Ta Muen Castle

Terrain

General Condition

Ta Muen Prasat Group is located on the Phanom Dong Rak mountain range. which is the borderline between Thailand and Cambodia The general condition is in a dense forest, in the Huai Thap Than-Huai Samran Wildlife Sanctuary. and is a military controlled area, the ancient site has been restored.

Ta Muen Prasat (By Kreme) is located a short distance from Ta Muean Tod. It is about 300 meters northwest and about 1 km northwest of Prasat Ta Muen Thom.

Height above mean sea level

Waterway

Chi River, Khlong Tamong, Khlong Okru, Lam Huai Sen

Geological conditions

geological conditions (Department of Mineral Resources 2010:16) is in the Phu Phan rock category (Kpp), the Korat rock group. Cretaceous period (66.4-140 million years ago), the stone is gray-white, pale yellow, white mixed with yellow-orange. Coarse to medium grain size bad sizing The grains of sand are quite square, dense, hard, showing layered and oblique layers, and rounded pebbles, gray-white, pale yellow, white and yellow-orange. Small to medium grain size continually resting on the pillars of the stone pillars.

Phu Phan rock group around Prasat Ta Muean Chong It is assumed that it was also used as a material for building the castle.

Archaeological Era

era/culture

Archaeological age

Types of archaeological sites

archaeological essence

Ta Moan Castle or Baykream Castle (In Khmer, it means Dried rice or dried rice) is located on natural sandstone hills that are part of the Phanom Dong Rak mountain range. It is a castle on the west side of Prasat Ta Muen group, located away from Prasat Ta Muen Tod. It is about 300 meters northwest and about 1 km northwest of Prasat Ta Muen Thom.

The style of Prasat Ta Muen is a characteristic of ancient places known as Accommodation for travelers or Dharamsala or Vahanikriha that Jayavarman VII ordered to build along the route from Phimai to Phra Nakhon.

Prasat Ta Muen is a single castle. laterite There is a rectangular schematic. facing east In the south wall, holes were cut through the windows. while the north wall was solid The castle may be divided into two important parts, namely the Garbhagha for enshrining the presiding image. on the west coast The top will be made up of a double-tiered castle-style roof with a lotus bud topped higher than the other part. which is a rectangular room extending forward.

The base part increases the wheel angle with the elemental house above. On the east side, the front has a slightly overlapping stairway like the entrance to the castle. Considering the proportion of height from this relatively high area. There must have been a stilt protruding to another floor. As well as on the west side, there are traces of the decoration of the base Lang is a circular pedestal for a wooden structure. Above, on both sides of the lintel beams, there are traces of woodwork attached to the castle on this side as well.

Found 2-3 pieces of sandstone etched Buddha images seated in a meditation posture in the arch of Ruan Kaew, similar to the wall lintels popular in the Bayon period. For sculptures found at Prasat Ta Muen, such as a lintel carved with a Buddha image seated in an arch above the face of Kan. hand showing meditation occupy a robe wearing a bow at the ankle eyes closed His mouth smiled slightly. Nakhal had no lower lip and held two hands with his lion's feet. The lion is in a leaning position. The two lions held their hands in the Kankood pattern. Above the lion there is a person sitting on his knees. Doing the hand in the Anchalee pose. alternating swirl rod pattern The side is a leaf pattern rolled in. The top is a leaf pattern that stands up and leaves facing the center, a very popular pattern in bayon art. In addition, there are eight door frame pillars found at the entrance on both sides of the door. carved into an octagonal pillar engraved in embossed lines containing five petal leaf patterns. and lotus petals The pattern arrangement of the pillars is organized in Bayon art.

Evidence and results of studies show that Jayavarman VII ordered the construction of a synagogue. along the route from Phimai to Phra Nakhon Started in the year 1939, inscriptions of Prasat Phra Khan were found at Prasat Phra Khan. Phra Nakhon area Cambodia The age was determined from the font style in the reign of Jayavarman VII (1724-1761) (Lawrence Palmer Briggs, 1999:209). Sedes translated the inscription of Prasat Phra Khan from Sanskrit into French in 1941, before being translated into Thai by Professor Mom Chao Suphatradit Diskul in 1966 with the text. related to accommodation for travelers is

“On the road from Yasothonpur to the Champa capital (He has built) 57 lighted traveler's shelters.”

