Ancient town—Fahdad Songyang

At the Kamalasai district in Kalasin province, if you drive along small road out into the open road, you would see vast space of paddy field and simple livelihood of villagers. If we could turn a clock backward, this area was once the powerful empire of Dhavaravadee Kingdom whence people practiced Buddhism and built numerous number of beautiful religious worship places, and inscribed the Buddhist legends and history on Sema-shape sand stones.

The ruin of 5-kilometer long ancient sewer ditch built with dirt earth is an evident that the pre-historic ancient town of Fahdad Songyang was once inhabited and was powerful in Dhavaravadee period. During the 13-15th Buddhist Era, the Dhavaravadee civilization was influent by the Buddhism from India. A numerous number of religious worship ruins remain in Fahdad Songyang, especially the Yaku Stupa, the large ancient stupa that is in near perfect condition. Originally the Yaku Stupa sat on a square base, but later it was renovated and a octagonal base was built on top the original square base. This in itself reflected that worship places were modified to suit the need and art fashion of each period. A number of fallen sand stone reliefs are currently put on display at the National Museum in Khon Kaen province.

Moreover in this ancient town, many discoveries were made on ruins of smaller size stupas, earth ceramic Buddha images, and most importantly the discovery of Sema-shape sand stones that were normally used to demarcate a religious location. A number of these stones are kept at Bhodhichaisemaram Temple and at the National Museum in Khon Kaen province. Those Sema-shape stones were beautifully inscribed with images and Buddha’s history and legendary stories. For example a story of Puritatchadoka depicts a legendary tale of the Lord Buddha when he was incarnated as Naga--a big snake. According to the legend, the Naga was caught by a Bharmin who put him on street show. The craftsmanship of those images on stones was fascinating and reflected high quality of intellectuality of people of the ancient time.

The ancient town of Fahdad Songyang has been listed as national historical place in 1936. Due to climate changes, those religious ruins standing in blazing sun and stormy rain have been gradually giving way and decay. Images on thousands years old sand stones were slowly vanishing away. It you wish to visit this ancient town of Fahdad Songyang, you are welcome to call for guide map and information at Fine Arts Office Area 10 in Roi-et province, Tel. 0-4351-3752.

Thanks to Thai Museum Association for providing information and survey trip.
source
Thailand Travel Hotels Flights Vacation