ANCIENT PAGAN: BUDDHIST PLAIN OF MERIT

By: Donald M. Stadtner

Prior to the nineteenth century, the independent kingdom of Lanna flourished in Northern Thailand. Lanna stretched as far north from Phitsanulok to Chiang Rai, as far east as present day Laos and as far west as Burma. Over the centuries, Lanna developed a distinctive art, architecture, languag e, and culture.