The Phimai Historical Park () is a historical park in Thailand, covering the ancient town of Phimai and the ruins of Prasat Phimai (, ; , ), the largest ancient Mahayana Buddhist temple in Thailand. It stands in the town of Phimai, Nakhon Ratchasima province. The park was opened in 1989 and is managed by the Fine Arts Department.
Phimai was an important town under the Khmer Empire. The temple Prasat Hin Phimai, located in the center of the town, was one of the major Khmer temples in ancient Thailand, connected with Angkor by the Ancient Khmer Highway, and oriented to face Angkor as its cardinal direction.
History
The temple marks one end of the Ancient Khmer Highway from Angkor. Its enclosed area of 1,020 by 580 metres is comparable with that of Angkor Wat, which has been taken to indicate an important city of the Khmer Empire. Most buildings are from the late 11th to the late 12th century, built in the Baphuon, Bayon and Khmer temple style. However, even though the Khmer at that time were Hindu, the temple was built as a Buddhist temple, since the inhabitants of the Khorat area had been Buddhists as far back as the 7th century. Inscriptions name the site Vimayapura (which means city of Vimaya), which developed into the Thai name Phimai.
Citrasena-Mahendravarman left an inscription at Phimai in the 6th century, numbered K.1106 among the sixteen pre-7th-century inscriptions of the Dangraek area.
A re-used stone carrying an 8th-century Buddhist inscription, K.1000, lies in the temple wall. The Preah Khan inscription of 1191 counts seventeen rest houses with hearths on the road from the Angkorian capital to Vimāya, against fifty-seven on the roads to Campā and 121 in all, and names no road running west. Alt URL The plateau around the site is also the one part of the wider region where Angkorian administration is attested epigraphically. Seven Sanskrit inscriptions of śaka 1108, that is 1186, record hospital foundations of Jayavarman VII, five of them from the Nakhon Ratchasima region. The size and complexity of this temple and of Phanom Wan have been read as reflecting the imposition of strong centralized control, and the two as the major administrative and religious centers of the region.
Survey of the surrounding region places the growth of ceremonial sites and reservoirs in the Lopburi phase, about 1000 to 1300, most densely around Phimai and Phanom Wan. Four rectangular site types appear with it. They are reservoirs, walled temple compounds, walled towns and large earth-walled enclosures. Phimai is the only walled town among them in the 700 km² surveyed. The enclosures stand near Khmer temples without enclosing any, show no surface trace of occupation, and each holds a mound. One of them lies south of Phimai and had earlier been described as a reservoir. They have been read as possibly structured gardens with ponds and circulating water, on a Javanese model. Sites of the surveyed phases favour the Kula Ronghai soils over those of the Phimai floodplain, while the terrace carries the saline Roi Et series where prehistoric settlement had been thin.
Construction in the Phimai region came to an end about 1300. No further Khmer temples, cities or reservoirs were raised and no more inscriptions were written. In the 14th century the Lao kings extended their power down the Mekong and up its tributaries. Thai legend holds the Lao responsible for destroying the tower of the sanctuary, though there appears to be no historically acceptable evidence of this.
After the fall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1767, attempts were made to set up five separate states. Prince Teppipit, a son of King Borommakot, sought to make Phimai one of them, ruling over the eastern provinces including Nakhon Ratchasima. As the weakest of the five, Prince Teppipit was the first to be defeated and was executed in 1768.
The first inventory of the ruins was done in 1901 by the French geographer Etienne Aymonier. The site was put under Thai governmental protection by announcement in the Government Gazette, Volume 53, section 34, on September 27, 1936. Most of the restorations were done from 1964 to 1969 as a joint Thai-French project. The historical park, now managed by the Fine Arts Department, was officially opened by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on April 12, 1989.
Phimai has recently been the base of operations for the excavation of Ban Non Wat.
Khmer influence
Phimai's architecture and decoration follow Khmer architecture. Although Phimai was built much as Angkor and other Khmer Buddhist temples were, the religious origin of some structures within its walls remains debated. Evidence of Dvaravati influence, such as the sculpture of "the Wheel of Law" or the statue of Buddha, has been read as marking Phimai as a Buddhist centre. Much Buddhist artwork has been uncovered there, but other evidence, among it large pots embedded in some corners of the structure, suggests that religious practices other than Buddhism were followed as well. The site has been a place of Buddhist worship.
