The Spread of Buddhism in Southeast Asia : Insights from Lao Archaeology

In a previous conference, held in Bangkok last December, I have already shown that philological analysis today allows us to refute the credibility of this tradition. Today I would like to demonstrate that it also possible, through recent archaeological discoveries, to begin to piece together some alternative theories on the spread of Buddhism in the central Mekong valley. The new data first brings to light evidence of a great diversity of religious practices in former times. It then reveals distinct geographical and chronological frames, the precise delimitation of which must be the historian’s first task.

My paper will deal more particularly with the material indicators linked to the diffusion of Buddhism in the Lao lands. We know that the phenomenon is closely tied to the emergence and rise of Lan Xang on a regional scale, that it was one of the essential motors of the economic development of this kingdom, and we will also see that it provides reliable evidence for the true extent of its political influence. First of all however, it seems to me necessary, given the extreme rarity of information available on the question, to begin with a short introduction to the current state of our knowledge on the Buddhism that existed in Laos before its adoption by the Lao people. I will limit myself here to presenting certain pieces of evidence without analysing them too deeply (for that is the work of other specialists), in the hope that this data will inspire you – and why not ? – that it might help spark new studies in Laos. It should be said that this country, whose borders were fixed in an arbitrary way at the end of the nineteenth century, has until now held little importance in historical research on Southeast Asia, probably due to its very continentale position and thus its isolation from the region’s great centres of civilisation. However, in Laos there are a number of remains which firstly attest to the existence of large and highly organised prehistoric cultures, and that secondly prove the establishment of very old populations (from the first millennium), whose culture was marked to varying degrees by Indian influences. As the main theme of this conference is Buddhism, I will here speak only of the latter. It may be said in passing however, that the relationship between these different types of remains is perhaps much more significant than one might think. It may be in fact that the only difference between the ‘megalithic civilisation’ and the ‘stele culture’ (as it has been termed), is the adoption of the Buddhist religion – with its imagery, its rituals and eventually its texts. We will come back to this issue shortly.

Môn Buddhism in Laos

While a picture of the Môn culture has emerged and been studied in Thailand since the beginning of the twentieth century, it formerly seemed that there was no such evidence in Laos. That perception began to change at the end of the nineteen-sixties, with the discovery at Ban Thalat, about 60 km north of Vientiane, of a large stone Buddha image together with a stele written in the characters and language of the Môn. The find is dated to around the eighth century, and is stylistically linked to remains of the civilisation known as ‘Dvaravati’, which was centred during the first millennium in the Mae Nam Chao Phaya basin in Thailand. In the middle of the nineteen-seventies, the Lao Department of Historic Monuments, working with P. M. Gagneux, conducted various surveys on the Vientiane Plain and identified ancient sites all showing characteristics of the same culture, a Buddhist culture. The artefacts surviving at these sites were very similar to those already kept in the museum storerooms of Vientiane, which had never previously been studied. During a brief mission in 1975, the art historian Madeleine Giteau recognised the relationship between these remains and the Môn relics discovered in Thailand, both in the area associated with the Dvaravati civilisation, and in the northeast of the country. It was not until quite recently, during exploratory missions conducted by the EFEO centre of Vientiane throughout Laos, that a strong interest in this type of remains re-emerged, and moreover, that new evidence was discovered.

The Môn remains found in Laos are all concentrated on the Plain of Vientiane, especially to its north, close to the Nam Ngum and Nam Lik rivers, where there is a sandstone outcrop. A number of cave sites have also been identified.

The remains essentially comprise of four types :
 Buddha images, in ronde-bosse (almost always broken into fragments), carved on steles, or in bas-relief on rock walls.
 Historiated (or decorated) steles other than those featuring the Buddha. These are common and depict a stylised image of a stûpa.
 Linga, elements a priori strange in a Buddhist context, and which must therefore deserve some reflection.
 Finally, inscribed steles : at the moment only two of these have been discovered, as I shall soon discuss.

