Three Khmer towers in a north-south line at Ban Phon Chai in Sangkha district, the central one carrying carved sandstone makara disgorging five-headed nagas.
ปราสาทยายเหงา · Prasat Yai Ngao
| Official name | ปราสาทยายเหงา — Prasat Yai Ngao |
|---|---|
| Where | Ban Chop, Sangkha, Surin |
| 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 เล่ม ๙๘ ตอนที่ ๖๓ หน้า ๑๒๑๑, ๒๘ เมษายน ๒๕๒๔ — พื้นที่ ๕ ไร่ ๗๖ ตารางวา The citation, the date and the land area are as published by the ONEP cultural-environment register. The gazette instrument itself was not opened by this run and the Fine Arts Department register that would carry the monument id returned HTTP 403 throughout. Note that this is a 2524 instrument and not part of the disputed 2478 announcement that runs through the rest of this file and through the Buriram and Sisaket files, so it does not bear on that conflict either way. |
| Coordinates | 14.616174, 103.884654 ONEP cultural-environment register, site 2380, which gives the coordinate against an address at บ้านโพนชัย ตำบลบ้านชบ อำเภอสังขะ — checked against Sangkha district before printing, and checked against the coordinate of Surin town 59 km away, after the Buriram run found a provincial-capital default sitting in this same register's coordinate field for a monument forty kilometres from where it belonged |
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.
A stylistic date of the sixteenth to seventeenth Buddhist centuries spans two hundred years and is the honest width of what the evidence supports. No founding year is established for this monument by any source consulted.
Prasat Yai Ngao stands at Ban Phon Chai in Tambon Ban Chop, in Sangkha district about sixty kilometres from Surin town. Three towers are set in a line running north to south, each on its own base rather than sharing one platform, which is a different arrangement from the quincunx at Sikhoraphum and from the grouped brick towers at Phum Pon. The ONEP cultural-environment register gives the two flanking towers as roughly 5.20 by 5.20 metres, on a plan with squared rather than redented corners, and dates the group on style to the sixteenth to seventeenth Buddhist centuries.
The carving that survives is concentrated on the central tower, and the motif worth going to see is the makara — the composite aquatic creature of Indian and Khmer iconography, part crocodile, part elephant, part fish — shown disgorging five-headed nagas. It is a standard element of a Khmer arch and pediment, and at this sanctuary it is preserved well enough to read. Sandstone carrying that kind of detail is the exception in a province where most of the smaller prasat are brick and laterite with their ornament long weathered off.
The monument was brought into the national register in 1981 rather than in the great 1935 announcement that covers most of the Khmer monuments in this file. The ONEP register cites the instrument as Royal Gazette volume 98, part 63, page 1211, dated 28 April B.E. 2524, and records the protected area as five rai and seventy-six square wa. That is a small boundary and it reflects what is there: a compact group in open country, with a watercourse along the eastern side, not a walled complex with galleries and a baray.
The site is looked after. The ONEP register notes that the surrounding ground is cleared and maintained by local staff on a routine basis, which for a monument of this size in a rural district is worth saying, because the alternative — scrub growing through the bases — is the more common fate of the province's smaller sanctuaries.
Three towers in a north-south line, each on its own base rather than sharing a single platform — an arrangement distinct from the other Khmer monuments in this province file.
Carved sandstone on the central tower showing makara disgorging five-headed nagas, preserved well enough to read, which is uncommon among the smaller prasat of this province.
The two flanking towers, given by the ONEP register as roughly 5.20 by 5.20 metres, on a plan with squared rather than redented corners.
The watercourse along the eastern side of the site, and the cleared and maintained ground around the towers.
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 | Ordinary respectful dress. This is an open monument site in rural country rather than an active monastery. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Ban Phon Chai, Tambon Ban Chop, Sangkha district, about 59 km from Surin town. The ONEP register gives the route as Highway 2077 from Surin for 52 km and then Route 24 toward Ban Phon Chai for a further 4 km. |
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.
Makara disgorging five-headed nagas, cut in sandstone. The makara is the composite aquatic creature of Indian and Khmer iconography and the motif is a standard element of a Khmer arch; what is notable here is that it survives legibly, which is unusual among the smaller prasat of this province.
No founding date is established. The ONEP cultural-environment register dates the group on style to the sixteenth to seventeenth Buddhist centuries, which is a span of about two hundred years, and no inscription or dated instrument for the sanctuary is recorded by any source this page consulted.
In 1981. The ONEP register cites Royal Gazette volume 98, part 63, page 1211, dated 28 April B.E. 2524, with a protected area of five rai and seventy-six square wa. That is a separate and later instrument from the 1935 announcement that covers most of the other Khmer monuments in this province file.
The ONEP register gives the route as Highway 2077 from Surin for 52 kilometres, then Route 24 toward Ban Phon Chai for another 4 kilometres, about 59 kilometres in total. The monument is in Tambon Ban Chop in Sangkha district.
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 Surin’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.