Anuruddha

Anuruddha (Thai: อนุรุทธ) was a monarch of Dvaravati’s Arimadhanaburi (อริมัทนบุรี),^{[1]: 126 [2]: 4} identified by modern scholar with Nakhon Pathom.^{[2]: 4 [3]: 6} He is principally attested in the Pali Jinakalamali as the ruler who orchestrated the overthrow of Manohanaraj at Ayojjhapura,^{[1]: 126–7} the principal city of Qiān Zhī Fú at Si Thep.^[4]: 30 The account, which also references Camadevi of Haripuñjaya, situates Anuruddha’s reign approximately in the mid to late 7th century.^[1]: 128 Some scholars have proposed that his reign extended from 639 to 679,^[3]: 6 identifying him with Kakabhadra, the founder of the Chula Sakarat era.^{[5]: 241–3} However, this chronology stands in contradiction to the account preserved in the Northern Chronicle, which records that Kalavarnadisharaja succeeded his father Kakabhadra at Nakhon Pathom in 641 and subsequently transferred the seat of power to Lavo's Lopburi in 648.

During his reign, Anuruddha actively pursued both political and religious legitimacy. Following the military successes of Qiān Zhī Fú’s Rajadhiraj, who had previously invaded Lampang of Haripuñjaya and acquired the black stone Buddha images of Sikhī,^{[1]: 125–6} Anuruddha sought to bring these symbols of sacred authority to Arimadhanaburi. When Manohanaraj, Rajadhiraj’s successor, refused his request for one of the Sikhī images, Anuruddha launched a decisive campaign against Ayojjhapura, resulting in the capture of Manohanaraj and the transfer of two Sikhī Buddha images to Arimadhanaburi.^{[1]: 126–7 [2]: 4} Subsequently, Anuruddha returned these Buddha images to Haripuñjaya during the reign of Camadevi, who then gave it to her son, Hanayos, king of Lampang.^[1]: 128 Since the account explicitly involves Hanayos of Lampang, whose accession to the throne is dated to 688 CE (1231 BE),^[6] this evidence indicates that Anuruddha’s activities, and by extension his reign, cannot have concluded prior to that year.

Scholarly discussion concerning Anuruddha’s identity has arisen due to phonetic and chronological ambiguities. His name bears a resemblance to Anawrahta, the 11th-century monarch of Pagan,^{[7]: 124–6} a similarity that has occasionally led to chronological confusion, although the two figures are historically distinct. Some researchers have further proposed a tentative identification of Anuruddha with the precede Kalavarnadisharaja of Lavo.^[2]: 4 However, this hypothesis appears temporally inconsistent, as the narrative situates Anuruddha in Nakhon Pathom after the enthronement of Kalavarnadisharaja's daughter, Camadevi, at Haripuñjaya, but in fact, Kalavarnadisharaja ruled at Lavo at the time mentioned.