Asger Mollerup

Consecration deposits for inserting auspicious items during ritual consecration of an area, a building or a deity have been excavated in Hindu as well as Buddhist sanctuaries in India and SE-Asia. This text describes some of the deposits excavated in the area of the former Angkorian empire, nowadays Cambodia and Thailand.

An inscription at Prasat Banteay Srey, 15 km north of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, dates the inauguration of this Shivaite sanctuary to coincide with a planetary alignment. A planetary clustering or planetary alignment is when the five planets visible to the naked eye are observable at dawn or dusk above the eastern or western horizon. The five planets form together with the sun, the moon, Rahu and Ketu the Indian concept the Navagraha. A close gathering of the five planets is an impressive celestial event and has been described in ancient Indian and Chinese records and calculations.
Appendix III, pgs. 226-233 in Ancient Khmer Sites in North-eastern Thailand. Khorat, Buriram and the Angkor - Phimai route. Printed

Embedded solsticial angles or solstitial alignments in a 9 by 8 ratio rectangle is here defined as: An observer (or deity) standing at mid-eastern or western side of the rectangle will see the sun rise/set from the opposite corners of the rectangle at solstice. Solstitial alignments are embedded in the walls of several Hindu Khmer temples in Thailand and Cambodia. Khmer temples were not constructed as astronomical observatories, so the sanctuary is not necessarily orientated true east.
Appendix IV, pgs 234-236 in Ancient Khmer Sites in North-eastern Thailand. Khorat, Buriram and the Angkor - Phimai route.

This book is the 2nd of three about Ancient Khmer sites outside the present day Cambodia describing some 170 Khmer sites in the provinces of Khorat and Buriram in the first two parts of the book. Part 3 presents the ancient overland route from Angkor to Phimai marked by seventeen fire-shelters (‘dharmasala’), mentioned in a 12th century inscription. Also fire-shrines and fire-offerings are described. Location (coordinates), era and orientation are presented together with a short description about the site, related inscriptions, associated water structures such as moats, small ponds (sra), larger basins (baray), nearby rivers, and geographical context. Museums and modern Buddhist temples in the area exhibiting Khmer artifacts are mapped together with quarries, kilns, ancient moated sites and some other ancient trade routes.

"Introduction

      This book is the first comprehensive inventory of ancient Khmer sites in eastern Thailand since the now century-old works of Étienne Aymonier, Étienne Lunet de Lajonquière, and Major Erik Seidenfaden, describing ninety-six sites in the provinces of Chanthaburi, Chonburi, Chachoengsao, Prachinburi, and Sra Kaeo. Museums and temples in the area exhibiting Khmer artefacts, quarries, ancient moated sites, and ancient routes are described as well.
      A similar inventory covering some three hundred ancient Khmer locations in northeast Thailand (Isan) and southern Laos is under preparation.
      The aim of this GPS-based field research is to determine basic data for archaeo-astronomical calculations. Location, era, and orientation are presented together with a short description about the site, inscriptions, associated water structures such as moats, small ponds (sra), larger basins (baray), nearby rivers, and geographical context.
"

There is probably no other Tai group, about which there is so much confusion about it's ethnonym and history as the ethnic Phutai of the mid-Mekong1- often being mistaken with distantly related Tai groups of northern Vietnam and southern China. The term Phutai is often attached to other ethnic groups than the Phutai of the Mid-Mekong. In the SW-Tai2 branch of the Tai-Kadai language stock the Tai Dam, Tai Khao and the Tai Daeng of NW-Vietnam have been referred to as Phutai Dam, Phutai Khao, and Phutai Daeng. In the Central-Tai branch the various Budai3 groups of Yunnan and Guangxi, China, have been subject to insinuation of being identical to or closely related to the Phutai of the Mid-Mekong. This inconsistent use of the ethnonym Phutai has caused confusion among scholars4, the general public and the Phutais themselves, and this article focuses on the ambiguous5 meaning of the term phu-tai. The first meaning of phu-tai6 refers to a specific ethnic group and is apparently used

