The crest of Luang Prabang’s Viceroy lineage rides on the back of the 15 Phanya Naak guardians. Tiao David Somsanith, phaa pha bot or Buddhist narrative hanging, 2019, multi-colored silk and gold-wrapped threads on silk damask fabric.
Water Spirits in the form of serpents occur throughout Southeast Asia, serving as guardian spirits and progenitors of lineages and populaces. Linda McIntosh highlights the Naak or Phanya Naak of Luang Prabang, Laos, and the Ular Naga of Alor Regency, Indonesia.
Water Spirits of Laos
Before the assimilation of Buddhism into the traditional belief systems of the Lao people and related Tai groups, water spirits took the form of snakes and were called Ngeuak. After the introduction of Buddhism, the serpent deity Naga, or Naak in the Lao language, coexisted with Ngeuak.
Both Ngeuak and Naak are associated with water. While playing, their writhing bodies created river channels, ponds, lakes, mountain ranges, cliffs, and caves, the natural habitat they still live in. Some are thought to be the founders of lineages and settlements of the Lao and related Tai groups. The founders of the Luang Prabang viceroy lineage were a Naga couple. The lineage’s members still use a medium to communicate with these spirits during an annual rite to pay homage to the founders, their two sons, and their daughters-in-law.
These water spirits control rainfall. At the end of the dry season, some villages hold a rocket festival, shooting homemade rockets into the sky to wake and remind them to send rain to Earth. Thus, these supernatural serpents affect prosperity since society is agrarian and dependent on rainfall for adequate food annually.
Women weave numerous Naak motifs into textiles demonstrating the water spirits’ importance. Woven Naak or Naga motifs were enlisted as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Laos in 2023. These supernatural serpent deities are guardians of Theravada Buddhism and manifest as the balustrades at the entrance of Buddhist temples and the ceremonial water channels that pour lustral water onto Buddha statues and monks. Their writhing bodies compose candelabras housed inside a temple building.
Twelve Naga Guardians of Luang Prabang, Laos
In Luang Prabang, the former royal capital of Laos, fifteen Phanya Naak (Lord Naak) are guardians who protect the settlement from calamities such as natural disasters, illness, and war and bestow fertility to the agrarian society by providing rainfall. The populace appeases the water spirits by holding boat racing and fire boat festivals. These water spirits are invited to watch the activities with the offerings placed at their residences.
The Twelve Naga Guardians of Luang Prabang, Laos, and their abodes are listed below. However, the names and their locales may vary depending on the person. Some can name 27 Naga and their habitats. Nang Dam, Nang Don, Thao Tong Kwang, and a few others are Ngeuak.
- Nang Dam, or Miss Black, lives at Khok Thawn, which is downriver from Xieng Maen Village located opposite Luang Prabang on the other side of the Mekong River.
- Nang Don, or Miss White, lives at Khok Heua, which is upriver from Xieng Maen Village located opposite Luang Prabang on the other side of the Mekong River.
- Nang Kham Feua or Phom Feua lives at the Elephant Boat Landing, which is downriver from Xieng Thong Temple.
- Thao Tong Kwang lives in the boulders at Pak Khan or the mouth of the Khan River.
- Thao Thong Jaan resides at Dieo Cliff on the Mekong Riverbank opposite the Pak Khan.
- Thao Kham Pieo (or Kham Hieo) lives at Seua Cliff located upriver from Dieo Cliff.
- Thao Boun Eua resides in the Kone Kai Faa, a group of boulders on the Mekong Riverbank at the mouth of the Khan River.
- Thao Kham Laa lives at the Bang Cliff on the Khan Riverbank next to the Old Bridge.
- Thao Kham Pang at Phu Xang or Xang Mountain
- Thao Boun Kwang at Phu Xuang or Xuang Mountain
- Thao Boun Euang at Kong Meut Aen
- Thao Kham Thaen at Pha Sava
- Thao Jong Lua at Pha Sum Sao (Yaathao Cliff)
- Thao Jai Jam Nong in the Lord Buddha’s Footprint Temple (Vat Phabaat Tai)
- Thao Sisatanaak in Phousi Mountain
The Boat Racing Festival of Luang Prabang is held in August or September, the 9th lunar month. The festival opens with a race between two boats with female rowers. One boat represents Nang Dam (Black Miss), and the other represents Nang Don (White Miss). The latter symbolizes good and must always win the race since good always triumphs over evil.
The Ular Naga of Alor, Indonesia
Alokai, Desa Levokisu, Kecamatan Alor Barat Laut, Kabupaten Alor, NTT, Indonesia
Water spirits called Ular Naga by the Alurung or Alorese of Alor Regency, Indonesia, also take the form of serpents. Ular translates as a snake in Alurung and Indonesian languages, and the term Naga was assimilated from the imported Indian religions that once had a foothold in the country. Ular Nagas live in the Underworld and control the scarce freshwater springs of Alor Island living at the springs’ outlets along the coast. They serve as guardians of populaces, and one patrilineage from Levokisu Village considers an Ular Naga to be its founder.
The dragon motifs decorating Chinese porcelain inspired the physical manifestations of Alor’s Ular Naga. (The imported ceramics are preserved as a settlement’s sacred heirlooms.) Statues of Ular Naga guard the entrance of Alor Besar’s ruling lineage ceremonial house and Alor Kecil’s ruling lineage’s ceremonial hall. Weavers also create warp ikat motifs of Ular Naga to decorate their ceremonial clothing.
The eldest male, Mr. Kasim Ape, is the highest-ranking person of the Suku Uma Gita Bako or Gita Bako patrilineage. He communicates with the Ular Naga considered his patrilineage’s founder via offerings of betel nut quid ingredients (sirih pinang) rice, tobacco, and sacrificed animals such as goats and chickens he presents at the water serpent’s seaside rocky abode. People seek the Ular Naga’s assistance in curing illness and eradicating the effects of black magic.
The patrilineage is unique in creating a large sarung or tenapi with an Ular Naga motif. The women of the Gita Bako patrilineage collectively produced the garment by providing the cotton to hand spin into thread. A spiritually powerful man drew the water spirit motif onto the threads that the weavers later followed to apply the warp ikat technique. Mr Kasim’s Ape wife could wear the finished garment without any ill effects from the powerful motif adorning the tenapi. Sadly, she has passed away. Their daughter-in-law may wear the tenapi for ceremonies only after permission is sought from the Ular Naga founder.
Further Reading
Art and Culture of Laos, Haw Khao Padapdin and Boat Racing Festivals of the Ninth month, Facebook post, September 4, 2021.
Hashimoto, Sayaka. Spirit Cults and Buddhism in Luang Prabang, Laos: Analyses of Rituals in the Boat Race Festivals. Doctoral thesis, Waseda University, Shinjuku, Japan (2009).
McIntosh, Linda S., & Yulianti A. Peni. Alorese Textiles, specifically Tenapi, and the Production, Ternate Island, Alor Regency, NTT, Indonesia. Archipel 102 (2021), 209-239.
Wellfelt, Emilie, Heritage in Alor: Local Identity in a Globalized World. In Sites, Bodies and Stories: Imagining Indonesian History, eds. Susan Legêne, Bambang Purwanto, and Henk Schulte Nordholt, Singapore: NUS Press (2015), 67-86.
Linda McIntosh’s latest project was commissioning war-related art and craft from artists in Laos for the permanent exhibit at the UXO Lao Visitor Center – Luang Prabang in 2024.
