Prasat Hin Phimai is located near the banks of the Mun River in lower Isaan, some 35 miles northeast of today’s Nakhon Ratchasima. Built in the late 11th or early 12th century, it was likely used as a royal temple by the king, Jayavarman VI, a Mahayana Buddhist. Phimai is the most significant Khmer sanctuary in Thailand, predating famed Angkor Wat in Cambodia and among the largest of all Khmer temples. Part of its significance lies in the fact that it was not built as a Hindu temple. Though Phimai basically followed the traditional Khmer/Hindu temple layout and was profusely adorned on its exterior surfaces with Hindu deities and scenes from the Ramayana, the iconography on interior carved lintels and elsewhere suggests that it was in fact created as a Buddhist temple. The complex was restored in the late 12th to early 13th century by Jayavarman VII, who, like Jayavarman VI , was a devout Mahayana Buddhist.

Phimai

The main approach to the central sanctuary within the temple
The main point of entry was from the south, where a cruciform bridge or terrace led to a series of raised portals and both covered and open passageways, all in effect part of a transition from the mortal world to the celestial realm of the interior sanctuary.
Guardian singh, or lions, and naga, multi-headed serpentlike creatures, protected the entryway.
Within the outer enclosing gallery was a vast open courtyard.
After traversing the courtyard, one arrived at a second, inner gallery that enclosed the temple's innermost sanctuary.
Within the inner sanctuary were two laterite structures—a library and a secondary tower—as well as a red-sandstone tower and the white-sandstone principal tower with its entry porches.
Phimai incorporated innovative strategies in both the approach to and the design of the Khmer sanctuary’s central tower, symbolizing Mount Meru, home of the gods and axis of the universe in Hindu cosmology. The resulting structure, termed a prang, attained the look of a unified whole rather than that of a superstructure perched atop a base, which had typified earlier Khmer designs. Such innovations would affect the design of later Khmer sanctuaries—notably and most immediately that of Angkor Wat, built soon after Phimai.
Partial view of the vestibule connecting the mandapa or entry pavilion to the central tower
This view shows the superstructure of the mandapa, with the central tower in the background.
The pediment over the main entry to the mandapa depicts the dancing Shiva enclosed within a frame of large, swirling, flamelike leaves, a traditional Khmer-style architectural embellishment.
The small figure beside Shiva’s right knee is partially missing and therefore unidentifiable, but this may be Brahma riding Hamsa, the celestial goose. In the line of figures below Shiva, the heavenly bull Nondi kneels at the far right.
Within the central tower, the lintel over the northern entrance to the innermost shrine displays carvings of meditating Buddhas amid Tantric Buddhist dancers and musicians.
The central sanctuary, from the south, in which a Buddha sheltered by a naga was the temple’s principal object of worship. The present image is not the original.
Over the entrances of the porches attached to the central tower and its mandapa are elaborately carved pediments and lintels with scenes from the Ramayana.
The pediment over the eastern entrance to the main shrine likely depicts Rama slaying his arch foe, Ravana. At the top, Tavatimsa Heaven, home of the gods, is represented by Phimai’s own main sanctuary tower.
As elsewhere, multi-headed naga protect the entryway into the central tower.
The dancing Shiva, Shiva Nataraja, over the main entry to the mandapa and inner sanctuary
Just to the west of the central tower, this rough laterite structure served as a kind of library that would have housed Buddhist manuscripts.
A section of the inner gallery enclosing the central sanctuary and its entrance gopura.
Detail of the gopura, featuring Krishna doing battle with a lion and an elephant
Another view of the inner gallery that encloses the central sanctuary
Prang Brahmadat, a laterite tower just to the right as one enters the inner sanctuary from the south, displays more Tantric Buddhist imagery on the lintels above its entrances. Here singh support a platform with meditating Buddhas.
Lintel over the southern entry to Prang Brahmadat. The structure, built later than the central tower, dates from the 13th century.
Detail of the Tantric Buddhist imagery over the southern entry to Prang Brahmadat
The nearby Phimai National Museum houses a large collection of artifacts found at Prasat Hin Phimai and in the surrounding area. This 12th-century lintel depicts a garuda, mythical part-bird part-human creature, battling with two elephants while standing astride a singh, or lion, who in turn holds two naga, multi-headed serpentlike creatures.
Another 12th-century lintel found at Phimai displays Krishna, an avatar or incarnation of Vishnu, standing atop a kala demon, a threshold guardian, who is grasping a singh, or lion, in each hand.
Detail of another 12th-century lintel at the Phimai National Museum, depicting Tantric dancers and seated Buddhas in meditation
A fragment of a 10th-century pediment found at Prasat Muang Khaek, now at the Phimai National Museum. It depicts Shiva and his consort, Uma, riding atop Shiva's traditional mount, the heavenly bull Nondi, accompanied by attendants.
Detail of the mandapa and prang at Prasat Hin Phimai in early-morning light
The pediment over the main entry to the mandapa at night
A night view of the temple's inner gallery and the central tower beyond it. The ruins of the tall, red-sandstone structure to the left of the main tower date from the early 13th century.
Prang Hin Daeng ('Red Stone Tower'), left; the prang, or central tower, center; and the laterite tower Prang Brahmadat, right—all standing behind the southern wall of the inner gallery
A view of the three towers and enclosing inner gallery in the daytime

jim wageman | photos i am

Phimai