Maha Sila Viravong

Sila Viravong, born Sila Chanthanam on 1 August 1905 in Roi Et, in Siam, into a family of peasants from Champassak, learned the Tai Tham alphabet and Lao writing as a young novice. A historian, philologist and teacher of Pali, he modernised the Lao alphabet, opposing its Latinisation in the thirties, and wrote a grammar and a dictionary. A member of the Lao Issara and private secretary to Prince Phetsarath, he took part in the act of independence of October 1945 and in the design of the national flag. The father of fourteen children, three of whom became writers, he died on 18 February 1987 in Vientiane.

In the catalogue 1

• ChronicleHistory of LaosPhongsavadan LaoMaha Sila Viravong · 1957Literature