Lavo Kingdom

The Lavo Kingdom (Thai: อาณาจักรละโว้) was a political entity (mandala) 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 (Xiān) 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, Sema, 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 (modern Lopburi) to the east, which was more often in touch with the Angkorean and pre-Angkorean worlds, Suphannaphum (modern Suphanburi) 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.