Sri Dharmasokaraja II

Sri Dharmasokaraja II , also known as Chandrabhanu I , was a 12th-century monarch. He is attested in both epigraphic and literary sources, most notably the Pali–Old Khmer Dong Mae Nang Mueang inscription (K. 766), the , and the Legend of Phatthalung. These sources portray him as the ruler of the Phraek Si Racha–Lavo–Tambralinga polities during a period of intensified political competition between regional centers of the Chao Phraya basin and the expanding Angkor. The northernmost limit of his recognised power lay at Dong Mae Nang Mueang , in the present-day Banphot Phisai district of Nakhon Sawan province. In the aftermath of Angkorian intervention, Jayavarman VII installed his son Nripendravarman, later enthroned as Indravarman II, as ruler of Lavo, ending Sri Dharmasokaraja II's authority there.

The period saw wider population movement and dynastic realignment in the Chao Phraya basin. His years of authority at Lavo coincide with the northward movement of a Phraek Si Racha prince identified in later traditions as Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, who migrated from Tasoo Nacora Louang or Yassouttora Nacoora Louang, potentially Lavo, toward the Sukhothai–Nakhon Thai area. Subsequent accounts record that this ruler and his brother, Uthong I, later shifted southward and established authority in the western Menam basin.

In the same year that Angkorian forces displaced him from Lavo, Sri Dharmasokaraja II is recorded to have engaged in territorial conflict with Phichaithep Chiang Saen , a figure frequently equated with Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, ruler of Phrip Phri, father of Uthong II of Ayodhya and his own predecessor at Lavo. Both were pressing south, perhaps as far as the country below the Kra Isthmus. The quarrel was settled by negotiation rather than a long war, and the two houses came to an alliance.

Tambralinga as the center and succession

Following the loss of Lavo, Sri Dharmasokaraja II established Tambralinga as his chief political center. From there it kept up its diplomatic ties abroad, sending a tributary mission to China in 1168.

Sri Dharmasokaraja II died in 1183. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Sri Dharmasokaraja III, also known as Chandrabhanu II, who inherited a polity centred on Tambralinga.