The Myth of Khun Burom - The Origin of Laos based upon an Ancient Manuscript

THE BOOK

The importance of the work

This is the only integral and annotated translation of one of the versions of the myth of Khun Burom taken from an ancient Chronicle and which presents the Lao text opposite each translated page reconstituted in its original versification.


The legendary content of the work

The history of Asian peoples always begins with a legend that recalls their origins, the foundation of their kingdoms and their beliefs. Amongst the Tay populations in north-west Vietnam and north Laos, such as the Black Tay, the Lao and the Phuan, the myth of an ancestor with divine and celestial origins has persisted, which evokes their common origin in South China more than one thousand years ago.

For the Lao, this ancestor was named Khun Burom, son of the king of the celestial Taen, who descended to earth to reign at Mùang Thên (Diên Biên Phu).

In this fascinating legendary tale, based upon an ancient manuscript integrally translated into French, we discover the different divinities of the Lao prebuddhist pantheon which watch over the destinies of the world, the ancestral couple who undertook its organisation and then perished after cutting a giant liana, the different peoples that came out of giant marrows and then spread out to people the South East Asian peninsula, Khun Burom, his two wives and seven sons, of whom the eldest, Khun Lo, took power at Luang Prabang in north Laos.

The myth of the primordial ancestor, as it appears in Lao history and literature, was redrafted and used by the sovereigns from the 14th to the 16th centuries to legitimize their taking of power by linking themselves to a divine origin inherited from Khun Burom.


The scientific content of the work

The myth of Khun Burom and the ancient history of Laos is known to us through chronicles written on sheets of latania. One of these, conserved in the National Library in Paris, was brought from Laos to France by the “ Pavie Mission (1879-95) ”, but had never been translated.

For his doctoral thesis at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris and successfully defended in 2002, Dominique Menguy undertook the translation and interpretation of this manuscript. In order to accomplish this, he had to deepen his knowledge of Lao culture, history and beliefs, as well as the rules of versification used in classical literature. This work required several years. It was also necessary to reconstruct the original versification for “normal-style reading” of lao story-writing; a style that was inexistent in the manuscript.

The first section, Legends, is composed of successive themes: the Lao prebuddhist pantheon merged with the brahmanic pantheon and the tutelary spirits of Luang Prabang; the organisation of the world and the different interventions of Buddha and Indra ; the previous dynasties of Luang Prabang; the foundation of Xieng Thong by two hermits and the tradition of the fifteen guardian Nagas; the coming of Khun Burom and his descent to earth; the traditions of the giant tree, of the liana, the marrows and the sacrifice of the ancestral couple, Pu Nyeu-Nya Nyeu; the patronymic families and their prohibitions, the Ten Rules of royal conduct and the duties of queens and wives, based on the Rajasavani code, the ceremony of the royal oath. This Legend section, which regroups the major themes of Lao beliefs, constitutes a real code of values for the ancient Lao society. This work, as presented by the author, is of great interest for those that are interested in or wish to discover Lao culture and also for the Lao themselves.


The thesis of Dominique Menguy is to demonstrate how the myth of the divine chief, common to the conquering Tay coming from South China between the 10th and 13th centuries to impose themselves in the South East Asian, was recuperated in the 14th century and reinterpreted to serve the legitimization of the taking of power by Fa Ngum and his expansionist politics to the detriment of neighbouring kingdoms. The first version of the myth gives this Lao prince, who was raised at the court of Angkor, the primogeniture back to the ancestor Kun Lo and imposes him as uncontested sovereign in the Middle Mekong Valley region. The author also examines the relations between Cambodia and Lan Xang at this time, a subject not without interest. He has situated the writing of the second version of the myth, or the Nithan Khun Burom, under the reign of the king Vixun, in the year 1515 EC, year that the construction of Vat Vixun was completed. The character of Vixun, co-author of Nithan Khun Burom, is visible behind that of Khun Burom. By writing the Nithan Khun Burôm, he legitimizes his taking of power to the detriment of his nephew, as well as his state system, by attributing it to his ancestors Fa Ngum and Khun Burom.

THE AUTHOR


Born in 1960, Dominique MENGUY worked in Paris to help child victims. In 1987 he enrolled for studies at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris and then in 1991 he passed a sabbatical year in Thailand and Laos. Returning to Paris, he successfully passed diplomas at INALCO in Lao, in Thai and in South East Asian History.

In 1996 he married at Luang Prabang where he lived from 1998 to 2003 as a consultant and undertook the first translation into French of Sinxay, recognised as one of the master pieces of Lao literature.

In 2002, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris « The Foundation Myth of Laos based upon the Chronicle of Khamkeut », of which the present work is a revised version. He obtained the mention « very honourable with felicitations of the jury ».



OTHER PUBLICATIONS BY DOMINIQUE MENGUY


« Sin Xay, Tome 1», Dokked, Vientiane., 74 p., 2003.

« Sin Xay, Tome 2», Dokked, Vientiane., 82 p., 2005.


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