The Phra Bang ("Royal Buddha Image in the Dispelling Fear mudra), is the palladium of Laos.

The Lao-language name for the image has been transliterated in a number of ways, including "Pra Bang," "Prabang," "Phabang" and "Pha Bang."

The statue is an eighty-three centimeter-high standing Buddha with palms facing forward, cast in bronze and covered in gold leaf.

According to local lore, it was cast in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) sometime between the first and ninth century.

However, the features of the image suggest a much later Khmer origin.

The Phra Bang arrives in Lan Xang during the reign of Fa Ngum from Angkor, and is used to spread Theravada Buddhism in the new kingdom.

In 1359, the Khmer king gives the Phra Bang to his son-in-law, the first Lang Xang monarch Fa Ngum (1353-1373); to provide Buddhist legitimacy both to Fa Ngum's rule and by extension to the sovereignty of Laos.

The former Lao capital Luang Prabang, where it is kept, is named after the Buddha image.