'From Rajthani (Yasothonpur) to Vimai (Phimai) (mis) 17 lighted passenger shelters from Rajthani (Yasotharapur) to Jayawadi From Chaiwadee to Chai Singwadee”

“From there to Chai Weerawadee. From Chaiweerawadee to Chairat Khiri from Chairat Khiri to Sri Suwirapuri city.”

“From that city to Yasothonpur (along the way), there are 14 lighted traveler's quarters, one more at Srisurayabanphot.”

“A traveler's accommodation in Sriwichayadityapura. Another one at Kalpayanasithika, in total there are 121 (traveler accommodation) (Supatradit Diskul, KMUTT, 2506) :52-61).

Text from the inscription above Corresponds to the records of Jiu Da Guan. Chinese travelers who arrived in Bangkok in the year 1839-1840 which was about 100 years after the reign of Jayavarman VII. “On the main roads there is a place to rest as well as our horse shelters. Those places are called senmu (Senmu)” (Supatradit Diskul, 1979:217)

who characterize the ancient sites along the route from Angkor Thom to the east and west is Professor Louis Finot, then proposed that the stone castle with a long room facing east It is about 4-5 meters wide and 14-15 meters long, with high bricks on the west side of the building. The south wall has 5 window openings, the north wall has 5 false window openings that are not temple status. but built for the benefit of pilgrims, called “Dharmsala” ( dharmasalas) (Lawrence Palmer Briggs, 1999:235)

Bruno Dashang said that on the route from Bangkok to major cities will find the construction of a small religious place in the form of a place of worship and accommodation together And among those buildings are often rectangular buildings. which may be the enshrined image of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Khaisri Sri-arun and Santi Leksukhum, 1991 :116-117), which corresponds to Professor Mom Chao Supatradit Diskun who thought that The traveler's accommodation was probably built of wood. But there is a castle built of laterite stands as an observation. There is a castle enshrined the image of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. which he is the refuge of travelers in the west The castle has a rather long porch to the east. There were windows only on the south side of the porch. This laterite building Sometimes it shows that the old stone ingots were used in new construction. because there are still old patterns engraved and sometimes there are several altars in meditation postures atop the roof of the porch protruding to the east. It does not appear that there is a wall around it. (Supatradit Diskun, KMUTT [translator], 1994:106)

The reason for the important royal mission of building Jayavarman VII's synagogue may be because he believed in Mahayana Buddhism instead of Hinduism that was traditionally practiced. As the text from the inscription of Prasat Phra Khan says, “He rejoices in Amrit. is the teachings of Phra Sri Sakyamuni” and has great respect for Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Office of Archaeology, Fine Arts Department, 2010 :6)

His devotion to Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Buddhism resulted in Jayavarman VII's establishment of many Buddhist-related buildings. The text in the inscription of Prasat Phra Khan or Prasat Chai Si, making it known that he built 23 Buddha images, which he gave the name Chai Buddha Mahanath and please enshrine them in different cities Some are currently located in Thailand such as Lop Buri, Suphan Buri, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi and Muang Sing. He built 102 sanctuaries and 121 traveler's shelters, as mentioned above.

At present, 17 accommodation for travelers from the ancient route from Phra Nakhon - Phimai have been discovered, according to the inscription of Prasat Phra Khan. The scale and architectural features of these traveler's accommodations are similar. Can be sorted as follows. In Thailand, 9 places were found, namely Prasat Ta Muen. Surin Province, Prasat Thom, Buriram Province, Prasat Ban Bu, Buriram Province, Prasat Khok Prasat Buriram Province, Prasat Nong Plong Buriram Province, Thepsathit Castle Buriram Province, Ban Samrong Castle Buriram Province, Huai Khaen Castle Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Prasat Ku Sila Nakhon Ratchasima Province In Cambodia, 8 places were found.

Related inscriptions:Prasat Ta Muen Thom inscription, digit 1, digit 2, digit 3, digit 4, digit 5, digit 6, digit of Prasat Ta Muen Toj