Other religious houses · The Khmer empire of Jayavarman VII · as at first light, 1 January 1200

That Phanom

A relic stupa on the right bank of the Mekong, opposite Khammouan, with a foundation legend that runs back to the first years after the Buddha and standing fabric that is far later.

The earliest structure found is of the 7th or 8th century and the page we read calls the stupa Khmer in style before the 12th century, with Dvaravati and Cham elements. What it looked like on 1 January 1200 is guesswork: it is not the Lao-style tower of 1690 and after. Pilgrims are real. The question the campaign can use is who the pilgrims pay: no source names a lord of this bank, the Khmer claim is at its thinnest here, and the Mekong crossing to Sikhottabong (Thakhek) is the pilgrims' road.

Who holds it

Title
Keepers of the stupa (not named)
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
not known
Confidence
low

English Wikipedia (Wat Phra That Phanom): a legend dates the first stupa to the years after the Buddha's death (the That Phanom Chronicle says eight years after his passing, built by five kings of a Mon kingdom called Sri Gotupura); the earliest structure found dates to the 7th or 8th century; the stupa is 'believed to have been built before the 1100s with its original Khmer design', its style combining Dvaravati, Khmer and Cham art; the Lao-style form dates from restorations, 1690 and later.

Overlord

Not pinned; the Khmer reach on the Sakon Nakhon basin stops short of this bank, and the Lao muang are across the river.

What it holds

  • The stupa and its monasteries (not known)

How things stand that morning

A pilgrimage place of uncertain form; no event.

Places of note

  • Sikhottabong (Thakhek): The crossing on the far bank (board placement).

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry that-phanom: 'standing fabric that is centuries later'. The English Wikipedia page puts the Lao-style form at the restorations of 1690 and after, and calls the early fabric Khmer before the 12th century; we take that as the page's reading.

Evidence: A legend, one archaeology line and a style statement from English Wikipedia; nothing for 1200.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: A small disc; who holds the bank is not known.

Primary sources for Khmer empire

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
  • The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
  • The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
  • History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
  • History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
  • Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
  • The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
  • The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online

5 more in the sources library for Mainland Southeast Asia.

Sources and studies

  1. English Wikipedia, Wat Phra That Phanom
  2. OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.