Lavo Kingdom
The Lavo Kingdom was a political entity on the left bank of the Chao Phraya River in the Upper Chao Phraya valley from the end of Dvaravati civilization, in the 7th century, until 1388. The original center of Lavo was Lavapura and was shifted to Ayodhya in the 1080s. However, since both Ayodhya or Xiān and Lavo separately sent embassies to the Chinese court in the late 1200s, these two polities were potentially individual states.
Before the 9th century, Lavo, together with other supra-regional settlements, such as Si Thep,, Phimai, Nakhon Pathom, and others were the centers of the mandala-style polities of Dvaravati. Due to several circumstances, including climate changes and the invasions of the surrounding polities, several Dvaravati centers lost their prosperity, and the mandalas in the Menam Valley was then split into three groups: Lavo to the east, which was more often in touch with the Angkorean and pre-Angkorean worlds, Suphannaphum to the west, which had more contact with the Mon and Malay worlds and the northern polities, which had more complexity in culture, ethnic, and linguistic than the aforementioned two polities. Meanwhile, the Mun–Chi mandalas allied with Kambudesha in the Tonlé Sap basin.
History
Early Dvaravati period: 7th–9th centuries
The area of Dvaravati was first inhabited by Mon people who had arrived and appeared centuries earlier. The foundations of Buddhism in central Southeast Asia were laid between the 6th and 9th centuries when a Theravada Buddhist culture linked to the Mon people developed in central and northeastern Thailand. The Mon Buddhist kingdoms that rose in what are now parts of Laos and Central Plain of Thailand were collectively called Dvaravati.The Mon people of Lavo
According to the Northern Thai Chronicles, Lavo was founded by Kalavarnadisharaja, who came from Takkasila in 648 CE, a year after Dvaravati made Tou Yuan its vassal. Kalavarnadisharaja was a son of Kakabhadra, king of Takkasila who set the new era, Chula Sakarat in 638 CE. The era was used by the Siamese and the Burmese until the 19th century. His son, Phraya Kalavarnadisharaja founded the city a decade later.Evidence from stone inscriptions found in ancient Mon script in Northern and Central Thailand confirms that the main population of Lavo and Haripuñjaya mandalas is likely to be the same ethnic group, the "Mon people", or any ethnic group that uses the Austroasiatic languages. Due to the royal blood relations, these two states maintained a good relationship for the first 300 years.
The only native language found during early Lavo times is the Mon language. However, there is debate whether Mon was the sole ethnicity of Lavo. Some historians speculate that Lavo was composed of mixed Mon and Lawa people, with the Mons forming the ruling class. It is also hypothesized that the migration of Tai peoples into Chao Phraya valley occurred during the time of the Lavo kingdom.
Theravada Buddhism remained a major belief in Lavo although Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism from the Khmer Empire wielded considerable influence. Around the late 7th century, Lavo expanded to the north. In the Northern Thai Chronicles, including the Cāmadevivaṃsa, Camadevi, the first ruler of the Mon kingdom of Haripuñjaya, was said to be a daughter of a Lavo king.
Few records are found concerning the nature of the Lavo kingdom. Most of what we know about Lavo is from archaeological evidence. Tang dynasty chronicles records that the Lavo kingdom sent tributes to Tang as Tou-ho-lo. In his diary, the monk Xuanzang referred to Dvaravati-Lavo as Tou-lo-po-ti, which seems to echo the name Dvaravati, as a state between Chenla and the Pagan kingdom. By the Song dynasty, Lavo was known as Luówō.
Chenla influence and warfare
Via royal relations, Isanavarman I of the Chenla kingdom expanded Khmer influence to the Menam valley during the Mon dominance through his campaigns around the 7th century, but did not exercise political control over the region.During the Sui period, two sister kingdoms, Zhū Jiāng, which has been identified as one of the Dvaravati-influenced polity, and Cān Bàn, made royal intermarriages with Zhenla. They then fought several wars against Dvaravati Tou Yuan to the northwest. Tou Yuan later became a vassal of Dvaravati in 647, and known as Lavo in 648. The warfare between Chenla and Dvaravati continued into the Tang period with the involvement of several kingdoms, including the three brother states of Qiān Zhī Fú, Xiū Luó Fēn, and Gān Bì, who collectively fielded over 50,000 elite soldiers. Certain battles may have been associated with the wars between Lavo and its northern sister Monic kingdom, Haripuñjaya, occurring in the early 10th century.