These kinds of remains, as some of you will be aware, have also been found in northeast Thailand, sometimes in much more elaborate form. This is particularly the case in the Muang Fa Daet region, where traces of large settlements have been located. The Vientiane Plain would thus constitute the northern point of this wide regional Môn culture, which in the west seems to have stopped at the current Thai province of Loei (which is never mentioned in any of the studies devoted to the Môn) – and which in the east reached as far as Phnom Kulen, a territory occupied very early on by the Khmers.

The link that exists between this culture of the northeast and the Dvaravati culture has not yet been clarified. The latter, which has left very elaborate remains, developed in a coastal region and was surely much closer to Indian sources. It could be, however, that the centre of the Môn culture of the northeast (Muang Fa Daet) was in fact a remote outpost of the Dvaravati culture. While spreading out further towards the north, Buddhism may then have lost some of its vigour, particularly in its artistic manifestations, as its iconography, apart from in a few rare examples, no longer retained much more than the image of the Buddha and of the stûpa. As we will see from looking at Khmer remains, it is also possible that an influence came from the east.

It may moreover be asked if there is not a link between the form of Buddhism that was practised in this region and the megalithic culture. To display adherence to the new religion, it sufficed in effect to mark existing large blocks of stone with its most obvious emblems. These might then have replaced the symbols of the old beliefs. On this theme I will digress a little : the megalithic civilisation seems linked in Laos to that of the bronze drums. In the Luang Nam Tha region, in effect, the same decorative or symbolic motifs have been applied on two media, lithic and metallic. The production of bronze drums continued up until recently : it was the tradition of Austroasiatic groups in both the north and the south of Laos. The Môn and the Khmers are Austroasiatic peoples who have been reached by influences from India. It might also be supposed that the Môn who lived further inland were only influenced in a very slight manner by the elaborate techniques and models that came from the sea and so artistically represented their faith in the Buddhist religion by sculpting and engraving megaliths, which thus became steles.

As I mentioned earlier, two inscribed steles have been discovered. The first, found at Ban Thalat, was the object of a 1974 study. Its text, written in Môn script and language, is relatively short and refers to donations to a temple. Some palaeographic and linguistic indicators suggest that it could date from the first half of the eighth century. The second stele was recovered in recent years at a site, Dan Sung, that had been well known to historians since the beginning of the twentieth century. The items found at this site are without doubt associated with an important Buddhist cave sanctuary. Unfortunately it is too early to judge the significance of the inscription’s text, for it is still to be translated.

It appears however that while the script is Môn, the language on the other hand, is Sanskrit, as clearly suggested by the versified composition of the text. This fact is especially interesting for it provides a new example of the ceremonial use by the northeastern Môn of Sanskrit in a Buddhist context. The iconography seems moreover to show that it was a form of northern Indian Buddhism which was practised in this region. For instance, this scene portrays a monk carrying the famous khakkharaka, a staff described precisely in the Vinaya of the Mûlasârvâstivâdin and which Theravâda texts ignore.

The Môn seem to have suddenly vanished from northeast Thailand at some point around the tenth century. Their disappearance corresponds with the rise of the Khmer on a regional scale. It can be asked whether the former were not all simply pushed westwards by the latter, as moreover, during the same era, they began to leave evidence of their settlements in Burma.

