City · The Khmer empire of Jayavarman VII · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Lavo (Lopburi)

Khmer seat on an old Mon site; not a kingdom.

A moated town on the Lopburi river where Bayon-style towers are going up inside (Phra Prang Sam Yot, begun about 1200 or in the early thirteenth century on English Wikipedia). Lavapura had its own silver coins in the 7th or 8th century, its own embassies to China as Luohu in 1115 and 1155 and again in 1289 to 1299, and sixteen dated inscriptions of 1168 to 1219 from its country show no sign of Angkorian administration (Wyatt; Baker and Pasuk). The Preah Khan stele of 1191 lists Lavodayapura first among the western towns that received Jayavarman VII's Buddha image.

The campaign board's 'a governor answering to Angkor' is not shown: we write a Khmer seat of real weight, answering to Angkor in titles, gifts and religion, doing as it pleases in practice, with a lord no source names for 1200. It holds the rice of the lower river, the road to the Gulf and the copper and iron of Khao Wong Prachan. Its drift out of Angkor's orbit is the next fifty years' story, not this winter's.

Who holds it

Name
Not known (see the Lavo record)
Title
Lord of Lavodayapura (a Khmer kinsman on one reading; a local line on another)
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
not known
Confidence
low

English Wikipedia (Lavo Kingdom; Lopburi), Wyatt, Baker and Pasuk; not pinned for 1 January 1200.

Lord in 1200

Not known (see the Lavo record)

How things stand that morning

A Khmer seat with building in progress; its lord is not known.

Communities

Mon and Khmer speakers, Mon monasteries, a Mon-Tai clan from Chaliang is said to have held it on one reading.

Walls and castle

A moated town; the Bayon-style prang inside it are going up.

Trade and crafts

Rice, boat tolls on the Chao Phraya and Pa Sak, copper and iron from Khao Wong Prachan, salt and forest goods in transit.

Places of note

  • Phra Prang Sam Yot: Three Bayon-style towers.

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry lavo-lopburi (secure) 'a governor answering to Angkor': not shown; Wyatt found no Angkorian administration in the sixteen inscriptions.
  • The campaign board entry phra-prang-sam-yot 'Bayon manner under Jayavarman VII': style dating; the building is begun about 1200 or later.

Evidence: Monuments, inscriptions, Chinese embassies; no lord named.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Seeds round the town and the towers.

Primary sources for Khmer empire

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
  • The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
  • The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
  • History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
  • History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
  • Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
  • The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
  • The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online

5 more in the sources library for Mainland Southeast Asia.

Sources and studies

  1. English Wikipedia, Lavo Kingdom
  2. English Wikipedia, Lopburi
  3. Wyatt, Thailand: A Short History (Yale, 1984; 2nd ed. 2003)
  4. Baker and Pasuk, A History of Thailand
  5. OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.