Wat Phu is the oldest great sanctuary of the Khmer world: a Shaivite temple at the foot of a mountain with a natural rock spire the Khmer read as a linga, a spring behind the shrine, a causeway and terraces, with the city of Shrestapura on the Mekong bank below.
Chenla kings worshipped here in the 6th century and Angkorian kings rebuilt it in the 11th and 12th (board; English Wikipedia gives no phases). The place anchors the whole middle Mekong: Hong Nang Sida is the first stage on the road south to Angkor, Um Muang (Tomo) marks the ferry across the river, and the Khone falls lie a short way south. No governor or priest is named for 1200, and how much of Shrestapura is still lived in is not known; the temple and the landing certainly are in use.
A Buddhist phase, with images in the temple, came later.
Who he is
- Title
- Lord of Shrestapura (Champasak) and keeper of the Lingaparvata shrine
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Vat Phou): the sanctuary stands under the lingam-shaped summit of Phu Kao (Lingaparvata) with a spring behind it; the earliest inscription is K. 365 (Vat Luong Kau), naming Devanika; Shrestapura on the river bank was by the later 5th century the capital of a kingdom linked in texts to Chenla and Champa. The page gives no governor and no building phases for the 12th and 13th centuries.
Overlord
Angkor; the road south from Wat Phu is the oldest of the royal roads (board).
What it holds
- The mountain sanctuary of Wat Phu with its spring and causeway
- The old walled city of Shrestapura and the river landing
- The Mekong crossing to Um Muang (Tomo)
- Hong Nang Sida and the road south to Angkor
- The rice flats of the Champasak plain
How things stand that morning
In use; no governor is named. The Khmer claim on this river is firm from here to the Khone falls.
Wealth
Temple endowment, the river landing, rice, the forest goods of the Bolaven.
Threats
- None attested
Places of note
- Wat Phu: Sanctuary under Lingaparvata.
- Hong Nang Sida: First stage on the road south.
- Um Muang (Tomo): Ruined sanctuary opposite Wat Phu, marking the crossing.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry shrestapura-champasak 'likely': agreed; the walled city's occupation in 1200 is not known.
- English Wikipedia (Vat Phou) gives no 12th or 13th century building phases; the campaign board's 'rebuilt in the eleventh and twelfth' is not confirmed by that page.
Evidence: The sanctuary and its early history are firm; the 1200 holder is not known.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A block round the temple and city.
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
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Vat Phou
- Coedes, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (East-West Center Press, 1968)
- 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.