Phimai Historical Park - Khmer Influence

Khmer Influence

Because of its physical territory located deep into the north-eastern part of Thailand which was once a territory of Khmer or what is modern day Cambodia, Phimai’s Architecture and cultural decorations are heavily influenced by Khmer cultures. Art and architecture shown on the temple itself shows a great evident of ancient Khmer civilization in what is modern day Thailand. Similar in its look and design to Angkor, it also has the same function of worshiping the gods in the Hindu religion.

Despite the fact that Phimai has been built in a similar fashion to Angkor and other Khmer Buddhist temples, some religious structures located within Phimai’s walls are still being debated about its original religion. Evidence such as the sculpture of “the Wheel of Law” or the statue of Buddha that were built in Dvaravati style shows that Phimai was certainly an important Buddhist spiritual location. Though a large quantity of Buddhism has been shown in Phimai, evidence such as large pots that were embedded in some corners of the structure suggests that number of spiritual practices other than the ones that Buddhists do has been practiced in Phimai. In other words Phimai has always been an important religious landmark for Animists, Buddhists, and Hindu Cults.

There has not been much evidence of how Phimai and other evidence of Khmer civilizations in Thailand came about. But even though there has not been any concrete evidence that explains everything, there have been pieces of evidence that archeologists have spent times concluding the history of these Khmer art forms in Thailand. The earliest engraved record of the Khmer during the 6th century AD was found in the north east of Thailand such as in Surin where the Sanskrit inscription in the stone has also been found. There were statues and engraved images of Hindu gods such as the image of Shiva’s bull nandin. Later the king during that time, Mahendravarman, ordered his men to engraved the inscription away. In modern day’s issue, it has still been debating about the unsure territory that the evidence may have been vanished.

Phimai along with other Khmer-influenced temples in Thailand have been built mainly under the cause of the “Deveraja cult”, or in other words “King that resembles as god”. JayavarmanII was the most mentioned “devaraja”. Devaraja cult developed the belief of worshiping Shiva and the principle that the king during the certain reign was an avartar of the god Shiva. The kings under this principle will build temples to glorify the reign of himself along with the spread of Hinduism.

The 10th century was the time of the reign of king Rajendravarman II (944-968AD) which was also during the time that the Khmer control was increasingly leaping towards the North Eastern Thai territory. Consequently, temples with the Kleang and Baphuon styles were left as a heritage here in Thailand. These structures shared the same signature of having three brick towers on a single platform, for instance the Prasat Prang Ku in Sisaket province and Ban Phuluang in Surin province. Each individual buildings has its own special feature or function. For instance Prang Brahmadat was built of laterite blocks that form a square. Or Prang Hin Daeng which translate to “Red Stone Tower” which is also a square but was made of red sandstone. Or the main sanctuary built of white sandstone and has almost 32 meters in length. While the southern lintel has the statue of Buddha meditating with “seven hoods of naga Muchalinda”. Adjacent to the statue were a collection statues of evils and animals that was depicted from the Tantric Mahayana Buddhist scripture. Modern day Phimai has been considered a well known tourist attraction in Thailand especially for those tourist who are interested in history and archeology. Located in the middle of Phimai is a small gallery which forms a rectangle surround the courtyard which has been newly built for commercial purpose. Within the gallery there is a pre-Angkorean Buddhist inscription that tells the story of prince Siddhartha and his journey to being Buddha along with other classic Buddhist stories. Along with the prangs which symbolize that the area is a sacred area. Phimai has always been an important tourist attraction for Thailand.