1.
Champasak Province
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Champasak is a province in southwestern Laos, near the borders with Thailand and Cambodia. It is one of the three principalities that succeeded the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, as of the 2015 census, it had a population of 694,023. The capital is Pakse, but it takes its name from Champasak, Champasak Province covers an area of 15,415 square kilometres. It is bordered by Salavan Province to the north, Sekong Province to the northeast, Attapeu Province to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. The Mekong River forms part of the border with neighboring Thailand and contains Si Phan Don in the south of the province, Champasak has played a central role in the history of Siam and Laos, with frequent battles taking place in and around Champasak. Its rich cultural heritage includes ancient temple ruins and French colonial architecture, Champasak has some 20 wats, such as Wat Phou, Wat Luang, and Wat Tham Fai. Freshwater dolphins and the many waterfalls are tourist attractions. From the 1st to 9th centuries CE, Champasak Province was part of the Funan, between the 10th and 13th centuries it was part of the Khmer Empire. In 1354, the area came under the control of King Fa Ngum, the Angkor empire went into decline between the 15th and 17th centuries when it was annexed by Lan Xang. In 1707, Chamapasak became one of three kingdoms arising from a dissolved Lan Xang Empire, in the 18th century Laos became an independent kingdom. The kingdom had only three emperors, Soi Sisamut, nephew of Suriya Vangas, Sainya Kuman and lastly Fai Na, Pakse, the capital of the province, was established by the French in 1905 as an administrative outpost at the confluence of Xe Don and the Mekong. Champasak Province covers an area of 15,415 square kilometres, the Mekong forms part of the border with neighboring Thailand and, after a sharp bend projecting westward, turns east and flows southeasterly through the province down to Cambodia. Champasak can be reached from Thailand through Sirindhorn Districts Chong Mek border crossing, to Vang Tao on the Lao side, from where the highway leads east towards the provincial capital, Pakse. The capital is on Laos most important highway, Route 13, Si Phan Don is on a stretch of the Mekong north of the border with Cambodia. Of these islands, Don Khong is the largest and has a number of villages, temples. A French-built bridge on the railway line provides the link with two smaller islands, Don Deth and Don Khon. There are many waterfalls in the such as the Liphi Waterfall at Don Khon to the west of Ban Khon village. Below the falls in the waters of the Mekong the fresh water dolphins can be seen
2.
Laos
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Present day Laos traces its historic and cultural identity to the kingdom of Lan Xang Hom Khao, which existed for four centuries as one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Due to Lan Xangs central geographical location in Southeast Asia, the kingdom was able to become a hub for overland trade. After a period of conflict, Lan Xang broke off into three separate kingdoms— Luang Phabang, Vientiane and Champasak. In 1893, it became a French protectorate, with the three territories uniting to form what is now known as the country of Laos and it briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation, but returned to French rule until it was granted autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a civil war ended the monarchy. Laos is a one-party socialist republic and it espouses Marxism and is governed by the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party, in which the party leadership is dominated by military figures. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Vietnam Peoples Army continue to have significant influence in Laos, other large cities include Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, and Pakse. Laos is a country with the politically and culturally dominant Lao people making up approximately 60 percent of the population. Mon-Khmer groups, the Hmong, and other hill tribes, accounting for 40 percent of the population, live in the foothills. It is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, Laos applied for membership of the World Trade Organization in 1997, on 2 February 2013, it was granted full membership. According to the anti-corruption non-governmental organisation Transparency International, Laos remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world and this has deterred foreign investment and created major problems with the rule of law, including the nations ability to enforce contract and business regulation. This has contributed to a third of the population of Laos currently living below the poverty line. Laos has an economy, with one of the lowest annual incomes in the world. In 2014, the country ranked 141st on the Human Development Index, according to the Global Hunger Index, Laos ranks as the 29th hungriest nation in the world out of the list of the 52 nations with the worst hunger situation. Laos has also had a human rights record. In the Lao language, the name is Muang Lao or Pathet Lao. Stone artefacts including Hoabinhian types have been found at sites dating to the Late Pleistocene in northern Laos, archaeological evidence suggests agriculturist society developed during the 4th millennium BC
3.
