Lord Serpent of the Mekong
Thai Lao · deity · Lao Isan Buddhist folk cosmology; living cult of the Mekong · Recorded classification
Deity (a serpent-class divinity / nak). English title leads; native Phaya Nak (พญานาค / ພະຍານາກ) in alt/transliterations. Naga belief predates and was absorbed into Buddhism along the Mekong.
Domains
- rivers and waterways
- guardianship of the dharma
Powers
- Exhales glowing fireballs from the river at the end of the rains-retreat
- Coils beneath and hoods the meditating Buddha against the storm
Epithets
- พญานาค 'Lord Nāga' — serpent-divinity of the Mekong and guardian of the DharmaThai-Lao naga cult; Buddhist Vinaya naga narratives (secondary)
Relations
- rival: Sky LordIn the Isan toad-king epic the naga host wars on the rain-withholding Sky Lord until the rain-compact sealed by the rocket festival.Wajuppa Tossa, Phya Khankhaak, the Toad King: A Translation of an Isan Fairy Tale (Bucknell 1996) (secondary)
Sources
- Phaya Nak is the great serpent-deity of the Mekong, protector of the river and of Buddhism, credited with the annual naga fireballs and identified with the hooding naga-king Mucalinda.: S. J. Tambiah, Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-east Thailand, CUP, 1970 (secondary); Justin Thomas McDaniel, The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand, Columbia University Press, 2011 (secondary)