A laterite sanctuary and vihara inside a working temple beside Highway 226, which state registers read as a Khmer hospital chapel adapted in the reign of Jayavarman VII, with a Bayon-style lintel of Varuna riding three geese.
ปราสาทสระกำแพงน้อย · Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Noi
| Official name | ปราสาทสระกำแพงน้อย — Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Noi |
|---|---|
| Where | Khayung, Uthumphon Phisai, Sisaket |
| 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 ราชกิจจานุเบกษา เล่มที่ ๕๒ ตอนที่ ๗๕, ๘ มีนาคม ๒๔๗๘ The citation is as published by the ONEP cultural-environment register and was not opened at source; ratchakitcha.soc.go.th could not be reached by this run. The same ตอนที่ ๗๕ against ตอนที่ ๒๕ conflict described on the Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai page applies to this date as well, since both monuments were registered in the same 2478 instrument. No later boundary announcement for this monument was found by this run. |
| Coordinates | 15.146262, 104.247169 ONEP cultural-environment register, site 5488, whose own address line places the monument at Ban Klang, Tambon Khayung, Uthumphon Phisai, beside Highway 226 — checked against that district and against the position of Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai, which it correctly falls east and slightly north of |
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.
The arogayasala reading is a typological and stylistic one made by state bodies from the building and its plan. It is not an inscription found here. That distinction matters, because arogayasala inscriptions DO survive elsewhere in the region and are routinely borrowed onto sites that have none — see the open questions below.
Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Noi stands inside Wat Sa Kamphaeng Noi — also called Wat Thep Prasat — at Ban Klang in Tambon Khayung, Uthumphon Phisai district. It is directly beside the Uthumphon Phisai to Sisaket road, Highway 226, which makes it the easiest monument in this file to stop at and the one most people see from a moving vehicle without knowing what it is.
The fabric is laterite rather than brick, and that is a dating signal in itself. The ONEP cultural-environment register describes a rectangular sanctuary built entirely of laterite, with an antechamber projecting eastward, a separate library building, and corbelled galleries running round the complex. To the north-east lies a rectangular pond with stone-stepped sides — the baray that gives the place the second half of its name.
The register's reading of the sequence is that the complex predates the 16th Buddhist century in its first form and was altered around the 18th, and that the later phase converted it into an arogayasala, a hospital chapel of the kind founded across the Khmer empire in the reign of Jayavarman VII. The Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration describes the building the same way. Arogayasala are a recognisable type — a small sanctuary, a library to the south-east, an enclosing wall with a single eastern gateway, and a pond outside the north-east corner — and Sa Kamphaeng Noi has the plan.
The carving people come for is a lintel showing Varuna, the Vedic deity of water, riding three hamsa — the mythical geese. Varuna is one of the guardians of the directions in the shared Hindu-Buddhist iconography of the period, and the treatment is described by state sources as Bayon-style, which is consistent with the Jayavarman VII phase. That a Hindu deity appears on a Buddhist hospital chapel is not a contradiction; it is how the art of that reign actually worked.
Like almost every monument in this province, it is not a ruin standing apart. It is the oldest building inside a functioning temple compound, and the community around it is the reason it is still there.
A rectangular laterite sanctuary facing east, with an antechamber projecting from the eastern side.
A separate library building, and corbelled galleries running around the complex.
The lintel of Varuna riding three hamsa — geese — described by state sources as Bayon-style work.
The rectangular pond to the north-east, its sides finished in stepped stone: the standard baray position for an arogayasala, and the source of the name.
The modern temple around it, Wat Sa Kamphaeng Noi or Wat Thep Prasat, and Highway 226 running past the gate.
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 | Not established from an official source. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Ban Klang, Tambon Khayung, Uthumphon Phisai district, immediately beside Highway 226 between Uthumphon Phisai and Sisaket town — roughly 13 km east of Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai and an easy pairing with it on one trip. |
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.
A hospital chapel. In the reign of Jayavarman VII, at the turn of the 13th century CE, the Khmer empire founded a network of them across its territory, each with a small stone sanctuary, a library building, an enclosing wall with one eastern gateway and a pond outside the north-east corner. State registers read Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Noi as one, on the evidence of its plan and the style of its carving. That reading is a typological one; no inscription recovered at this site was read for this page.
No. They are separate monuments about thirteen kilometres apart in the same district, and the similar names are the commonest confusion in the province. Sa Kamphaeng Yai is the larger three-tower brick complex at Tambon Sa Kamphaeng Yai; this is the smaller laterite sanctuary at Tambon Khayung, beside Highway 226. Seeing both in one morning is straightforward.
Varuna, riding three hamsa — mythical geese. Varuna is the Vedic deity associated with water and one of the guardians of the directions, and the carving is described by state sources as Bayon-style. A Hindu deity on a Buddhist foundation is normal for this period rather than a puzzle: the art of Jayavarman VII's reign drew on both.
No official source consulted for this page publishes opening hours for the monument, so this page does not state any. It stands inside a working temple immediately off Highway 226, which in practice means daylight access, but that is an expectation rather than a published time. Confirm with the temple or the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
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 Sisaket’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.