Candrapuri or Candrapuri Sri Satta Naga was a Laotian city-kingdom or muang located in the modern Vientiane region of Laos and Thailand. It existed prior to the formation of the Lan Xang Kingdom in the 14th century.
A reference to the name Vientiane can be seen on a Vietnamese inscription of Duke ÃÂá» Anh Và ©, dated 1159 during the Khmer-Viet conflict. The inscription says that in 1135, VÃÂn ÃÂan (Vientiane), a vassal of Zhenla (Khmer Empire), invaded Nghe An, and was repelled by the Duke; the Duke led an army chased the invaders as far as Và © ÃÂn? (unattested), and then returned with captives.
A few decades later, Phraya Chanthaburi (; Vientiane), together with his elder brother Tao Gwa () of Mueang Kaew (Kao) Prakan (; )âÂÂa polity commonly identified with Xiangkhouang (Muang Phuan)âÂÂlaunched a large-scale military invasion of the Ngoenyang Kingdom of the Tai Yuan in 1150s. The invasion failed, however, as the Ngoenyang ruler Khun Chin sought military assistance from his nephews, the Chueang brothers. After successfully expelling the invaders, the younger Chueang marched eastward, annexed several polities, and eventually captured Muang Phuan. He then appointed his middle son, also named Chueang, as ruler of Muang Phuan, and his youngest son, Lao Pao (), as ruler of Vientiane.
As another Laotian city-kingdom, the northern neighbor Muang Sua experienced a brief period of Angkorian suzerainty under Jayavarman VII from 1185 to 1191; on this basis, Candrapuri, located between these two polities, may tentatively be understood as having experienced similar Angkorian influence. This interpretation is supported by the establishment of the SanskritâÂÂLao Say Fong Inscription of Jayavarman VII K.368, dated to 1186, in the Vientiane area.
However, the aforementioned presupposition has been challenged. No archaeological evidence of 12th century Bayon-style Angkorian architecture has been identified in the area, despite the inscriptionâÂÂs statement that Jayavarman VII ordered the construction of an ÃÂrogyasÃÂlà(hospital). Michel Lorrillard has argued that the inscription may have been relocated from Khu Ban Phanna (; ) in the modern Sawang Daen Din District of ThailandâÂÂcurrently the northernmost known area with Angkorian architectural remainsâÂÂpossibly during the French colonial period, when cultural heritage was used to justify territorial claims and administrative control. LorrillardâÂÂs hypothesis is consistent with the findings of Anna KarlströmâÂÂs 2009 survey.
In the 13th century, during the reign of Ramkhamhaeng, Candrapuri or Vientiane was named as one of the polities under the Sukhothai Kingdom. However, later scholarship suggests that Sukhothai may not have exercised direct control over Vientiane; rather, the relationship likely reflected a mandala-style political arrangement based on dynastic connections. Vientiane continued to function as an autonomous city-kingdom until it was annexed in 1356 by Fa Ngum during his campaign to unite the Lao muangs into a single kingdom, Lan Xang.