Wen Dan

Wén Dān (; ), proposed to correspond to Mūladeśa, a toponym attested in the K.187 Inscription, refers to a group of early Tai political entities that existed between the 6th and 9th centuries CE in the interior of mainland Southeast Asia, primarily distributed across the central Mekong Valley in what is now northeast Thailand. It was mentioned in the Chinese annals of the Tang period (618-907 AD) as a dependency on the trans-Mekong trade route from the ancient city of Chiaochih (jiāo zhǐ 交趾; Giao chỉ; near the present-day Vinh of Vietnam) to India. It sent representatives to China in 717, 750, 753, 771, 779, and 799. Some scholars have identified Wen Dan with Bhavapura, whose location remains debated, and have suggested that it may have been the place from which a unified Chenla emerged. However, this view is disputed. Other scholars place the formation of Chenla in the southern Tonlé Sap Basin rather than in Northeast Thailand or southern Laos, a position consistent with Claude Jacques’s argument that Sambor Prei Kuk itself was Bhavapura.

Initially, Wen Dan was believed to be Vientiane, but according to the location given in the Chinese annals as well as archaeological evidence, it is supposed to be in the Chi River basin, centered in Kantharawichai — which was called the Chinese as ''Pó Lòu'' () — with Mueang Fa Daet Song Yang as outer center and Champasri as the vassal. It was alleged that these three communities had a close relationship through Dvaravati Buddhism, which was subsequently supplanted by the Angkorian beliefs in the 10th century. Several historical evidences supports the connection between Wen Dan and Si Thep in central Thailand. Its capital's location at Kantharawichai corresponds to the details provided in the Chinese text of Tang Huiyao says Wen Dan was a state located 6 days' travel by land northwest of Dvaravati-influenced Keoi Lau Mì of the Kuy people.

According to the Dvaravati Buddhist boundary stones (Bai sema) dated the 8th century, found on Mt. Kulen, Woodward (2003) proposes that Wen Dan once controlled the Angkor region before Jayavarman II proclaimed the independence of the Kambujadesa from Java in 802. Jayavarman II probably either defeated Wen Dan and then moved the capital from Indrapura to Yaśodharapura to the north, or formed ally with the communities in Mun and Chi watersheds to against Si Thep to the west.

Wen Dan had two vassals, including Dàomíng to the north in modern Laos, and Cān Bàn in the upper Pasak River Valley in central Thailand. Some academics equate Wen Dan with Bhavapura, centered at Vat Phou in modern southern Laos, which is opposes to the location of Wen Dan provided in the Chinese source. Provided by Wikipedia