Phra That Phanom Chronicle

The Urangkathatu (Urangkathātu; อุรังคธาตุ) or Urangkhanitān is a legend composed in the style of a traditional tale (nitān prāmpra). It comprises the Urangkathatu chronicle (the legend of Phra That Phanom) and other important stories connected with major Buddhist sites, especially the Buddha footprints along the banks of the Mekong River.^[1] It describes the origin of the major rivers along the Mekong as the work of nāga (serpents)^[2] and includes biographies of important figures in Lao history.^[3]

The narrative is divided into nine chronological sections, beginning with the formation of the world in the current auspicious aeon (bhaddakappa) and continuing until the reign of King Setthathirath of Lan Xang (r. 1548–1571 CE). It follows Buddhist cosmological beliefs concerning the Buddhas of the present aeon and the future Buddha, and mentions cities in the Mekong basin such as Suvarṇabhūmi, Sri Kotrabun, Nong Han Luang, and Nong Han Noi.

The colophon of the Urangkathatu states that King Sri Chaiyachamphu copied the text during Setthathirath’s reign. For this reason, historians believe the chronicle was most likely composed in the 16th century CE rather than before 200 BCE as claimed in the text itself. The earlier date is considered a literary device intended to emphasise the chronicle’s antiquity, linking it to the legendary city of Suvarṇabhūmi before the founding of Vientiane (Chanthaburi), which would later become a flourishing centre of Buddhism replacing the fallen Suvarṇabhūmi.^[4]

On 18 May 2023, during the 216th session of the UNESCO Executive Board in Paris, France, the palm-leaf manuscript of the Urangkathatu – registered as a national heritage item in Thailand on 25 January 2018^[5] – was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register under the title “National Collection of Palm-Leaf Manuscripts of Phra That Phanom Chronicle”.^[6]

The original Urangkathatu was written on palm leaves and later copied into modern scripts. Several versions exist, including:

• Urangkathatu (Phra That Phanom Chronicle)
• Urangkathatu Thesana
• Urangkhanitān (Extended Version) (published 11 times)

The oldest known manuscript in Thailand is the Wat Maha Chai manuscript (Maha Sarakham Province), inscribed in 1805 CE (currently held by the Northeastern Arts and Culture Research Institute, Mahasarakham University).^[7][8]

Another important copy was donated to the National Library of Thailand in 1921 by Prince Prachak Sinlapakhom. It is written in Northeastern Thai (Isan) script and was published as the “Abridged Urangkathatu”.

In Laos, the oldest surviving manuscripts are believed to be over 500 years old and are preserved at the National Library in Vientiane.^[9]