A line of three brick temples (Bahal I, II and III) near Portibi on the Padang Lawas plain, in a tantric Buddhist tradition with Shaiva elements that is the region's own (the usual reading, from memory): Pannai (the Pannai that Rajendra Chola's fleet struck in 1025) is the usual name for the polity behind them.
The Wikipedia article on the Padang Lawas site and the brief date the building to the eleventh to thirteenth century; Perret's recent work (from memory) lets some phases run later. Whether the temples were still being built, still served, or already a ruin in 1200 is not recorded; no inscription names a founder or patron for the group.
Who holds it
- Title
- The priests or monks of the Bahal group, not named
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source names an abbot, priest or headman of this house for any date near 1 January 1200.
Overlord
The ruler of Panai, by position; not shown.
What it holds
- The shrine or temple and what the campaign board and the remains show of its endowment
How things stand that morning
Standing; the state of service in 1200 is not recorded.
Where the sources disagree
- Aru (Haru) appears only in thirteenth-century and later sources; the brief warns against reading it back, and we do not link these temples to it.
Evidence: Fair for the monuments; nothing for a founder, patron or lands.
On the map: Core of the site only.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia (English): Padang Lawas archaeological site
- D. Perret (ed.), Histoire de Padang Lawas, Sumatra du Nord (2014), read from memory, not rechecked
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.