Phra Lak Phra Lam - Religious Significance

Religious Significance

Although the Hindu nature of the Ramayana epic was lost in Laos, it was not completely erased. Indra, Shiva, and Brahma are present in the Phra Ram Xadôk. Lao culture has always been oral and visual, and oral tales were often codified into elaborate dance-dramas by the royal courts. Great influence in dance came from Khmer, Thai, and even Javanese culture, with a slight native flair. In khône and lakhone dance-dramas, the symbolism, costumes, and story are also more attuned to and influenced by Hindu Khmer, Thai, and even Javanese traditions.

Some versions explicitly announce that it is a Jataka tale, while others are generally assumed to be so. Phra Lak and Phra Ram are the epitome of moral leadership, ethics, selflessness, and living true to dharma. Pha Ram is associated with a previous life of Siddartha Gautama, while his cousin Hapmanasouane (Ravanna) is often compared to Buddha's cousin Phra Thevathat or Buddha's final impasse to enlightenment, Phra Man. The parallels include their religious knowledge and generally moral superiority but also their ruin by greed and desire. Hampanasouane as Mara, the personification of worldly desires who tried to tempt the Buddha during meditation, can be seen in both their searches for lust, power, and material gain. The cosmology and some elements are taken from the Tripitaka, such as the greater role of Indra vis-à-vis Shiva, and Indra asking riddles of religion and Buddhist thought to a young Hapmanasouane. Although important, religiously, it is subordinate to the greater and more chronologically recent Jataka tales of Phra Vet and the annals of the lifetime of Siddhartha Gautama.

Animistic elements are not as apparent in the Phra Lak Phra Ram, but it is noteworthy to point out that the scenery takes place along the Mekong River. She is a great goddess and ancestral spirit that is as sacred and quintessentially 'theirs' as the Ganges is to India and a personification of water, bounty, and life. It was also the King of the Nagas that suggested Phra Ram's father move the capital from Maha Thani Si Pan Phao (modern-day Nong Khai, Thailand) across the bank to Chantaboury Sri Sattanak (modern-day Vientiane). Like most animistic elements, the Nāga is seen in both Buddhist and Hindu-influenced contexts, but worship of nagas predates Indian influence in the region, and are common in folktales of Laos and Isan. A unique version of the Phra Lak Phra Ram, the Khwai Thoraphi focuses very much on Sankhip and Palichane's fight with the water buffalo. It was often read at temple, probably in Buddhism's attempt to replace Lao spirit propitiation ceremonies that involved water buffalo sacrifice.