""Introduction This book is the first comprehensive inventory of ancient Khmer sites in eastern Thailand since the now century-old works of Étienne Aymonier, Étienne Lunet de Lajonquière, and Major Erik Seidenfaden, describing ninety-six sites in the provinces of Chanthaburi, Chonburi, Chachoengsao, Prachinburi, and Sra Kaeo. Museums and temples in the area exhibiting Khmer artefacts, quarries, ancient moated sites, and ancient routes are described as well. A similar inventory covering some three hundred ancient Khmer locations in northeast Thailand (Isan) and southern Laos is under preparation. The aim of this GPS-based field research is to determine basic data for archaeo-astronomical calculations. Location, era, and orientation are presented together with a short description about the site, inscriptions, associated water structures such as moats, small ponds (sra), larger basins (baray), nearby rivers, and geographical context. ""

เท่าที่ผ่านมา ปราสาทพนมรุ้งมักได้รับการเผยแพร่ผ่านสื่อต่างๆ ว่าเป็นศาสนสถานเขมรโบราณ ที่ซึ่งแสงแดดสามารถสาดส่องผ่านทะลุช่องประตู ทั้ง ๑๕ ช่องเข้าไปต้องพระศิวลึงค์ที่ประดิษฐานภายในองค์ปราสาทประธานได้ โดยจุดสนใจจะอยู่ที่ช่วงอาทิตย์ขึ้นในเดือนเมษายนเป็นหลัก  ต่อมา เมื่อผลการสังเกตการณ์ของผู้เขียนในช่วงอาทิตยต์กเมื่อเดือนมีนาคม พ.ศ. ๒๕๔๓ และการค านวณปรากฏการณ์เดียวกันที่เกิดขึ้นในช่วงฤดู ใบไม้ร่วง ไดร้ับการตีพิมพใ์นหนงัสือพิมพ ์บางกอกโพสต ์เดือนมีนาคม พ.ศ. ๒๕๔๓ และนิตยสารศิลปวฒันธรรม ในปี พ.ศ. ๒๕๔๖ ท าให้ตั้งแต่ ปี พ.ศ. ๒๕๔๗ เป็นตน้มา ปราสาทพนมรุ้งจึงไดร้ับการประชาสัมพันธ์ว่ามี “ปรากฏการณ์ดวงอาทิตย์” เกิดขึ้นถึงปีละสี่ครั้ง  ทว่า อีกสิ่งหนึ่งซึ่งสาธารณชนยังมิได้รับรู้กันก็คือ ปรากฏการณ์ดวงอาทิตย์ที่ปราสาทพนมรุ้งนี้ ยังเกี่ยวเนื่องกับดวงจันทร์ด้วย ดังนั้น จึงสมควรตอ้ง เรียกว่า “ปรากฏการณ์ดวงอาทิตย ์– ดวงจนัทร์”  นั่นก็คือในวันที่ดวงอาทิตย์ตกตรงกับช่องประตูทั้งหมดของพนมรุ้ง จากนั้นในช่วงค ่า ให้สังเกตต าแหน่งดวงจันทร์บนทรงกลมท้องฟ้า (celestial sphere) ว่าอยู่ใกล้ดาวฤกษ์ใด หรืออยู่ในจักรราศีใด อีกสี่สัปดาห์ต่อมา ในวันที่ดวงอาทิตย์จะขึ้นตรงกับช่องประตูของพนมรุ้ง เชา้มืดก่อนอาทิตย์ขึ้น ดวงจันทร์จะกลับมาอยู่ในต าแหน่งเดิมอีกครั้งหนึ่ง  นอกจากนั้นแล้ว ปรากฏการณ์ท้องฟ้าที่พนมรุ้งก็ยังรวมถึงการเกิดสุริยุปราคาและจันทรุปราคาด้วย ในกรณีนี้ ระยะห่างระหว่างปรากฏการณ์ทั้งสอง อาจมีได้ตั้งแต่ ๑๔ วนั ๒๘ วนั ๖ เดือน ๑๙ ปี ฯลฯ ในวนัที่ ๘ กันยายน ๒๕๔๙ เกิดจันทรุปราคาบางส่วนขึ้น และในวันที่ ๙ กันยายน ๒๕๔๙ ดวง อาทิตย์ขึ้นตรง ๑๕ ช่องประตูของพนมรุ้ง อีก ๖ เดือนต่อมา เช้าตรู่วันที่ ๔ มีนาคม ๒๕๕๐ เกิดจันทรุปราคาเต็มดวง อีก ๓ วันต่อมา ดวงอาทิตย์ขึ้น ตรง ๑๕ ช่องประตู ในวันที่ ๗ มีนาคม ๒๕๕๐

