Asadvarapura Kingdom (Xiū Luó Fēn)

Asadvarapura Kingdom or Xiū Luó Fēn (Chinese: 修罗分国; lit. 'Country of Āśadvārapura') was an ancient Xiān political entity recorded in the New Book of Tang^[1] and the Cefu Yuangui, a leishu compiled during the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE).^[2]: 22 The polity was described as being situated north of the South Sea, its urban perimeter, potentially in Phraek Si Racha area,^[a] delineated by wooden fortifications rather than masonry walls. The realm extended eastward toward the Kingdom of Zhenla and southward to the maritime frontier.^{[2]: 22 [5][6]}

During the Tang period, three closely associated city-states—Xiū Luó Fēn, Gē Luó Shě Fēn, and Gān Bì—were documented as sending tributary missions to the Chinese imperial court. The three shared broadly similar sociopolitical customs and systems of governance, each ruled by its own sovereign and protected by fortified city walls.^[1]

Militarily, Xiū Luó Fēn maintained a substantial army of over 30,000 elite soldiers under the command of its ruler, Shidama Deva (尸达摩提婆; ศิทามะเทวา).^{[2]: 22 [5][6]} Its two allies, Gē Luó Shě Fēn possessed a force of approximately 20,000 elite troops. In contrast, Gān Bì maintained a smaller military establishment of about 5,000. Xiū Luó Fēn is recorded as having one of the strongest armies in the Menam Basin.^[1] It is also traditionally associated with the dynastic lineage of Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, who later played a significant role in consolidating several principalities within the Menam valley, culminating in the establishment of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 14th century.^[b]

There is no extant record concerning the termination of Xiū Luó Fēn’s authority in the Phraek Si Racha area. However, the French accounts Du Royaume de Siam and Instructions Given to the Siamese Envoys Sent to Portugal (1684) mention a relocation to Sukhothai in the 1150s of Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri, a prince under the last ruler of Xiū Luó Fēn, Anuraja. Subsequently, a short-lived polity known as Chen Li Fu or Suvarnapura emerged, as referenced in various Chinese sources dating from the late 12th to the early 13th century, with its proposed center likewise situated in Phraek Si Racha. The rulers of this polity were reported to have dynastic connections with the Mahidharapura Kingdoms on the Khorat Plateau. Nevertheless, in 1225, Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri returned to his native domain, overthrew the foreign monarch, and incorporated it into Xiān at Ayodhya under the rule of his son, Uthong II.

The term “Xiū Luó Fēn” appears phonetically similar to “Xiān Luó” (暹羅), the designation employed in early Chinese sources to refer to Ayutthaya. The element “fēn” (分) may plausibly correspond to the Sanskrit suffix “pūra”, denoting a “town” or “city.”^[4]: 28 The initial component “Xiū Luó” (修罗) represents a simplified rendering of Āśura (阿修罗), meaning “shura” or “asura.”^[8] However, the character “Luó” (罗) is plausibly derived from “dvara”, as evidenced by the alternative “Luó” 儸 or “Luò” 落 characters, both of which occur in Chinese transcriptions in the term Dvaravati.^{[4]: 28–9} Alternatively, the designation may be interpreted as “the city (or country) of Xiū,” indicating a possible localized political entity.

If the latter interpretation is adopted, the reference would correspond closely to the polity of Āśe (อเส, आशेcode: san promoted to code: sa ) mentioned in the Northern Chronicle, situated in the Phraek Si Racha area, lay north of Davaraburi (ทวารบุรี, identified with Dvaravati’s Nakhon Pathom) and south of Kosambi (โกสัมพี, corresponding to the ancient Ban Khlong Mueang in the modern Kosamphi Nakhon district). These settlements were among the seven polities traditionally attributed to the authority of King Kalavarnadisharaja (r. 648–700) of Lavo during the peak of Dvaravati civilization.^[9]: 25

The Japanese historian Tatsuo Hoshino advanced the hypothesis that Xiū Luó Fēn represented an early Siamese polity that maintained strong commercial and cultural relations with other small-scale kingdoms along the trans-Mekong trade corridor, including Gān Bì, Zhān Bó, Wen Dan, Qiān Zhī Fú, and Cān Bàn.^[4]: 40 These polities were inhabited by an early Monic Siamese people as well as Tai-speaking populations, who are believed to have migrated into the region by at least the 7th to 8th centuries.^{[4]: 39–68} Over time, these communities came into contact with another branch of Tai peoples migrating southward from Chiang Saen into the Menam Valley, thereby contributing to the broader ethnocultural consolidation of early Tai civilization in mainland Southeast Asia.^{[10]: 47–64}

Hoshino’s theoretical framework concerning the early Siamese polities is consonant with the historical narrative preserved in the Ayutthaya Testimonies, which assert that Indraraja, also designated as Pra Poa Noome Thele Seri—the progenitor of Ramathibodi I, the inaugural sovereign of the Ayutthaya Kingdom—was the filial descendant of Anuraja, the reigning authority of the polity at Phraek Si Racha.^{[7]: 43–4} The dynastic lineage of Anuraja can be traced to the 8th century,^[c] reflecting a continuity of regional rulership over multiple generations. This account exhibits significant correspondence with the Legend of the Arhat (Tamnan Nithan Phra Arahant; ตำนานนิทานพระอรหันต์), which delineates the genealogical succession of Kalavarnadisharaja, the founding monarch of Lavo. Notably, one of his grandsons, Sai Thong Som, is recorded to have emerged in the 7th century as the offspring of a union between a Mon sovereign and a Tai princess.^{[12]: 4–5} The alliance between Xiū Luó Fēn and Gē Luó Shě Fēn documented in Chinese sources, was likely facilitated through dynastic connections, as suggested in the French work Du Royaume de Siam and the Instructions Given to the Siamese Envoys Sent to Portugal (1684) that King Ramathibodi I of Ayutthaya was also a descendant of Pra Poat honne Sourittep pennaratui sonanne bopitra, ruler of the 8th-century Qiān Zhī Fú—later recognized by Chinese chroniclers of the 9th centuries as Gē Luó Shě Fēn.

The following enumeration presents the succession of rulers of Phraek Si Racha region and its associated polities from the decline of the coastal Dvaravati civilization to the Xiān period, encompassing the temporal span from the 9th to the 14th century. Their seat of power was constantly shifted over the period.

Color legend for the seat of the polity

The following account outlines the genealogy of an early Siamese monarch of Xiū Luó Fēn preserved in the Ayutthaya Testimonies.