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Photisarath

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Photisarath, also spelled Phothisarath, Phothisarat, or Potisarat (1501-1547) is considered to be the most devout of the Lao kings, he banned spirit worship and built temples upon the sites of spirit shrines. His elephant fell and crushed him while he sought to display his prowess to the diplomatic corps. His son Setthathirath returned from Chiang Mai to succeed him to the throne of Lan Xang.

Photisarath was 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 part of 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.