Fa Ngum

Who is Fa Ngum?

Fa Ngum was a Lao prince who founded the kingdom of Lan Xang ("Land of a Million Elephants"), the first unified Lao state, in 1353. Exiled from the Lao muang of Muang Sua (later Luang Prabang) as a child after his father was banished for misconduct, he was raised at the Khmer royal court of Angkor, where he was educated in Khmer court customs and Theravada Buddhism and later married the Khmer princess Keo Kengkanya. With Khmer military backing, he returned north, subdued and unified the scattered Lao and Tai principalities along the middle Mekong, and proclaimed Lan Xang with Muang Sua as his capital. He established Theravada Buddhism as the kingdom's religion and, according to tradition, brought the sacred Phra Bang Buddha image that later gave Luang Prabang its name. His later reign grew harsh, and Lao nobles deposed and exiled him around 1373 in favor of his son Samsenthai. Despite his fall, Fa Ngum is remembered as the founding figure of Lao statehood.

Sources: Martin Stuart-Fox, A History of Laos (Cambridge University Press, 1997) · Maha Sila Viravong, History of Laos (Phongsavadan Lao), English translation 1964/1996 · Souneth Phothisane, The Nidan Khun Borom: Annotated Translation and Analysis (PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 1996)