Khun Borom (Founder King of the Lao)
Khun Borom (Lao: ຂຸນບູລົມ) is the legendary founder-king of the Lao and Tai peoples, sent from heaven by the sky god Phaya Thaen to rule the earthly realm. According to the Nithan Khun Borom chronicle, after a great flood destroyed humanity, three righteous chiefs were preserved in heaven. They returned to earth with a sacred buffalo; when the buffalo died, a bitter gourd vine grew from its nostril, producing gourds from which the new human race emerged — darker-skinned peoples from gourds cut with a hot skewer, and lighter-skinned Tai peoples from gourds cut with a chisel. As the population g