Indravarman II

Indravarman II was the ruler of the Khmer Empire, son of Jayavarman VII. The length of his reign is disputed, in part because his successor Jayavarman VIII appears to have destroyed records of him; the only inscription that names him directly reports his death in 1243. He was a Buddhist, and is credited with enlarging or completing several of his father's temples.

Reign His reign is usually described as one in which Angkorian power receded, Champa passing out of Khmer control and the towns of the upper Chao Phraya basin coming under the rulers who founded the Sukhothai Kingdom.

Angkorian authority in the west How far Angkorian authority had reached into those western towns is disputed. Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit report that the Chao Phraya plain has yielded none of the temple-endowment inscriptions characteristic of Angkorian provinces, and that Jayavarman VII's hospital and fire-house foundations reach no further west than Prachin Buri; they read the spread of Angkorian styles across the plain as cultural influence rather than administration. David K. Wyatt surveyed the sixteen dated inscriptions of 1168 to 1219 and found no indication of Angkorian political or administrative power in those from Lopburi or Grahi, in present-day Surat Thani province, while Pracinburi and the Khorat Plateau remained within the Angkorian sphere; he added that the absence of such references is not conclusive. Wyatt's own account of the period nonetheless places Sukhothai within Angkorian authority, and on his premise Indravarman II is the ruler to whom Pha Mueang had sworn an oath. He dates the taking of Sukhothai to about 1243 rather than 1238 or 1220, on the ground that Si Inthrathit was the father of Ram Khamhaeng, who was reigning in the 1290s, and so makes the overlord of that oath Indravarman II rather than Jayavarman VII.

Identification with the Leper King David P. Chandler suggested that Indravarman II may have been the Leper King of Khmer legends.