Khmer people
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Khmer people are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the countrys 15.2 million people. The majority of the Khmer are followers of the Khmer style of Buddhism, the majority of the worlds Khmer people live in Cambodia, the population of which is 90% Khmer. There are also significant Khmer populations native to Thailand and Vietnam, in Thailand, there are over one million Khmer, mainly in Surin, Buriram and Sisaket provinces, in Thailand. Estimates for the number of Khmer in Vietnam vary from the 1.1 million given by government data to seven million advocated by the Khmer Krom Federation, due to the Cambodian Civil War, thousands of Khmer now reside in the United States, Canada, Australia and France. The legendary founders of the kingdom of the Kambuja are the brahmin Kambu Swayambhuva and their marriage is said to have given rise to the name Khmer. The Khmer people named their kingdom Kambuja after the kshatriya Kambojas of Iron Age India, the Kambuja tribe are believed by modern scholars to have been an Iranian people, but links between the Kambuja tribe and the Kambuja kingdom at this stage of research are still unclear. Cambodia was created when an ancient Indian Brahmin priest married Princess Soma, as a dowry, the father of princess Soma drank the oceans, and the land that was revealed underneath became Cambodia, with the descendants of the priest and the princess the people known as the Khmer. This myth explains the phenomena of why the oldest Khmer wats, or temples, were built on mountaintops. This region is one of the first places in the world to use bronze. They were the builders of the later Khmer Empire, which dominated Southeast Asia for six centuries beginning in 802, and now form the mainstream of political, cultural, and economic Cambodia. The Khmers developed the Khmer alphabet, the first alphabet still in use in Southeast Asia, the Khmers are considered by archaeologists and ethnologists to be indigenous to the contiguous regions of Isan, southern Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam. That is to say the Khmer have historically been a people who lived close to one of the tributaries of the Mekong River. The Kingdom of Funan is considered to be the mother of all later Southeast Asian kingdoms, during the Funan period the Khmer also acquired Buddhism, the concept of the Shaiva imperial cult of the devaraja and the great temple as a symbolic world mountain. The rival Khmer Chenla Kingdom emerged in the century and later conquered the Kingdom of Funan. Chenla was a state whose economy was reliant on agriculture whereas Funan was a lowland state with an economy dependent on maritime trade. These two states, even after conquest by Chenla in the century, were constantly at war with each other and smaller principalities. During the Chenla period, Cambodians left the worlds earliest known zero in one of their temple inscriptions, only when King Jayavarman II declared an independent and united Cambodia in 802 was there relative peace between the two lands, upper and lowland Cambodia. After winning a civil war, Suryavarman I turned his forces eastward
4.
Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
5.
