Thailand Guide
The northeast: Isaan
The ruins of Prasat Hin Phimai
Opening time: Daily 7.30am–6pm
Price: B100
Address: In the heart of the town
Built mainly of dusky pink and greyish white sandstone, Prasat Hin Phimai is a seductive sight for so solemn a set of buildings. Even from a distance, the muted colours give off a far from austere glow; closer inspection reveals a mass of intricate carvings.
No one knows for sure when the complex was built or for whom, but as a religious site it probably dates back to the eleventh century; it was connected by a direct road to Angkor and orientated southeast, towards the Khmer capital. Over the next couple of centuries Khmer rulers made substantial modifications, and by the end of Jayavarman VII's reign (1181–1220), Phimai had been officially dedicated to Mahayana Buddhism.
After more than twenty years of archeological detective work and painstaking reassembly, the magnificent white sandstone main tower has now been restored to its original cruciform groundplan and conical shape, complete with an almost full set of carved lintels, pediments and antefixes, and capped with a stone lotus bud. The carvings around the outside of the tower depict predominantly Hindu themes. Shiva the Destroyer dances above the main entrance to the southeast antechamber: his destruction dance heralds the end of the world and the creation of a new order, a supremely potent image that warranted this position over the most important doorway. Most of the other external carvings pick out momentous episodes from the Ramayana, starring heroic Rama, his brother Lakshaman and their band of faithful monkeys in endless battles of strength, wits and magical powers against Ravana, the embodiment of evil. Inside, more sedate Buddhist scenes give evidence of the conversion from Hindu to Buddhist faith, and the prasat's most important image, the Buddha sheltered by a seven-headed naga, sits atop a base that once supported a Hindu Shiva lingam.