Prasat Sikhoraphum
Sikhoraphum District, Surin Province, Thailand
- Deities
- Shiva
- Traditions
- shaiva
- Worship status
- heritage
- Coordinates
- 14.94556, 103.79889
- Best time to visit
- Cooler, drier months (roughly November-February).
- How to reach
- In Sikhoraphum District, Surin Province, northeastern Thailand, between the towns of Surin and Sisaket; reachable by road, and the site sits directly adjacent to Sikhoraphum railway station.
Location
Open in Google MapsPrasat Sikhoraphum, in Surin Province in northeastern Thailand, is a well-preserved 12th-century Khmer Hindu temple built under King Suryavarman II during the height of the Angkorian Empire’s expansion beyond present-day Cambodia. Its name derives from the Sanskrit “shikhara,” referring to the temple’s tower-like spires, and its brick sanctuary towers are richly decorated with carved apsaras (celestial dancers), devatas, and dvarapala guardian figures, iconography characteristic of Angkorian-era Shaiva Hindu temple architecture.
Like many Khmer Hindu temples on what is now Thai soil, Prasat Sikhoraphum was converted for Buddhist use in the 16th century as the region’s religious landscape shifted, and it functions today primarily as a heritage and archaeological site rather than an active place of Hindu worship. It remains, however, one of the better-preserved examples of Angkorian Hindu temple carving in Thailand’s Isan region, situated conveniently beside Sikhoraphum’s own railway station between the towns of Surin and Sisaket.
Sources
- historical record: Cross-checked against Wikipedia's account of Prasat Sikhoraphum during this research pass: confirms the temple, in Sikhoraphum District, Surin Province, was originally a Hindu Khmer temple built in the 12th century under King Suryavarman II of the Angkorian period; confirms its name derives from the Sanskrit 'shikhara' (temple tower/spire); confirms the complex is decorated with carvings of apsaras (celestial dancers), devatas (deities), and dvarapalas (guardian figures), consistent with Angkorian Hindu temple iconography; confirms it was converted for Buddhist use in the 16th century and functions today as a heritage/archaeological site rather than an active Hindu temple.
For review
- Like the Angkorian-era Khmer temples elsewhere in this directory, Prasat Sikhoraphum functions today as a heritage/archaeological site administered as a Buddhist-associated monument rather than an active place of Hindu worship, having been converted to Buddhist use in the 16th century; it is included here for its documented original 12th-century Shaiva Khmer dedication and its well-preserved Angkorian-style relief carving.