Prasat Ta Muean

The Dharmasala Prasat Ta Muean is in the Ta Mieng Sub-district of Phanom Dong Rak District in Surin Province. It is part of the Ta Muean Group consisting of a dharmasala, an arogayasala and a Khmer temple.

The Mahayana Buddhist Khmer emperor Jayavarman VII (1181–1218 CE) initiated the construction of 121 ‘Vahni-griha’ or ‘Houses of Fire’ along the routes throughout his kingdom. This information was found on a stone inscription discovered in 1937 CE at the Preah Khan temple of Angkor Thom. The Preah Khan inscription does not mention the function of these ‘Vahni-griha’. The latter is today widely known as ‘dharmasala’, after the French archaeologist Fino coined the term in 1925 CE. Scholars theorised that the ‘dharmasala’ functioned as a ‘rest house with fire’ for travellers. The Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan expressed his admiration for these rest houses when he visited Angkor in 1296 CE. Another theory is that the Dharmasala had a religious function as a repository for the sacred flame used in holy ceremonies.

Seventeen Dharmasala were constructed on the route from Angkor to the Mahayana Buddhist sanctuary in Phimai, of which eight are on the Thai side, while the remaining are in Cambodia. The rest houses were built in the Bayon style of the late 12th to early 13th century. Spaced approximately 12 to 15 kilometres apart, they were an easy day's walk from one to the next. Although the rest houses on the longer eastern road from Angkor to Champa were built in sandstone, those on the Phimai road were in laterite.

Seven of the eight discovered Dharmasala in NE Thailand are made of laterite, with only the door- and window frames made of sandstone. Their size is relatively small: approximately 4 by 15 metres. The western part is adorned with a spire. Only the southern wall has windows. A pedestal for a religious image can be found inside the west door. The orientation of the eastern door varies from 50.0º to 97.5º - none of them cardinally, straight 90º east.

Ayutthaya Historical Research