All Khmer sanctuaries (97%) are orientated within ±24º from true east. Therefore, all Khmer temples, including Prasat Phanom Rung, will annually have two days when the sun rises aligned with the temple and two days when the sun sets aligned with the temple. The orientation of Prasat Phanom Rung is 5.5º north of true east and may be significant because this orientation implements that the time span from an observed sunset through the doors of the temple to the following sunrise is close to one sidereal or one draconic lunar month on approximately 28 days. The more well-known synodic lunar month is on 29-30 days.
    The sidereal lunar month aspect results in that if a sunset in March is observed on the day of Pusya, then the sun will rise aligned with the structure 28 days ahead on the following Pusya day of the following Naksastra lunar month.
    The draconic lunar month aspect results in that if a lunar eclipse is observed close to a solar event (e.g. sunset), then a following lunar eclipse may occur 6 months later closely coinciding with a coming solar event.

Postscript: Two Towers, Two Mountains, Two Orientations; One Calendar
Prasat Phanom Rung is built on an extinct volcano in the generally flat landscape of southern Buriram, North-eastern Thailand. The hitherto little known Prasat Plaibat I is located a few km south hereof on the ridge of another extinct volcano. The Mueang Tam ‘temple city’ and baray (reservoir) is located in the paddy fields between the two, all three sites being parts of the same hydraulic landscape. The two latter temples are orientated 11.0º north of true east, the double of Phanom Rung. This means that the time interval between the sunset aligned with Plaibat I (and Mueang Tam) and the sunset aligned with Phanom Rung is 14 days. The time-interval to equinox is 28 days. The sun will rise aligned with the two structures 2 x 28 days later.
    In spring 2020 the sun will set aligned with Plaibat I and Mueang Tam on 22 February on Sravana day. The day of sunrise is 16 April, also on a Sravana day. Equinox day (20th March) is mid between and also falls on a Sravana day. The sunset/sunrise events at Prasat Phanom Rung will in spring 2020 happen ±14 days from vernal equinox. The sunset will be observable on the Pusya day in the month of Phalguna (6th March) and on the next Pusya day in the following month of Caitra (3rd April) the sun will rise aligned with the 15 gates of the sanctuary.
    So IF the orientation of Prasat Phanom Rung is significant, then the orientations of nearby Prasat Plaibat I and Prasat Mueang Tam are as well and may share a common calendrical concept.
    For those commenting that ‘we cannot see the sun rise through the doors of NN-Prasat’, the answer is: ‘These Hindu sanctuaries were made as residences for the Gods, not humans – even less tourists’. (Added: Feb. 2020).

Orientations of Khmer Temples presents the author's GPS-based
field-research covering 325 ancient Khmer temples in Eastern and Northeastern Thailand - and also comment on the contemporary royal temples at Angkor.
The Indian Circle describes an ancient Vedic method of orientating
temples cardinally, which is described in most of the Indian astronomical treasures, the Siddhantas, and could have been used among the Khmer master-builders as well. The description also describe other proposed methods and finally presents a simple, but very precise method of cardinal determination invented by the author during astronomical experiments in the Phu Phan mountains of NE-Thailand.

This contribution is the outcome of a field research mapping ancient Khmer sites in Eastern Thailand 2004-07, hereby providing other researchers the coordinates of sites, shapes of ancient dikes/moats and water structures (barays). Ancient transport routes are given as well - including those dikes still visible in the landscape as well as proposed routings .
The data are presented as waypoints and tracks collected as 1) a .kmz-file, for Google Earth studies, 2) a .gdp-file for Garmin GPS devices - both downloadable via the author's website.