The southern plateau, the Mun valley, is the best-settled Khmer country outside the lake plain, and not a conquest of Jayavarman VII: the oldest Khmer building standing anywhere, the seventh-century brick tower of Prasat Phum Pon, is here, with the earliest dated Khmer-language inscription found near it (board).
The country is a scatter of village shrines on the roads and rivers (Prasat Ban Phluang, Prasat Sikhoraphum with five brick towers on an island in a pond and lintels as fine as Angkor's, Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai of Udayadityavarman II, Prasat Phanom Wan), with the great sanctuaries of Phimai and Phanom Rung at its poles and the road from Angkor with its seventeen rest houses (stele of 1191). Salt is boiled in the Phimai basin in quantity (mounds of broken evaporating pots), and salt, rice and iron move down the Mun to the Mekong at Khong Chiam. The plateau is not a backwater.
Who holds it
- Title
- Temple stewards and village headmen under the lord of Vimayapura
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Phimai Historical Park; Phanom Rung Historical Park; Prasat Muang Tam); the campaign board for the village shrines.
Overlord
Angkor, through Phimai.
What it holds
- Village shrines and endowed villages
- The salt basin of Phimai
- The road from the Dangrek passes to Phimai with its rest houses
- The Mun and its landing at Khong Chiam
How things stand that morning
Settled and prosperous; the king's chapels and rest houses are in service.
Wealth
Salt, rice, iron from the Kui to the south, temple endowments.
Places of note
- Prasat Sikhoraphum: Five brick towers, 12th century.
- Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai: 11th century foundation of Udayadityavarman II.
- Prasat Ban Phluang: Small sandstone sanctuary, 11th century.
- Prasat Phum Pon: Seventh-century brick tower (board placement).
- Prasat Phanom Wan: 11th century temple on the road to the upper Mun.
- Khorat salt flats: Salt boiled in the Phimai basin.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry prasat-phum-pon (14.466, 104.067) is a placement; we did not check the tower's coordinates.
- The campaign board entry prasat-ban-phluang, prasat-sikhoraphum, prasat-sa-kamphaeng-yai, prasat-phanom-wan: village shrines of the 11th and 12th centuries; no governor is named for any.
Evidence: Many dated monuments; no named governor for 1200.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A block round the Mun valley; the real settlement is the river terraces.
Primary sources for Khmer empire
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
- The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
- The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Phimai Historical Park
- English Wikipedia, Phanom Rung Historical Park
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.