The people of Laos have a rich literary tradition dating back at least six hundred years, with the oral and storytelling traditions of its peoples dating back much earlier. Lao literature refers to the written productions of Laotian peoples, its émigrés, and to Lao-language works. In Laos today there are over forty-seven recognized ethnic groups, with the Lao Loum comprising the majority group. Lao (part of the Lao-Tai family) is officially recognized as the national language, but owing to the ethnic diversity of the country the literature of Laos can generally be grouped according to four ethnolinguistic families: Lao–Tai (Tai–Kadai); Mon–Khmer (Austroasiatic); Hmong–Mien (Miao–Yao), and Sino-Tibetan (primarily Tibeto-Burman). As an inland crossroads of Southeast Asia the political history of Laos has been complicated by frequent warfare and colonial conquests by European and regional rivals.
Literature in Lao society
Traditionally literature is held high regard in Lao society. Lao literature spans a wide range of genres including religious, philosophy, prose, epic or lyric poetry, histories, traditional law and customs, folklore, astrology, rituals, grammar and lexicography, dramas, romances, comedies, and non-fiction. Lao thematic elements frequently combine the religious and philosophical with secular works and folklore. It is important to appreciate that for the Lao, to engage in study or writing was in essence to pursue a deeper philosophical or religious meaning. Equally important is that oral traditions continue to exist along with written literary forms, and there is difficulty to distinguish the two as separate traditions as they are essentially coexisting and complementary. Written texts, in particular classical or religious, frequently do not have individual authorship nor do they have a fixed form, they are subject to continual retelling, reinterpretation and elaboration.
Most works of Lao literature have been handed down through continuous copying and have survived in the form of palm-leaf manuscripts, which were traditionally stored in wooden caskets and kept in the libraries of Buddhist monasteries. The act of copying a book or text held deep religious significance as a meritorious act. The emphasis in writing was to convey Theravada Buddhist thought, although syncretism with animist beliefs is also common, religious and philosophical teachings. Individual authorship is not important; works were simply attributed with a perceived religious origin raising its status in the eyes of the audience. Owing to the religious and societal importance of most literature, the written word is generally kept in high regard and stored according to specific cultural taboos (i.e. never on the ground, and must be stored in a way that demonstrates respect).
Scripts
Traditionally texts were kept as palm leaf manuscripts (bailan), which were prepared from dried palm leaves which had been cut, incised, covered over with ink or charcoal and subsequently cleaned to reveal the written words. Texts were also recorded using folding books of locally produced paper from mulberry bark paper (saa), khoi paper, or from lacquered cotton although these materials were less durable, and thus tended to be used for non-religious purposes.
Theravada Buddhist religious texts were generally written in Pali, or transcribed into Lao using Tham script. The Tham script shows a strong similarity to the Mon script used in inscriptions in the ancient Mon kingdom of Haripuñjaya (present-day Lamphun Province of Northern Thailand), dating from the 13th century. Versions of the Tham script continue to be used to this day by the Lao, Northern Thai, Tai Lue and Tai Khuen. comprising present-day Laos, the Upper North and Northeast of Thailand, the Northeast of Myanmar, and the Southwest of Yunnan Province in China. In Laos, the Tham script was generally reserved for religious writings, whereas texts which were considered secular were written in Lao Buhan, the precursor of the modern Lao script.
Less common script variants include Tai Dam, and Khom (Ancient Khmer) scripts. Khom script was mainly used for Buddhist texts, works on language, medicine, cosmology, astrology and numerology, protective and astrological formulas (mantra and yantra) in Pali or Sanskrit, based upon the belief that it was a sacred script and special knowledge was required to produce and to use these manuscripts. In the early periods, knowledge of Khom script was originally exclusively attributed to court Brahmin from Angkor. Khmer Brahmin priests were recruited by Lao kings for the purpose of carrying out certain ritual functions at the royal courts.
Historical Overview
The Lao trace their linguistic, cultural, and political history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang (1353-1707). Lan Xang had a highly literate society because of the importance of religion and religious education in Lao society. A temple (wat) typically existed in every Lao village and certainly in every town (muang). The Lao sangha had a moral and religious authority on par with the monarchy. All Lao males were expected to spend several years in religious education as a novice or to continue on as a Buddhist monk. Monastic education was the typical route to gain literacy and also some degree of social mobility in traditional society. Royal and religious records were stored in Ho or specifically designed libraries on temple grounds.
From 1707-1713 the Kingdom of Lan Xang had split into the kingdoms of Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Champassak. By the end of the eighteenth century the Lao kingdoms, had become vassal states to Siam. The cultural impact of Siam was greatest in the Isan region of northeast Thailand, an area which was predominantly Lao in terms of history and ethnicity. By the end of the nineteenth century the French had forced Siam to cede the areas on the east bank of the Mekong River, and had roughly established the borders of modern Laos.