In addition to Lavo, Zhenla also encountered Línyì to the northeast. Through royal connections, Cān Bàn thereafter became a complete vassal of Chenla, until the disintegration in the late 7th century, when it instead was under Wen Dan. The Chenla power struggle that led to the kingdom's dissolution also diminished its power in the Menam Valley.
Some scholar suggests that the son of Si Thep king named Bhavavarman mentioned in the Ban Wang Pai Inscription founded in the Phetchabun Province of Thailand was probably Bhavavarman II instead of Bhavavarman I due to the inscription styles that potentially inscribed after 627.
Qian–Dvaravati rivalry
Records indicate that conflict between the Dvaravati and Qian monarchies can be traced to the 6th century. Siddhijaya Brahmadeva of Manohana—commonly identified with Ayojjhapura and further equated with Si Thep, the principal center of Qiān Zhī Fú—relocated westward in 590 to establish his authority in the western Menam Valley, in the vicinity of modern Nakhon Pathom. This expansion brought him into direct confrontation with the locally entrenched Brahmanical leadership headed by Kakabhadra, who had ruled the polity since 569.During this period of rivalry, Kakabhadra’s son, Kalavarnadisharaja, commissioned a group of Brahmans in 629 to construct a new urban settlement south of Si Thep, situated in the eastern valley. Following Kakabhadra’s death, Kalavarnadisharaja succeeded to power at Nakhon Pathom in 641. He subsequently consolidated his authority by establishing Tou Yuan to vassal status in 647. In 648, he transferred the political center to the newly founded settlement, later known as Lavapura, and formally proclaimed the establishment of the Lavo Kingdom. Contemporary and later traditions credit Kalavarnadisharaja with extending his hegemony over all major polities within the Menam Valley during his reign.
Although extant sources do not explicitly record a direct military conflict between Lavo and Si Thep during this phase, an alternative account, Jinakalamali, describes hostilities between Dvaravati's Nakhon Pathom—ruled by Kalavarnadisharaja’s brother following his departure to Lavo—and the polity of Si Thep. According to this source, Dvaravati forces successfully captured the reigning king of Si Thep, Manohanaraj, and transferred him to Dvaravati, after which a puppet monarch was installed at Si Thep.
Approximately a century later, however, the balance of power shifted decisively. Dvaravati territories, including Lavo and its associated trading hub of Sukhothai, are described as having fallen under the Qian during the reign of Padumasūriyavaṁśa. Following the end of Padumasūriyavaṁśa’s rule, central control weakened, and several subordinate polities seceded, most notably Dvaravati Lavo. Nevertheless, certain polities—such as Xiū Luó Fēn and Gān Bì—appear to have retained dynastic affiliations with the Qian.
Late Dvaravati period: 10th–11th centuries
Fall of Ayojjhapura
During the 8th and 9th centuries, the western Chao Phraya Valley was likely centered on Ayojjhapura, as attested in Pali chronicle traditions, notably the and the Jinakalamali. In this period, Lavo is commonly interpreted as functioning as the southern frontier fortress of Ayojjhapura, reflecting its subordinate yet strategically significant position within the broader political landscape. Following the decline of Ayojjhapura in the mid-10th century, the central Thai city-states appear to have reorganized into two principal mandala polities: Lavo in the east and Suphannabhum in the west.The decline of Ayojjhapura may have begun in the mid-10th century, as suggested by a Khmer inscription dated to 946, which records that the Angkorian king Rajendravarman II achieved victories over Rāmaññadesa and Champa. Subsequently, in 949, Rājendravarman II appointed a member of his lineage, Vāp Upendra, as governor of Rāmaññadeśa, further indicating Angkorian expansion into the region. In addition, the recounts a conflict between Ayojjhapura, led by Adītaraj, and Yaśodharapura over possession of the Emerald Buddha, an event conventionally dated to the late 9th or early 10th century. This confrontation, however, likely reflects a longer-standing rivalry between the two polities. As noted by Woodward, Jayavarman II—founder of Kambujadesa and the ruler who relocated the Angkorian capital northward to Yaśodharapura in the mid-9th century—cultivated alliances with city-states in the Mun–Chi river basin, including Wen Dan, in order to counterbalance the influence of Ayojjhapura in the Pa Sak River basin to the west.
