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Phanom Rung (extinct volcano), Buriram · 14.5319°, 102.9410°
A Shaiva temple-mountain on the rim of an extinct volcano in Thailand's Khmer corridor, aligned so that at four moments a year the rising or setting sun pierces all fifteen doorways in a single shaft. The repatriation of its stolen Phra Narai (reclining Vishnu) lintel from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1988 became a national cause célèbre and a landmark of heritage return.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
The sanctuary maps Shiva's Kailasa onto the volcano: the processional way crosses naga bridges — the passage from the human world across the cosmic ocean — before the mountain-summit sanctum where the hermit-prince Narendraditya retired as an ascetic.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-26 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Khmer (Angkor)
Answers only from cited records
Opening the line…