When the Lao began to settle in the Mekong valley, it is very unlikely that they met Môn-speakers, and if they did, no evidence survives of these meetings. It is true however that the Lao from the Vientiane Plain were once conscious of the existence of a previous Buddhist culture. In fact they settled on the very sites that the Môn had occupied before them (particularly at Vientiane and at Vieng Kham), where they discovered some relics, and in certain cases, reused them. For example, this Môn stele from the first millennium displays the image of a stupa, added to in 1569 by the engraving of a Lao text. Khmer Buddhism in Laos

In contrast to the Môn, the Khmers have left no evidence in central Laos to suggest that they were ever established there. The current belief that Say Fong could have been a Khmer city is one of the major examples of the myths that obscure research into the history of Laos. The few Khmer or Khmer-style artefacts that have been found in Vientiane and Luang Prabang are probably merely a part of the various objects that were drawn to these capital cities over the centuries. The northern limit of the expansion of Khmer architectural techniques is fixed in Laos at Heuan Hin – a site in Savannakhet which to the present day remains largely unknown – and in the Isan region at the province of Sakhon Nakhon. It is interesting to note that the northernmost Khmer monuments – at Ban Phan Na, at the junction of Sakhon Nakhon and Udon Thani provinces – were constructed right beside an older Môn Buddhist site. This group of Khmer monuments forms, in fact, one of the sanctuaries associated with the famous hospitals of Jayavarman the Seventh, who, as we know, was a follower of Mahâyâna Buddhism.

Apart from Heuan Hin, all the other Khmer temples in Laos are concentrated in the province of Champassak. Recent archaeological research has indicated the importance that the Vat Phou complex might have held in ancient times. The pre-Angkorian city has yielded a number of Buddhist remains – notably the ruins of two stûpa – which might lead historians to ask themselves if cultural links may have existed between what is now southern Laos and the Muang Fa Daet region. The question of links between the Buddhism of the Môn and of the Khmers of the first millennium has already been raised following the discovery at Phnom Kulen of bai sema adorned with the famous image of the stûpa.

Lao Buddhism

When speaking of Lao Buddhism, we pass into a completely different era and another history. After an absence lasting several centuries – for there is a total hiatus in the archaeological record – the religion was once again practised in the central Mekong Valley, though in a form that was manifestly different from that which existed during the first millennium. The origin of this new wave of Buddhism can be found in Lan Na, a kingdom which reached its cultural and political apogee in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The Buddhism that emanated from there was the result of the fusion of a number of influences. On a basic level, it seems rooted in the Môn traditions, which survived in Thailand for longer in the north than anywhere else. It appears also as the northern Thai version of Buddhism practised at Sukhothai, which was itself a synthesis of various streams (Khmer, Môn, Burmese, Sinhalese). It benefitted, in addition, from a great number of influences from Burma, perhaps via the religious culture of the Shan or other Thai groups. Finally, as at Sukhothai and at Pagan, it is intimately linked with a strong royal power controlling vast domains, and devoting the majority of its resources to its development (the creation of new temples, various offerings, the granting of privilege).

The spread of Lan Na Buddhism in the Lao lands can be recognised through different indicators. Firstly however, we should define what is actually meant by the notion of ‘the Lao lands’. Between the fourteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the area that might be considered ‘Lao’ was undoubtedly different from what is today Laos. The chronicles of Lan Xang do not clearly state what its borders were, other than to take the line of the Mekong as a reference. It seems then that the habitat of the Lao has for a long period been confined to the banks of this river and its main tributaries – and one should always put into proportion the idea of a ‘greater’ Lan Xang, and the extent of territorial control exercised by its kings.

The Lao domain can really be said to have been situated in the Mekong Valley between Pha Dai / Pak Tha upstream and the Khone falls downstream. The political and economic power was essentially concentrated in three places : Luang Prabang to the north, Vientiane in the midlands, and Lakhon (the current Thakkek area) in the south.

