Prasat Hin Mueang Tam

Prasat Hin Mueang Tam is a Khmer temple in Prakhon Chai District of Buri Ram Province located at the foot of the Phanom Rung hill (an extinct volcano) in the vicinity of Prasat Hin Phanom Rung. Mueang Tam is one of the many temples built in Angkor style when the Khmer empire controlled large parts of Thailand. It is situated on the ancient royal road from Angkor Thom (present-day Siem Reap in Cambodia) to Phimai in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

Mueang Tam, like most Khmer temples, is orientated towards the east. The temple shares the same astronomical concept as Prasat Hin Phanom Rung. The temple is constructed in a flat rectangular plan, with a central sanctuary and two libraries surrounded successively by an inner enclosure, ponds, and an outer enclosure. The centre of each side of the laterite wall contains a gate, the Eastern one being the main entrance. Once inside the complex, you will find four L-shaped ponds with steps leading to the bottom of the pond. The ponds are filled with beautiful colourful water lilies. Large five-headed Nagas are placed at the corner of each pond.

Broad walkways lead to the inner sanctuary enclosed by a rectangular gallery. At the centre of each gallery wall, an entrance gate or gopura leads to the inner sanctuary where Hindu ceremonies are held. The site also has rich, magnificent and well-preserved carved stonework. The lintels over the gopuras contain carved high-relief depictions of Shiva, Uma and other Hindu mythological figures, though several of the lintels on the outer gopuras are unfinished.

The inner sanctuary contains five towers made from sandstone built on top of a low platform with the central one, which was the tallest, collapsed. The towers are arranged in rows of three and two rather than in a quincunx. All the towers, except the central one, have been restored. The central tower represented Mount Meru, the Hindu centre of the universe and contained a lingam, a Hindu symbol representing the strength of Shiva. The inner sanctuary also includes a library, where the sacred Hindu scriptures are kept. The primary deity was Shiva, although Vishnu was also worshipped there.

Mueang Tam was built during the 10th and 11th centuries CE, about the same time its more famous neighbour was constructed, and it was abandoned after two or three centuries. It is primarily in the Khleang and Baphuon styles, which dates its primary construction phases to the late 10th and early 11th centuries. A small baray, probably contemporaneous with the Prasat Hin Muang Tam, lay to the east, while a later, larger barai survives just north between Mueang Tam and Phanom Rung. The lake symbolises the ocean surrounding Mount Meru, the centre of the universe in Hindu cosmology. It also served as a water reservoir.

Barai Mueang Tam measures 510 meters in width by 1090 meters in length and 3 to 4 meters in depth. In the middle of the northern and southern edges of the baray, there is a landing paved with laterite and measuring 6.5 x 17 meters, with five laterite steps leading down the baray. The baray is a vast artificial reservoir dug to reserve way for the community's consumption and agriculture. Water flows into the lake from the Phanom Rung Mountain and the Prai Bat Mountain through an inlet channel in the west of the baray in an area that is called "Saphan Khom" or Khmer bridge. In the northeast and southeast of the Baray, outlet channels feed the community.

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