The Relic of That Phanom
The relic of That Phanom is a sacred relic of the Buddha's breastbone enshrined in the great stupa of That Phanom on the Mekong, the most revered chedi of Laos and northeastern Thailand. Lao legend holds that two monks carried the relic to the site and that a naga king, Phanya Sithan, invited the company and guarded the shrine, binding the sacred monument to the serpentine protectors of the river; the date of the enshrinement is given as the Year of the Goat and celebrated every year at the That Phanom festival. The stupa itself, a tall pyramidal chedi gilded in gold, was severely damaged by a