Lingering look at Phimai

Looking towards the main enclosure at Prasat Phimai, from the pond at the southwest corner

These are a last lingering look at Prasat Phimai in Isaan province in northeast Thailand, from my visit last October. Yes, it's taken me that long to post these pictures onto my blog. Next I will post some photos from the nearby Phimai museum, even though it was closed on the day of my visit. I was able to have a good look at the sculptures in the gardens but even with a lot of pleading, the museum manager refused point-blank to let me inside the main exhibition rooms. Instead she sat watching the television, eating some noodles. Gggrrr.

This is the public entrance to Prasat Phimai, cost of entry 100 Baht

A pediment on the main sanctuary showing a scene from the Battle of Lanka with Brahma riding his hamsa below a beautiful temple at the top

The immaculately tended lawns within the main sanctuary

A look at the central tower, or prang, from the west

The outer northern enclosure wall that is surrounded by the roads of the city of Phimai

The prang of Prasat Phimai as seen from the northern outer gopura

There's more from Phimai

The central prang, or tower and mandapa at Prasat Phimai

More from Prasat Phimai in Isaan. There were few people at Phimai during the time of my visit, so I was able to appreciate the temple in its peaceful and well-appointed surroundings. Outside the walls of the temple lies the city of Phimai and closeby is the Phimai museum. These are just a small selection of my photographs. For starters, you can see other pictures here, here, here and here.

A defaced lintel on the west face that in its original form showed the building of the causeway to Lanka with monkeys carrying stones and other characters

A lintel from the east side of the mandapa at Prasat Phimai showing Rama crossing the river Gunga

A lintel and pediment combination from the central mandapa at Prasat Phimai. The pediment shows Shiva receiving tributes from the gods.

Rama has been captured by the coils of a snake and his monkey followers below are suitably distressed by his predicament

A series of cross-legged wise men or rishis in the top level, with hamsas underneath

The central tower, or prang, in the main sanctuary of the prasat

A weathered lintel above the south-east gallery of enclosure 1 showing a 10-armed Trailokyavijaya and followers

An inner lintel with a seated Buddha surrounded by worshippers and hamsas underneath

An unfinished lintel in the surrounding gallery, giving you some idea of how these wonderful pieces were carved

Taking a walk through Phimai

The Phimai Historical Park welcomes visitors - pity they can't spell

Take a trip with me through the temple of Prasat Phimai in Isaan in northeast Thailand. It's the most important of the Khmer temples in that country so it was first on my list when I visited Isaan for the very first time in October last year. Known as the city of Vimaya when it was originally constructed in the late 11th century, it's orientation is unusual, as it faces south. For many years the temple site was in ruins until the Thai authorities set about conserving it in the 1960s. The mandapa and main sanctuary is highly decorated with numerous lintels and pediments though many have been moved for safekeeping and now reside in the nearby Phimai museum. The main approach is across the naga bridge and through the outer gopura of the second enclosure. Once through that, the causeway is flanked by corner ponds before the inner enclosure contains the central sanctuary, or prang, alongwith three other buildings. As with all of the temples I visited in Isaan, the whole site was almost polished in its appearance, well-tended lawns and no litter. Spoiled by the broken ruins that I've encountered across Cambodia, and the sense of adventure associated with the temple sites, this felt like high-end temple touring for people who don't like to get their feet dirty. A very different feeling from touring temples in Cambodia.

A lintel frieze of eight dancers on the outer southern gopura

Looking through the outer gopura into the inner second enclosure and the prang

A look at the lawns and dry pools that occupy the second enclosure that leads onto the central sanctuary

A lintel with a grinning kala face and Vishnu holding an elephant and a lion in his hands

Monks enter the central prang of Prasat Phimai

Shiva, with 8 arms, dancing on the southern porch of the mandapa. In the bottom right is Nandi, Shiva's bull.

Intricate decorative carving on the side wall of the central sanctuary

A worn lintel of Krishna killing Kamsa above the eastern doorway

The Krishna lintel and a pediment scene from the Battle of Lanka with Brahma present

4-armed Vishnu on a lintel of the central sanctuary, northern face

Anyone missing a lintel?