Colonialism during these periods had a lasting impact on Lao society and literature. The traditional model of monastic education was slowly replaced by a secular one which was dominated by Siamese or French culture. The earlier forms of Lao literature were preserved only in the monasteries, and folk culture and tradition remained one of the few remaining links between the Lao and their ethnic heritage.
The twentieth century was period of immense upheaval and conflict, but also a gradual renewal of Lao literature. Both French and Thai nationalist policies aggressively sought to assimilate the Lao during the 1920s-1940s. World War II and the Franco-Thai War had a profound impact on everyday life for the Lao, which gave way to independence movements and the emergence of communism. Politics split Lao society and Lao literature, while the Royal Lao Government struggled to establish itself from 1954-1975.
Independence and secular education helped to create a nationalist identity for the Lao, and interest in traditional Lao history and culture slowly reemerged. Revolutionaries in Laos and Vietnam during the early 1950s began to spread communist ideology, which culminated in the Vietnam War era and the ousting of the Lao monarchy in 1975. During this period Laos became the most heavily bombed country in world history.
Politics continued to dominate literature in the 1980s, with the communist Pathet Lao struggling to assert their control over Laos. Today Laos has a reawakening interest in literature, as people struggle with national identity, rapid technological and social changes, development and a lagging economy, while maintaining a strong popular interest in the folk culture which has been part of their cultural heritage for millennia.
Classical literature The Lao period of classical literature began during the Lan Xang era, and flourished during the early sixteenth century. The primary cultural influence on Lan Xang during this period was the closely related Tai Yuan Kingdom of Lanna. By the second resurgence of Lao classical literature in the seventeenth century, the Lao had developed a sophisticated tradition of art, literature and scholarship. Subjects were primarily religious or historical in nature, but also included epic poems, law, customs, astrology, numerology, as well as traditional medicine and healing. Many of the works during this period have been lost due to wars in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century.
The epic poem of Sin Xay The epic of Sin Xay was composed by the Lao poet Pang Kham during the reign of King Sourigna Vongsa and is regarded as the seminal work of Lao epic poetry. The central message is one that unchecked desires will inevitably lead to suffering.
The plot follows the exploits of a king and his family, whose sister was kidnapped by a flying multi-headed nyak (mythological giant) during his youth. The king is so distraught he renounces the throne, and becomes a wandering monk to find his sister. As a wandering monk the king makes his way to a city where he sees seven daughters of wealthy merchant and falls in love. He returns to the kingdom and ceases being a monk to wed all seven of the girls. Six of the queens bear six sons. Through divine intervention the first queen gives birth to an elephant with giant golden tusks, and the youngest gives birth to twins- a golden snail, and boy born clutching a bow, who they name Sin Xay.
The king feared the omen of the births, and consulted the court astrologer, who secretly plotted with other six queens, and suggested that the snail, elephant, and boy together with the two queens who bore them be exiled. The Lord of Heaven (Phaya Thaen) at this point in the epic saves the divine children and the queens by constructing a castle in the sky for them to live. The astrologer is made to raise the remaining six princes, who are neither very smart nor very diligent.
When the princes come of age the king sends them out to find his sister who had long ago been kidnapped. Through the princes aimless wanderings they come to find Sin Xay- whom they trick into thinking will be welcomed back by the king if he joins them in their quest. The group endures many adventures, finally coming to the City of the Nyak among the clouds, where they find the king's sister. They fight a terrible battle where Sin Xay slays the flying multi-headed nyak.
Having achieved their quest, group sets out to return but stops to cleanse themselves and make offerings to the Lord of Heaven. The six brothers, not wanting to lose face in the eyes of their father push Sin Xay, the golden-tusked elephant and snail off a cliff and tell the king's sister that they had tragically drowned. The king’s sister did not believe the princes, but waited to tell the king directly.
On seeing his long lost sister and hearing from her that the princes had killed their brothers, the king becomes enraged and banishes them all, the astrologer, and his six remaining queens. Sin Xay, who did not die in the fall, but was saved by his elephant and snail brothers, returns to see his father. The king is overjoyed to see his faithful son, and crowns him king.
The epic poem of Thao Hung Thao Cheuang The Thao Hung Thao Cheuang epic is regarded by literary critics and historians as one of the most important indigenous epic poems in Southeast Asia and a Lao language literary masterpiece for artistic, historical, and cultural reasons. Both the single extant copy of the text and the oral history originated in Xieng Khouang in Laos, among the Khmu peoples, which were indigenous to Laos prior to the Tai migrations. The oral tradition of the folktale recalls the struggle between the Khmu and indigenous peoples of Laos and the Tai-Lao.