Mekong
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The Mekong is a trans-boundary river in Southeast Asia. It is the worlds 12th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia and its estimated length is 4,350 km, and it drains an area of 795,000 km2, discharging 475 km3 of water annually. From the Tibetan Plateau the river runs through Chinas Yunnan Province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, in 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam established the Mekong River Commission to assist in the management and coordinated use of the Mekongs resources. In 1996 China and Myanmar became dialogue partners of the MRC, the extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in the Mekong make navigation difficult. Even so, the river is a trade route between western China and Southeast Asia. The English name Mekong derives from a form of Thai. In Thai and Lao, mae nam is used for any major river, as such, Thai and Lao locals often refer to it in English as the River Khong. In Khmer, Mékôngk is itself glossed as mother of water, from mé and taking kôngk as a form of kôngkea. The local names for the river include, Burmese, မဲခေါင်မြစ်, IPA, Chinese, 加果空桑贡玛曲, 扎那曲 and 扎曲 Zā Qū, upper reaches, 澜沧江, 瀾滄江 Láncāng Jiāng, middle and lower reaches, Khmer, មេគង្គ Mékôngk, ទន្លេមេគង្គ Tônlé Mékôngk, ទន្លេធំ Tônlé Thum. Tai of Sipsong Panna, น้ำแม่ของ, น้ำของ, the Mekong Basin has one of the worlds largest and most productive inland fisheries. An estimated two million tonnes of fish are landed a year, in addition to almost 500,000 tonnes of aquatic animals. Aquaculture yields about two tonnes of fish a year. Hence, the lower Mekong basin yields about 4.5 million tonnes of fish, the total economic value of the fishery is between US$3.9 and US$7 billion a year. Wild capture fisheries alone have been valued at US$2 billion a year and this value increases considerably when the multiplier effect is included, but estimates vary widely. An estimated 2.56 million tonnes of fish and other aquatic animals are consumed in the lower Mekong every year. Aquatic resources make up between 47 and 80 percent of protein in rural diets for people who live in the Lower Mekong Basin. Fish are the cheapest source of protein in the region and any decline in the fishery is likely to significantly impact nutrition. Fisheries contribute significantly to a diversified livelihood strategy for many people, particularly the poor and they provide a principal form of income for numerous people and act as a safety net and coping strategy in times of poor agricultural harvests or other difficulties
6.
Temple
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A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. It is typically used for such buildings belonging to all faiths where a specific term such as church. These include Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism among religions with many modern followers, the form and function of temples is thus very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be in some sense the house of one or more deities. Typically offerings of some sort are made to the deity, and other rituals enacted, the degree to which the whole population of believers can access the building varies significantly, often parts or even the whole main building can only be accessed by the clergy. Temples typically have a building and a larger precinct, which may contain many other buildings. The word comes from Ancient Rome, where a templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest and it has the same root as the word template, a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the places of a god or gods. Hindu temples are large and magnificent with a rich history, there is evidence of use of sacred ground as far back as the Bronze Age and later the Indus Valley Civilization. Hindu temples have been built in countries around the world, including Cambodia, Nepal, Mauritius, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Great Britain. They include the structures called stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions, Temples in Buddhism represent the pure land or pure environment of a Buddha. Traditional Buddhist temples are designed to inspire inner and outer peace, a Jain temple is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Some famous Jain temples are Shikharji, Palitana Jain Temples, Ranakpur Jain Temple, Shravan Belgola, Dilwara Temples, Jain temples are built with various architectural designs. Jain temples in North India are completely different from the Jain temples in South India, additionally, a Manastambha is a pillar that is often constructed in front of Jain temples. The temple of Mesopotamia derived from the cult of gods and deities in the Mesopotamian religion and it spanned several civilizations, from Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian. Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for the deities to reside on earth, indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr, means mansion of a god. A gods presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and these rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and thus it was the purpose of a temple as well. Ancient Egyptian temples were also of significance to Egyptian society
7.
Shrine
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A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other objects associated with the figure being venerated. A shrine at which offerings are made is called an altar. Shrines can be found in various settings, such as churches, temples, cemeteries, or in the home, a shrine may become a focus of a cult image. Many shrines are located buildings and in the temples designed specifically for worship, such as a church in Christianity. A shrine here is usually the centre of attention in the building, in such cases, adherents of the faith assemble within the building in order to venerate the deity at the shrine. In classical temple architecture, the shrine may be synonymous with the cella, historically, in Hinduism, Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, and also in modern faiths, such as Neopaganism, a shrine can commonly be found within the home or shop. This shrine is usually a structure or a setup of pictures and figurines dedicated to a deity that is part of the official religion. Small household shrines are common among the Chinese and people from South and Southeast Asia, whether Hindu. Usually a small lamp and small offerings are kept daily by the shrine, Buddhist household shrines must be on a shelf above the head, Chinese shrines must stand directly on the floor. Small outdoor yard shrines are found at the bottom of many gardens, following various religions, including historically. Shrines are found in most, though not all, religions, Shrines therefore attract the practice of pilgrimage. Shrines are found in many, though not all, forms of Christianity, Roman Catholicism, the largest denomination of Christianity, has many shrines, as do Orthodox Christianity and Anglicanism. For a shrine to be described as national, the approval of the Episcopal Conference is necessary, for it to be described as international, the approval of the Holy See is required. Another use of the shrine in colloquial Catholic terminology is a niche or alcove in most – especially larger – churches used by parishioners when praying privately in the church. They were also called Devotional Altars, since they could look like small Side Altars or bye-altars, Shrines were always centered on some image of Christ or a saint – for instance, a statue, painting, mural or mosaic, and may have had a reredos behind them. However, Mass would not be celebrated at them, they were used to aid or give a visual focus for prayers. Side altars, where Mass could actually be celebrated, were used in a way to shrines by parishioners
8.
