Manohanaraj

Manohanaraj (Thai: มโนหารราช) is a Dvaravati monarch preserved in the Pali chronicle Jinakalamali.^{[1]: 126–7 [2]: 4 [3]} Identified as the ruler of Ayojjhapura,^{[1]: 125–7} generally equated with Si Thep,^[4] the principal city of Qiān Zhī Fú.^[5]: 30 Manohanaraj succeeded his father, Rajadhiraj, and continued the lineage that had long governed this significant urban and religious center. His reign, however, is remembered less for consolidation than for its downfall.^{[1]: 125–7} According to the chronicle, Manohanaraj's refusal to grant Anuruddha of Kamalanka possession of the sacred black stone Buddha images of Sikhī provoked a decisive military campaign. The conflict culminated in his defeat, capture, and forced removal to Kamalanka.^{[1]: 126–7 [2]: 4} The Jinakalamali notes that another monarch subsequently assumed power at Ayojjhapura, yet the identity of this successor remains unrecorded.^[1]: 127

The overthrow of Manohanaraj has attracted considerable attention in later historiography, largely due to the contested identity of Anuruddha. Burmese tradition has tended to identify Anuruddha with Anawrahta, the 11th-century monarch of Pagan. On this basis, the Burmese narrative equates Manohanaraj with Manuha, the last king of the mythical Mon kingdom of Thaton, thereby linking the story to Pagan's conquest of Thaton.^{[6]: 124–6} However, this presumption is undermined by the chronological framework of the Jinakalamali itself, which explicitly situates these events in the milieu of the 7th century as it refers to contemporary figures such as Queen Camadevi of Haripuñjaya in the event.^{[1]: 127–8}