Ayojjhapura appears to have been largely abandoned by the 13th–14th century. Many Thai scholars attribute this decline to a combination of environmental factors, particularly climatic change, as well as epidemic disease. The displaced population is believed to have migrated primarily to Lavapura and Ayodhya, both of which were subsequently incorporated into the Ayutthaya Kingdom during the 14th century, thereby shaping the political foundations of later central Thai state formation.
Lower Chao Phraya Valley's political turmoil
During the 10th–11th centuries, Lavo was overrun by neighbors from all directions; several battles with the northern neighbor Haripuñjaya happened in the early 900s, which caused the kingdom to be annexed by Tambralinga from the south in 928. Then, it was devastated by the Angkor from the east in 946 and 1001, raided by the Chola in 1030, and later invaded by Pagan from the west in 1058 and 1087, as detailed below.In the early 10th century, several battles between two sister mandalas—Lavo and Haripuñjaya—from 925 to 927 were recorded. According to the O Smach Inscription, after two years of the enthronement, King Rathasatkara or Trapaka of Haripuñjaya moved south, aiming to seize Lavo. The Lavo king, Uchitthaka Chakkawat or Ucchitta Emperor, moved northward to defend. However, the war between these two sister states spread to the southern kingdom of Tambralinga, King Jivaka or Suchitra, took this advantage to occupy Lavo. After losing Lavo, both Mon's kings rallied up north to hold Haripuñjaya city, but King Rathasatkara defeated and lost the hometown to Lavo's king. After failing to retake Haripuñjaya, King Rathasatkara moved south to settle in Phraek Si Racha. The battle is mentioned in several chronicles such as the Jinakalamali and Cāmadevivaṃsa.
After Jivaka took Lavo's capital, Lavapura, he appointed his son, Kampoch, as a new ruler and enthroned the ex-Lavo queen as his consort.
Following the conquering of Lavo, Javaka also seized Suphannabhum in the next few years. Princes of Suphannabhum—Thamikaraj and Chandrachota—fled to Haripuñjaya. Tambralinga's prince King Kampoch, unsuccessfully annexed Haripuñjaya the following year. He attempted to seize another northern city, Nakaburi, but also failed. Several battles between Haripuñjaya and Lavo happened since then.
Following Angkorian 9-year civil wars, Tambralinga lost Lavo to Angkor's Suryavarman I, who marched the troops to destroy several polities in upper Mun Valley and Lavo, where his predecessor Jayavarman V fled. It is expected that following the capture of Lavapura, the populace was subjected to exorbitant taxes, perhaps prompting their exodus from the city and Lavapura was then left abandoned. It was retrieved by Sri Lakshmi Pativarman, who was appointed by Suryavarman I as Lavo governor in 1006. This marked Lavo officially merging with the Angkor. Lavo at that time was governed by a Cambodian prince, as a part of Angkor's vassal state. Angkor attempted to exercise political power over Dvaravati's Lavo since the reign of Rajendravarman II, who once won the battle against Rāmaññadesa in 946, as mentioned in the K.872 Prasat Boeng Vien Inscription.
To the north, Suphannabhum prince Thamikaraj enthroned the King of Haripuñjaya. He, with the assistance of Suphannabhum, marched to the south and successfully took over Lavo in 1052; his younger brother Chandrachota was appointed Lavo king.
Only six years after Chandrachota acceded to the throne, Lavo faced another challenge in 1058 when Pagan led by Anawrahta invaded the Menam Valley and aimed to annex Lavo, to avoid the second devastation Chandrachota instead established royal relations with Pagan by having his queen consort's older sister married to the king of Pagan. Two polities then became allies. Chandrachota's son, Narai I, became his successor who then moved Lavo capital to Ayodhya in the 1080s. During Narai's reign, Lavo experienced another invasion by Pagan in 1087 but the conflict ended with the negotiation. Narai died with no heir in 1087. This caused a 2-year Ayodhya civil war among the nobles, in which Phra Chao Luang won.