Lingam
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The lingam is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu deity, Shiva, used for worship in temples, smaller shrines, or as self-manifested natural objects. In traditional Indian society, the linga is seen as a symbol of the energy, the lingam is often represented alongside the yoni, a symbol of the goddess or of Shakti, female creative energy. The union of linga and yoni represents the indivisible two-in-oneness of male and female, the lingam is a column-like or oval symbol of Shiva, the Formless All-pervasive Reality, made of stone, metal, or clay. The Shiva Linga is a symbol of Lord Shiva – a mark that reminds of the Omnipotent Lord, in Shaivite Hindu temples, the linga is a smooth cylindrical mass symbolising Shiva. It is found at the centre of the temple, often resting in the middle of a rimmed, disc-shaped structure, anthropologist Christopher John Fuller wrote that although most sculpted images are anthropomorphic, the aniconic Shiva Linga is an important exception. Some believe that linga-worship was a feature of indigenous Indian religion, there is a hymn in the Atharvaveda that praises a pillar, and this is one possible origin of linga worship. Some associate Shiva-Linga with this Yupa-Stambha, the sacrificial post, in the hymn, a description is found of the beginning-less and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. The Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to the Shiva-Linga, in the Linga Purana the same hymn is expanded in the shape of stories meant to establish the glory of the great Stambha and the supreme nature of Mahâdeva. The Hindu scripture Shiva Purana describes the origin of the lingam, known as Shiva-linga, as the beginning-less and endless cosmic pillar of fire, Lord Shiva is pictured as emerging from the Lingam – the cosmic pillar of fire – proving his superiority over the gods Brahma and Vishnu. The Linga Purana also supports this interpretation of lingam as a cosmic pillar, a similar interpretation is also found in the Skanda Purana, The endless sky is the Linga, the Earth is its base. At the end of time the universe and all the Gods finally merge in the Linga itself. In yogic lore, the linga is considered the first form to arise when creation occurs, seek him within the self and you will soon find him, meditate on His omnipresence and gain His boons. The oldest example of a lingam that is used for worship is in Gudimallam. It dates to the 2nd century BC, a figure of Shiva is carved into the front of the lingam. There is a set of proportions for the height, width. Some types of Shiva linga are mukhalinga, lingodbhavamurti, a linga with a cobra on top, svayambhuva directly made from light, Sphatika-linga, around 70 lingas are worshipped throughout the world and have become places of pilgrimage. The Rasa linga or Parad Shiva linga is made of mercury and it is of great importance for Hindu devotees and is worshipped with complete process, belief, and devotion. It is worshipped to be physically, mentally, spiritually, and psychologically as well as to obtain protection from the natural calamities, evil power, disaster
9.