The earliest engraved Khmer records in northeastern Thailand date from the 6th century AD. For example, stone Sanskrit inscriptions were found along with statues and engraved images of Hindu deities, such as the image of Shiva's bull Nandin. Mahendravarman, the king of that time, is said to have ordered an inscription obliterated. How much evidence was lost that way is debated.
Phimai, like other Khmer temples in Thailand, was built mainly for the cult of the devaraja, the king who takes the form of a god. Jayavarman II is the ruler most often named in that connection. The devaraja cult developed the belief of worshiping Shiva and the principle that the king was an avatar of Shiva.
Temples in the Kleang and Baphuon styles, of the reign of Rajendravarman II (944–968) and after, stand across northeastern Thailand. They share a plan of three brick towers on a single platform, among them Prasat Prang Ku in Si Saket province and Ban Phuluang in Surin province. The spread of these styles has been read as marking the extension of Khmer control into the region.
Each building has its own features. Prang Brahmadat was built of laterite blocks on a square plan, and Prang Hin Daeng, the "Red Stone Tower", is also square but of red sandstone. The main sanctuary is of white sandstone and is almost 32 metres long. The southern lintel has a statue of Buddha meditating with "seven hoods of naga Muchalinda." Adjacent to this is a collection of statues of devils and animals depicted from the Tantric Mahayana Buddhist scripture.
The site is visited by people interested in history and archaeology. Located in the middle of Phimai is a small rectangular gallery surrounding the courtyard, which has been newly rebuilt. Within the gallery, there is a pre-Angkorian Buddhist inscription that tells the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama and his journey to becoming Buddha, along with other classic Buddhist stories. The prang symbolize that the area is a sacred space.
Within Phimai's wall
The approach from the old town to the south crosses a river about a kilometre away and reaches an ancient laterite landing stage. It has been read as the bathing place of the heroine of local myth. The south gate is the city's main gate, also known as the "Pratu Chai," which has recently been reconstructed by the Royal Fine Arts Department. It is said to be wide enough for a royal elephant to pass through. The Royal Fine Arts Department also built an inner gallery that shows ancient Buddhist inscriptions and small sculptures as well as pieces of wrecked architecture. The rest of Phimai remains the same only with a little restoration by the Royal Arts Department.
Architecture style Having a lot in common with Angkor Wat, Phimai is an example of classical Khmer architecture. Khmer architects used sandstone in preference to the brick and laterite of earlier buildings. Sandstone is used on the visible outer layer. Laterite on the other hand was used for the inner wall and other hidden parts. All the structures are huge sandstone blocks. There are many lotus-shaped roofs representing Mount Meru.
Khmer temples in general, as well as Phimai in this case, were intended to resemble the universe. The main building resembles the peak of Mount Meru at the center of the universe. The surrounding walls resemble the water and encircling mountains. The Khmer did not develop the technique of true vault architecture during their time, resulting in large areas at Phimai that could not be roofed over. Instead, they developed the use of multiple chapels separated by open-air spaces.
Construction materials The ancient Khmer used brick, sandstone, and laterite as their principal construction materials. Lintels were typically cut at a 45° angle at the ends to create a triangular wedge for setting into the masonry.
Phimai National Museum
Phimai National Museum stands beside the historical park, in Phimai District. Its collection covers the Mun and Chi basins, in Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum and Buriram provinces, from the prehistoric period to the present, and includes Khmer sandstone architectural pieces from Lower Isan. Many of the objects come from the monuments in the park or from related sites nearby. Among them is an 11th-century sandstone lintel, read as possibly showing a king's funeral rite, the soul carried to the realm of the cosmic buddhas on a nāga throne, the nāga serving as transport to a heavenly realm. The reading is given as a possibility rather than a conclusion.
Stone pedestals with three sockets had been excavated for decades from the Khmer hospital sites of northeast Thailand without a complete trio of Bhaiṣajyaguru and the bodhisattvas Sunlight and Moonlight being recovered with them.
Earlier occupation Excavation beneath the temple has shown that Angkorian building involved the deliberate laying down of fill, visible in the deposits of the site.
References
Bibliography Michael Freeman - A guide to Khmer temples in Thailand and Laos,
External links
- Computer model of the temple "Phimai Historical Park detailed description with pictures and video" from "Thai-Thaifood" "Phimai Historical Park" in Korat Magazine