PHOTISARATH

also spelled Phothisarath, Phothisarat, or Potisarat born 1501 died 1547 ruler (1520-47) of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang whose territorial expansion embroiled Laos in the warfare that swept mainland Southeast Asia in the latter half of the 16th century. Photisarath was a pious Buddhist who worked to undermine animism and Brahmanic religious practices and promote Buddhism. He resided much of the time not in the capital at Luang Prabang but in Vientiane, which was located farther south and maintained better communications with the major states of the region. Photisarath married a princess from Chiang Mai (now in northern Thailand), and when his father-in-law, the ruler of Chiang Mai, died in 1546 without male issue, Photisarath had his own son Setthathirat I placed on the Chiang Mai throne. When Photisarath died in the following year, after a fatal accident while hunting wild elephants, Setthathirat succeeded him and joined together the two kingdoms-which were soon embroiled in Siamese-Burmese wars that devastated much of the region over the next half-century.