Shiva
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Shiva is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme God within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism, Shiva is the transformer within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity that includes Brahma and Vishnu. In Shaivism tradition, Shiva is the Supreme being who creates, protects, in the goddess tradition of Hinduism called Shaktism, the goddess is described as supreme, yet Shiva is revered along with Vishnu and Brahma. A goddess is stated to be the energy and creative power of each and he is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. At the highest level, Shiva is regarded as formless, limitless, transcendent and unchanging absolute Brahman, Shiva has many benevolent and fearsome depictions. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives a life on Mount Kailash as well as a householder with wife Parvati. In his fierce aspects, he is depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also known as Adiyogi Shiva, regarded as the god of yoga, meditation. Shiva is usually worshipped in the form of Lingam. Shiva is a deity, revered widely by Hindus, in India, Nepal. The Sanskrit word Śiva means, states Monier Williams, auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind, benevolent, the roots of Śiva in folk etymology is śī which means in whom all things lie, pervasiveness and va which means embodiment of grace. The word Shiva is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda, as an epithet for several Rigvedic deities, the term Shiva also connotes liberation, final emancipation and the auspicious one, this adjective sense of usage is addressed to many deities in Vedic layers of literature. The term evolved from the Vedic Rudra-Shiva to the noun Shiva in the Epics, Sharma presents another etymology with the Sanskrit root śarv-, which means to injure or to kill, interprets the name to connote one who can kill the forces of darkness. The Sanskrit word śaiva means relating to the god Shiva, and it is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism. Some authors associate the name with the Tamil word śivappu meaning red, noting that Shiva is linked to the Sun, the Vishnu sahasranama interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings, The Pure One, and the One who is not affected by three Guṇas of Prakṛti. Shiva is known by names such Viswanathan, Mahadeva, Mahesha, Maheshvara, Shankara, Shambhu, Rudra, Hara, Trilochana, Devendra, Neelakanta, Subhankara, Trilokinatha. The highest reverence for Shiva in Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva, Maheśvara, Sahasranama are medieval Indian texts that list a thousand names derived from aspects and epithets of a deity. There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, the version appearing in Book 13 of the Mahabharata provides one such list
10.
Spring (hydrology)
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A spring is any natural situation where water flows from an aquifer to the Earths surface. It is a component of the hydrosphere, a spring may be the result of karst topography where surface water has infiltrated the Earths surface, becoming part of the area groundwater. The groundwater then travels through a network of cracks and fissure—openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves, the water eventually emerges from below the surface, in the form of a karst spring. The forcing of the spring to the surface can be the result of an aquifer in which the recharge area of the spring water table rests at a higher elevation than that of the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources are artesian wells and this is possible even if the outlet is in the form of a 300-foot-deep cave. In this case the cave is used like a hose by the higher elevated area of groundwater to exit through the lower elevation opening. Non-artesian springs may simply flow from a higher elevation through the earth to a lower elevation, still other springs are the result of pressure from an underground source in the earth, in the form of volcanic activity. The result can be water at elevated temperature such as a hot spring, the action of the groundwater continually dissolves permeable bedrock such as limestone and dolomite, creating vast cave systems. The term seep refers to springs with small flow rates in which the water has filtered through permeable earth. Fracture springs, discharge from faults, joints, or fissures in the earth, tubular springs, in which the water flows from underground caverns. Spring discharge, or resurgence, is determined by the springs recharge basin, factors that affect the recharge include the size of the area in which groundwater is captured, the amount of precipitation, the size of capture points, and the size of the spring outlet. Water may leak into the system from many sources including permeable earth, sinkholes. In some cases entire creeks seemingly disappear as the water sinks into the ground via the stream bed, grand Gulf State Park in Missouri is an example of an entire creek vanishing into the groundwater system. The water emerges 9 miles away, forming some of the discharge of Mammoth Spring in Arkansas, human activity may also affect a springs discharge--withdrawal of groundwater reduces the water pressure in an aquifer, decreasing the volume of flow. Springs are often classified by the volume of the water they discharge, the largest springs are called first-magnitude, defined as springs that discharge water at a rate of at least 2800 liters or 100 cubic feet of water per second. The scale for spring flow is as follows, Minerals become dissolved in the water as it moves through the underground rocks and this may give the water flavor and even carbon dioxide bubbles, depending on the nature of the geology through which it passes. This is why spring water is bottled and sold as mineral water. Springs that contain significant amounts of minerals are sometimes called mineral springs, Springs that contain large amounts of dissolved sodium salts, mostly sodium carbonate, are called soda springs