This partial lintel at Prasat Phimai sits in a quiet corner of the complex. It shows Krishna suduing the serpent Kaliya.

In a quiet northwest corner of the first enclosure at Prasat Phimai is a mini-storage dump of architectural items that the Thai authorities didn't find a home for when they reconstructed the temple in the 1960s. In fact I came across this open-air storage section, as well as a depository for a bunch of lintels and the forgotten corner full of sandstone dvarapula antefixes, which I showed you in an earlier post. The mix-n-match dump contained a variety of objects, whilst the lintel collection - containing at least a dozen lintels, some in good condition, others very badly worn, which the conservation team found on site but couldn't find their original locations and so kept them all together - are now housed on a raised platform to the west of the central sanctuary. Worth a look, if like me, you love your lintels.

This is not a collection of cluster bombs, but architectural decorations that can be found on top of enclosure walls

A mini dump of architectural items such as lintels, nagas and pilasters in a quiet corner

A worn lintel of Krishna riding on Garuda

This unfinished lintel is of a kala and double rows of floral vegetation

A massive elephant, a horse and various figures provide the detail on this partial lintel which may've originally shown Krishna fighting the elephant

This vivid lintel shows Rama armed with a bow and arrow, taking on eight demons

Above a row of hamsas appear a group of important courtiers with a royal personage in the center

This raised platform to the west hosts about a dozen lintels of varying descriptions and conditions

Watch out, there's a monk about

Two monks obligingly pose for a portrait in a doorway at Prasat Phimai

My brother Tim and I were quite fortunate when we visited Prasat Phimai in Isaan a couple of months ago, as we got in just as a large group of Eastern Europeans arrived and we managed to keep ahead of them throughout our leisurely visit though we did keep bumping into a small group of monks. The Buddhist monks were far friendlier than the Europeans and a lot quieter. Apart from those two groups, Tim and I were pretty much on our own aside from a friendly sweeper, who got in a couple of my photos.

Lights, camera, action!

Taking a picture of a monk taking a picture of a monk at Phimai

Temple visit concluded, time for a rest in the shade of the central sanctuary

One last team photo before the monks hit the road

A sweeper at Prasat Phimai, one of the tidiest temples I've ever visited. You could've eaten your dinner off the floor!

Faces of Phimai

This rishi, or wise man, at Prasat Phimai has a large head and much smaller body by comparison; he almost looks like an elf

Here are a gallery of faces you can find at Prasat Phimai in Isaan in northeast Thailand, if you divert your attention to the foot of the doorways. Whilst most people, including myself, concentrate on the lintels and pediments above the doorway, there are some lovely carvings to be found at ground level too. One of the consistent decorative features that adorn the doorways are the sculpted cavings at the base of the colonettes and pilasters that form the side panels to the doorframes. It is believed that these carvings on the pilasters began at Phimai at the end of the 11th century before spreading to the temples at Angkor. Of course the representation of rishis, or wise men, at the foot of the circular colonettes can also be seen widely throughout Angkor, especially at Angkor Wat. Here are a few examples from Prasat Phimai.

A fierce-looking half man half animal figure, maybe a yaksha guardian, is on the base of this red sandstone colonette

At Phimai, the carving of Vajrasattva dancing on a corpse is seen for the first time in Khmer art. This one is on a pilaster on the central sanctuary.

This colonette carving also shows a woman yogini dancing on a corpse whilst holding a vajra, a bolt of lightning, and a bell

This pilaster contains a much less vivid picture of a monkey holding what looks like the tail of an animal

This pilaster carving of a woman is next to a broken colonette

Two weather-worn rishis occupy the base panels of this colonette at Phimai

A traditional cross-legged pose for the rishi, a Hindu sage or seer

An exaggerated head and lips give this rishi an unusual appearance

Another rishi, dispensing wise words to his disciples whilst holding onto his beard

Another old man, not so wise and with no beard, takes a seat in a window at Prasat Phimai