Sila Viravong


Maha Sila Viravong was a Lao historian, philologist, and scholar of traditional Lao literature, history, and culture. He modernized the Lao alphabet and was an important intellectual figure in the Lao independence movement during the struggles against French colonial rule. He was an active member of the Lao Issara movement and served as the personal secretary to Prince Phetsarath Rattanavongsa. His name is often preceded by the honorific title "Maha", and he is frequently referred to as "Maha Sila."
He was the father of Laotian writers Douangdeuane Bounyavong, Dara Viravong, and Pakian Viravong.

Biography

Born into a family of farmers from Champassak, Maha Sila Viravong was born on in Roi Et Province in the Isan region of Thailand. As a young novice monk, he learned the Tai Tham alphabet and the Lao script from palm-leaf manuscripts and developed an early passion for Lao literature and history, which survived in temple libraries after the fall of Lan Xang to the Siamese. After leaving the monkhood, he traveled to Bangkok to study Pali.
In 1929, he became secretary to Prince Phetsarath Rattanavongsa, a major figure in Lao nationalism during the French protectorate. In the 1930s, he joined the “Movement for National Renovation,” founded by young Laotian intellectuals under French oversight, aiming to maintain national influence.
He later joined the independence movement Lao Issara following the Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina in 1945. When France regained control in 1946, he went into exile in Bangkok, conducting research at the National Library of Thailand. He returned to Laos in 1949, becoming a Pali professor at the Buddhist Institute in Vientiane.
He married Nang Maly in Vientiane. Among their fourteen children were writers Douangdeuane and Dara Viravong. Although he retired in 1963, after the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975, he was appointed an expert advisor to the Ministry of National Education. He continued teaching, researching, and writing until his death in.

Contributions

In the 1930s, supported by the Buddhist Institute in Vientiane and the Buddhist Academic Council, he expanded the Lao script to include characters for Pali and Sanskrit, filling gaps in the existing system. Though the Buddhist Institute published books using these extensions, they gradually fell out of use by 1975. In 2019, the extended Indic characters were added to Unicode 12.
He designed the current Flag of Laos in 1945.
Viravong also opposed the proposed Latinization of the Lao script and sought to modernize it instead. He authored a Lao grammar, dictionary, and a transcription system for Pali, which is still used in temples today. He also wrote the first official textbook on the History of Laos and developed a Lao calendar still used alongside foreign ones.
His major published works include Phongsavadane Lao, based on the chronicles of Lan Xang, and his biography of Prince Phetsarath, which was published posthumously. Though his work is occasionally criticized for nationalistic tones and limited academic rigor, his influence on Lao national identity and historiography remains significant.

Works

  1. Vessantara Jātaka in Verse
  2. Buddhist Biography in Verse
  3. Temiya Kumāra Jātaka in Verse
  4. Suvaṇṇasāma Jātaka in Verse
  5. Book of Buddhist Chants with Translation, called Pathom Chulaprit
  6. Dhamma Textbook, Part 1 & Part 2
  7. Buddhist Biography: The Bodhisattva Period, in Verse
  8. Lao Grammar Textbook, Part 1: Orthography
  9. Pali Grammar Textbook, 4 Parts
  10. Thai-Vientiane Poetry Manual and Kāpi Saravilasini
  11. Urankanidān in Verse – published by S. Thammabhakdi Publishing House
  12. Buddhist Prophecies in Verse
  13. Ancient Lao Traditions, Part 1: Various Khwan Rituals
  14. History of the Lao Nation (Revised)
  15. History of That Luang Stupa, Vientiane
  16. Lao Dictionary
  17. Literature for Education
  18. Mahājanaka Jātaka in Verse
  19. History of King Anouvong
  20. History of Lao Literature
  21. Ancient Lao Traditions, Part 2: Birth, Ordination, Marriage, Death, Naming Customs
  22. History of Vientiane, Wat Phu Champasak, and Champasak Town
  23. Hit Sipsong
  24. History of October 14, 1945
  25. History of Flags and the Lao Flag
  26. Biography of Chao Maha Oupahat Phetsarath – Thai edition published as Chao Phetsarath: The Iron Man of the Lao Kingdom
  27. Lao Grammar, 4 Parts
  28. The Value of Literature
  29. ''Autobiographical Poems, and Love & Travel Verses, with Historical Notes''