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High medieval · Buddhist · Indonesia
Bahal Temple
Portibi, Padang Lawas, North Sumatra · 1.4056°, 99.7306°
Buddha (Vajrayana)Pannai (Srivijaya mandala)Red-brick candi
Sacred since
1000 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
11th-13th c.
Pannai (Srivijaya mandala)
History & significance
Three red-brick Vajrayana Buddhist sanctuaries standing about 500 m apart on the Padang Lawas plain, and the only temples of that scattered complex to have been fully restored. Archaeologists place their construction between the 11th and 13th centuries and link them to the Pannai kingdom, a trading polity inside the Srivijayan sphere.