A reclining Buddha carved under a rock shelf at Wat Phutthanimit, and one of the few in Thailand shown lying on the left side rather than the right.
ถ้ำภูค่าว (วัดพุทธนิมิต) · Tham Phu Khao, Wat Phutthanimit
| Official name | ถ้ำภูค่าว (วัดพุทธนิมิต) — Tham Phu Khao, Wat Phutthanimit |
|---|---|
| Where | Sahatsakhan, Sahatsakhan, Kalasin |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 65, part 43, 27 July B.E. 2491 — Fine Arts Department notice determining the number of national antiquities and monuments, signed by Director-General Phraya Anuman Rajadhon Registered. The notice is made under the Act on Antiquities, Ancient Monuments, Objects of Art and National Museums B.E. 2477 — the statute that preceded the 1961 Act — and lists this monument under the heading จังหวัดกาฬสินธุ์, nine months after the province was re-established. The Kalasin entry sits beside Wat Phra Mahathat in Yasothon, then part of Ubon Ratchathani. |
| Coordinates | 16.727479, 103.565953 Fine Arts Department register, monument id 0003359, GPS-sourced point |
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
Nothing establishes when this was carved or by whom. The department's register gives a full physical description and is silent on the date, and that silence is the accurate statement.
The thing that makes Tham Phu Khao worth the drive is a detail most visitors will walk past, and the Fine Arts Department register states it flatly. The Buddha here reclines on the left side. Not the right. The right-side posture is sihasaiya, the lion's repose, and it is the posture of the parinirvana as the Pali canon describes it, which is why effectively every reclining Buddha in Thailand lies that way. This one does not, and the register says so in as many words, naming the posture it is not.
The carving sits under a natural rock shelf inside the compound of Wat Phutthanimit, on the hill called Phu Khao in Sahatsakhan district. The relief stands fifteen centimetres off the stone face. The shelf above it projects 2.5 metres, which the department notes is enough to keep both rain and sun off the image — a practical observation that explains why a low relief in soft rock has lasted. Beneath the figure a long slab of stone has been cut back into a rectangular block so that the carving does not appear to float; set under a reclining figure, it reads as a couch.
The measurements are modest. From the tips of the feet to the prabhavali, the halo ring around the head, the figure is 2.09 metres. At its widest, from the hip across to the hand laid over it, 54 centimetres. The head points north-east and the face north-west. The face is fairly round and its detail is still legible. The hair is shown smooth with no curls at all, which is unusual, while the halo is a clear circle around the head. The robe is worn draped diagonally and close to the body, incised in fine parallel lines.
The register's present-condition note is the kind of thing a state record rarely admits. In B.E. 2533 the monastery poured a two-level cement platform in front of the image so that visitors had somewhere to set incense, candles and flowers. The consequence, which the department records without editorialising, is that the rock shelf above has taken on black soot staining and visible dirt, and parts of the image itself show erosion. It is a working devotional site and that is what devotion at a rock-cut image costs.
A reclining Buddha on the left side — the department's register names the right-side sihasaiya posture specifically in order to say this is not it.
A natural rock shelf projecting 2.5 metres over the carving, which is why the relief has survived in the open.
The cut stone slab beneath the figure, squared off so that the relief reads as lying on a couch rather than floating on the face.
Smooth hair with no curls, and a clearly incised circular halo around the head — the two details that date-conscious visitors come to look at.
Soot staining on the shelf above and erosion on the image, both recorded in the register as consequences of the incense platform laid in B.E. 2533.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | A working monastery. Cover shoulders and knees, remove shoes at the shrine, and treat the platform in front of the image as the devotional space it is. |
| Photography | No restriction is published, but the image sits in active use and people are frequently making offerings directly in front of it. |
| Getting there | On Phu Khao hill in Sahatsakhan district, north of Kalasin town, inside the Wat Phutthanimit compound. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
It lies on the left side. The Fine Arts Department register says so explicitly and names the right-side sihasaiya posture of the parinirvana as the form this image departs from.
About 2.09 metres from the feet to the halo above the head, 54 centimetres at its widest, and standing fifteen centimetres off the rock face.
In the Royal Gazette of 27 July B.E. 2491, under a notice made beneath the Antiquities Act B.E. 2477 and signed by Director-General Phraya Anuman Rajadhon.
The register records soot staining on the rock shelf and erosion in places on the image, which it links to incense and candles burned at the platform laid in front of it in B.E. 2533.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Kalasin’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.