Narai I

Narai I is regarded as the last sovereign of the Ramanwamsa line of Lavo and simultaneously the inaugural monarch of Xiān at Ayodhya. He was a scion of the Monic dynasty, being the son of King Chandrachota of Lavo and Princess Patima Sudhaduangchan of Haripuñjaya. Following the death of the regent who administered the royal court, Narai I was formally invested with kingship in 1082. His reign commenced at Lavapura, the capital of Lavo, where he ruled during the initial years of his sovereignty, before subsequently transferring the royal seat to Ayodhya.

During this same period, comparable unrest was recorded in the western valley at Suphannaphum’s Mueang Uthong, where the death of King Anga Indra in 1081 enabled the Pagan monarch, Kar Tayy, to seize control. Subsequently, Pagan forces were recorded to have invaded Ayodhya in 1087 during Narai's reign, the same year in which Narai is believed to have died. the ruler of Mueang Phreak, who assumed the regnal title Sindhob Amarin (สินธพอำมรินทร์).

In the mid-1080s, only a few years after his enthronement, Narai I transferred his seat of power to Mueang Wat Derm, renaming it Ayodhya. The Northern Chronicle further records that in 1087 Narai I engaged in a military confrontation with his cousin, the prince of Pagan, whose mother—Narai's maternal aunt—had been given in marriage to the king of Pagan. Narai emerged victorious in this encounter; however, he died later in the same year. Owing to the brevity of his reign, which lasted only five years, contemporary sources make scant reference to his political or administrative undertakings.

Thai historian Sujit Wongthes has suggested that the relocation of the seat during Narai's reign may have been precipitated by the altered course of the Lopburi River near present-day Pak Nam Prasob in Bang Pa-in. Rungroj Phirom-anukul (รุ่งโรจน์ ภิรมย์อนุกูล) has advanced the hypothesis that the shift in the political center from Lavo to Ayodhya may be attributed to internal fissures among the Lavo aristocracy. Since the 5th century, Lavo's ruling elites had maintained a devotional association with Krishna of the Candravaṃśa tradition. By the mid-11th century, however, the introduction of the Lanka Theravada tradition appears to have engendered ideological divisions among them. It is therefore conceivable that a faction of elites aligned with the Theravada established Ayodhya as their new political center, while adherents of the earlier Hindu and Mahāyāna traditions continued to exercise authority at Lavo. This interpretation accords with the Northern Chronicle, which records that, following the death of Chandrachota in 1069, Narai I was deemed too young to assume sovereign authority. The regency consequently administered the kingdom on his behalf for a notably protracted period of 13 years, until the regent died in 1082. Such an unusually long regency for a noble seems excessive, suggesting that political discord or rivalries among the noble clans may have prolonged the transitional arrangement. At the age of 25, Narai was enthroned, at which point he transferred his seat from Lavo to Ayodhya—a development that can be viewed as a reflection of broader ideological and aristocratic tensions within the court.