FURTHER RESEARCH INTO THE RELATION BETWEEN SQUARE-BASED STYLE STUPA IN LAN XANG ART AND LANNA ART

Abstract

This article aims to further the knowledge and analysis of the square-based stupa style in Lan Xang art, focusing on Phra That Si Song Rak and Phra That Laung in Vientiane as key prototypes. Its objectives are: to conduct an art-historical comparison between the square-based style of Lan Xang's stupa and Lanna art, which has very close socio-cultural and socio-political relations with the Lan Xang kingdom since the mid-21st Buddhist century onward, and to undertake a comparative iconographic study of these Lan Xang stupas and Lanna art in relation to Buddhist artistic concepts. The study finds that the Lan Xang square-based style stupa evolved from the tiered, sloping-roof ensembles (Prasat Khong Phra Chao) of Lanna architecture, which became popular from the mid–sixteenth mid–sixteenth century onward. Especially, the sloping roof tiers with square lotus-finial columns in Lanna architecture reveal compositional principles closely aligned with Phra That Si Song Rak. Similarly, the sloping roofs topped with faceted lotus bud finials of Lanna show stylistic parallels with Phra That Luang in Vientiane. Through iconographic comparison, it has been observed that the square-based style stupa of Lan Xang shares formal similarities with the depictions of the mythical Mount Sattaboriphan and Mount Meru as represented on the mother-of-pearl inlaid Buddha's footprint at Wat Phra Singh, dating to the 21st Buddhist century. In particular, the architectural arrangement of the principal stupa and subsidiary stupas at Phrathat Luang in Vientiane closely correlates with the cosmic diagram depicted on the Buddha's footprint. This suggests that the square-based style stupa of Lan Xang shares the same significant iconographic meaning with stupas in other Buddhist artistic traditions, as the axis mundi or the center of the universe.