The greater part of what is now northwest Laos, making up the western two-thirds of Bokeo province and the whole of Luang Nam Tha province only came under Lao control at the end of the nineteenth century, the era of colonial border drawing. This whole region actually came under first the culture of Lan Na and then those of Thai groups heavily influenced by Burmese civilisation – the Lu, Khun and Thai Neua. Northwestern Laos has never really figured in Southeast Asian historical research. Recent surveys have however revealed the importance of various sites, which should now be studied using the combined resources of archaeology, history of art, philology and epigraphy. I would like in particular to mention the site of Souvanna Khom Kham, which is located practically opposite the ancient city of Chiang Saen, and also the Muang Sing area, home of the ancient realm of Chiang Khaeng. The number and the quality of the monuments alone found at Souvanna Khom Kham proves the historic interest of the site. Here we can see various types of stûpa, most of them in line with a vihân. Initial observations show a connection between these monuments and those situated on the other side of the Mekong, notably at Chiang Saen and Chiang Mai. Unfortunately, due to the state of the ruins in the Muang Sing area, it has not been possible to date them with any precision. Here we must look to philological resources, i.e. the Chronical of Chiang Khaeng, and also data from history of art and epigraphy. All these point us back to the final period of the Golden Age of Lan Na, the sixteenth century. The most obvious evidence we have is a fragment from a small stele found at That Chom Sing. Dating from 1567, it provides a very pure example of the fak kham script of Lan Na. Also providing a link with this kingdom are some archaeological remains and various Buddha images, all close to northern Thai models. It is interesting to point out here the very sharp contrast between these remains and the much later evidence for the Buddhism practised by the Lu of Muang Sing, when they resettled this region at the end of the nineteenth century. The scripts used on inscriptions are not the same, and neither is the written construction ; the materials and the artistic techniques have changed and are somewhat poorer – the religion has lost some of its vigour and splendour. It seems that between the two periods there must have been a real gap. The history of the spread of Buddhism in northwestern Laos is thus marked by a significant rupture, linked to very clear variations in both political and economic fields. The contrast appears even more strongly in the western part of Sayaboury province, which at one time formed the border west of the Mekong between the kingdoms of Lan Na and Lan Xang. In this area, what is truly striking is the hiatus between remains dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century and evidence that was not left before the nineteenth century.

The Lao chronicles were written relatively late, and it is difficult to grant much credibility to the information they contain on the first period of Lan Xang history. Careful analysis of their content reveals many contradictions, anachronisms, and frequent recourse to myths and literary traditions. It is however highly probable that the list of kings of Luang Prabang has been faithfully recorded at least since the time of Fa Ngum, a leader whose historicity has been proven (he reigned in the middle of the fourteenth century) even if his deeds have been somewhat distorted by legend.

In contrast to at Sukhothai and Lan Na, where religious remains abound from the fourteenth century, there is nothing that proves Buddhism was practised in Lan Xang before the middle of the fifteenth century. The name of Chakkaphat Phaen Phaeo – an exact contemporary of the great king Tilokarat of Lan Na – shows in any case that the ideology carried by Buddhism left its mark on the fiefdom of Luang Prabang not later than 1480. It is moreover from this period that the annals of Lan Na begin to mention the Lao.

The first archaeological evidence proving the practise of Buddhism in the Lao lands is a very beautiful foundation stele dating from 1494. It was found at the ancient site of Lakhon (a few kilometres downstream from Thakhaek), which as we know was one of the three main centres of political and economic power in the Lao lands. While this stele is located far to the south, it nonetheless bears the mark of Lan Na, in particular through the use of a horoscope disc, an element imported from Burma and which spread through the northern Thai regions from the middle of the fifteenth century.

The Thakhaek stele remains however an isolated artefact, both in time and in space. Other epigraphic evidence does not date from before 1530 and has all been found very close to Luang Prabang and Vientiane. The reigns of Phothisarat, between 1520 and 1548 and then that of his son Setthathirat, between 1548 and 1572, provide evidence for being the most prolific in terms of the spread of Buddhism. The privileged relationship between the former and the monarchs of Lan Na, and the brief reign of the latter at Chiang Mai, then at Chiang Saen, and even the probable exile of the northern elite in Lan Xang, fleeing the Burmese threat, all no doubt encouraged the advance of the religion. In addition, Buddhism benefited from the fruit of economic development, which seems to have resulted from the removal of the capital, especially in the seventeenth century, a period of relative peace in the central Mekong Valley. While right up to the third quarter of the sixteenth century the archaeological record shows the total influence of Lan Na in the artistic field, after this time a truly Lao art emerged and evolved. This seems to have followed the progression of Buddhism down to the southern territories and away from the Mekong only from the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was during this period that the independent principality of Champassak developed and that the Korat Plateau, colonised by the Lao, began to take on importance, above all when it came under Siamese influence.

