French education in Hanoi, Paris and Grenoble, where he obtained his degree in architecture and engineering.
In 1951, Souvanna became Prime Minister of Laos under the National Progressive Party banner with a landslide victory, winning 15 of the 39 seats in the National Assembly. He was prime minister until 1954. After elections in December 1955, Souvanna Phouma returned to the prime ministership on a platform of national reconciliation. In June 1958 Souvanna was again forced to resign by the rightists. The king accepted the vote as legal the next day when he signed Royal Ordinance No. 282, dismissing Souvanna Phouma's government and giving powers provisionally to the Revolutionary Committee. Royal Ordinance No. 283, approved a provisional government formed by Prince Boun Oum, who acted as front man for Phoui Sananikone. He was one of the Three Princes, whom Sisavang Vatthana appointed to form a coalition government between the rightists and Pathet Lao but it collapsed, and the Laotian Civil War began.
Selected biography 9
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/9
Sombath Somphone (Lao: ສົມບັດ ສົມພອນ, born 17 February 1952 in Khammouane Province, Laos) is an internationally acclaimed community development worker and prominent member of Lao civil society.
His earliest work was to demonstrate methods of sustainable farming that contribute to food security. He also pioneered the use of participatory rural appraisal techniques in Laos. In 1996 he was given permission by the Ministry of Education to establish the Participatory Development Training Center, PADETC, to provide training for young people and local government officials in community-based development. For some years, this was the only civil society organisation of this kind in Laos.
In later years, he played an important role in introducing the concept of Gross National Happiness into Laos. In 2007, he was one of the organisers of the 3rd International Conference on Gross National Happiness, while in 2012 he was the senior adviser for a film called "Happy Laos", shown at the closing of the 9th Asia-Europe People's Forum. This work was closely related to his involvement in the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, led by his friend Sulak Sivaraksa.
In 2005, he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. The citation for his award "recognizes his hopeful efforts to promote sustainable development in Laos by training and motivating its young people to become a generation of leaders".
Selected biography 10
Portal:Laos/Selected biography/10 Nang Keo Phimpha (1343–1438), an epithet meaning literally "The Cruel", was Queen of Lan Xang in 1438, taking the regnal name Samdach Brhat-Anya Sadu Chao Nying Kaeva Bhima Fa Mahadevi. She is also known by her title Maha Devi, and may have been the only reigning female sovereign of the kingdom of Lan Xang. According to some chronicles, she briefly occupied the throne for a few months, before she was deposed and killed at ninety-five years old. Her brief reign was the culmination of a ten-year period of regicide, which she orchestrated through a series of puppet kings.
The true identity of the Maha Devi is a matter of dispute both in the chronicles of later periods, and among current scholars. She has variously been described as the eldest daughter, younger sister, principal wife, or step-mother of Samsenthai. Of the few solid clues to her identity, her title as Maha Devi or "Great Goddess," was reserved for only the senior queen of a ruling monarch. Scholars including Martin Stuart-Fox and Amphay Dore, point out that both her age at the time of execution and title as Maha Devi indicate her true identity to be Keo Lot Fa the Queen Consort of Fa Ngum from Ayutthaya who would have assumed the title of Maha Devi after the death of Queen Keo Kang Nya in 1368, shortly before Fa Ngum was deposed in 1371. Although her identity remains a mystery, the consensus among the royal chronicles remains that she was the de facto ruler during a brutal succession dispute between court factions from the death of Lan Kham Deng to the accession of Chakkaphat Phaen Phaeo.