The northeast of present day Laos, access to which has been limited by almost fifty years of regional conflicts, constitutes a virtual blank in the pages of historical research. Now open to researchers, it contains some extremely interesting information for the history of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, since it displays in some ways the last stage in the progression of the religion before it ran into the walls of Chinese and Vietnamese culture. The Xieng Khouang plateau, known mainly for the richness of its prehistoric culture (thousands of big stone jars) holds no more than a handful of remnants testifying to the past vigour of Buddhism. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, Henri Parmentier was already lamenting the irreparable damage caused by previous wars, especially those of the nineteenth century. The situation is much worse today, since not one of the temples studied by that architect now survives in anything more than a state of utter ruin. A few more robust monuments – stûpa – have managed to survive and, as an example, I have here for you That Foun, which shows the strength of the privilege afforded to Buddhism in this region, as it is without doubt the tallest religious structure in Laos. A number of indicators, supplied by the study of architecture and statuary, prove the influence of Lan Na and seem to show that the Xieng Khouang area, especially Muang Khoun, was converted to Buddhism at practically the same time as the main Lao centres of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. The two capitals also exercised a strong influence up until the eighteenth century, as demonstrated by the statuary, which is very similar to that produced close to the Mekong.

The far northern area of Huaphan was controlled by the Luang Prabang dynasty from the beginning of the sixteenth century – and perhaps even earlier – but Buddhism appears to have been practised there late, and in a very localised manner. In contrast to the Xieng Khouang area, the northeastern tip of Laos provides no evidence at all for truly ancient religious buildings. Despite the local oral tradition, which places the Phra Chao Ong Teu Buddha image from Sam Neua in the reign of Setthathirat, it is very likely that bronze statuary did not develop here until the end of the eighteenth century – and perhaps even then only in one single workshop – after models imported from Vientiane and Xieng Khouang. Two bronze pedestals dating from 1723 and 1738 could have been made following these models. They demonstrate an art which had already evolved – in contrast to the poverty of the cultural (Buddhist), artistic and architectural fields found in this area. The temples of old Sieng Kho, Dan Hom and Don Khun (Muong Soy) are rare examples of large-sized buildings and perhaps correspond to pockets of ancient Lao populations surrounded by other non-Buddhist ethnic groups. It is unlikely however that they date back to before the eighteenth century. Their influence seems to have been negligible and Lao Buddhism never spread to the other Tai groups still present in this area : Black Tai, Red Tai, White Tai, and so on.

This presentation of different material evidence for the spread of Buddhism in the central Mekong valley has no other ambition but to show the complexity of the issue, and to propose a number of avenues for further research. It can be noted above all that the territories which form modern Laos, while they were far from the great centres of exchange, did benefit from very varied influences and saw the establishment of original cultures in which Buddhism played the most important role. If the development and consolidation of this religion in the Lao context are relatively easy to trace – this paper has underlined the connection with northern Thai Buddhism and we have seen that it is possible to follow its geographic progression precisely – its history during the first millennium is clearly more difficult to discern. More fractured than continuous, this history results from cultural and religious interactions between peoples who were very mobile and very distinct, and it is still very difficult for us to say which owed what to whom, even more so because Buddhism, in the same way as other Indian religions, penetrated into Southeast Asia through successive waves, in various places and under forms that were sometimes very diverse. Laos however proved to be the last stop. It is probably here that the substrata of the previous cultures is still most visible, and it is in this light that it merits the attention of specialists.

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