Prasat Kao Noi

Built during the reign of Isanavarman I or Bhavavarman II in the 7th century in the Khmer architectural style of late Sambor Prei Kuk and early Prei Kmeng, the temple is situated on a hill, which gives the temple its name meaning ("small hill"), near the town of Aranyaprathet.^[1][2]

The temple consists of three towers built in a row, set on a common base, and facing east. The central tower was reconstructed in the 11th century, and has been restored by the Fine Arts Department. Considered the oldest, major Khmer monument in Thailand, dating from the 7th century, this view is based on the study of its lintels. One of its lintels shows makaras disgorging medallions containing an elephant and horses. The two towers on either side are in ruins but the four lintels from the northern tower have been recovered. Although the makaras on these lintels have disappeared, the medallions containing praying figures survive. All the lintels at the site are replicas. The originals are in the Pranchinburi National Museum.^[1][2] Pongsak Nillavorn reports a lintel from the excavation, in the Sambor Prei Kuk style, whose lower edge carries the jutting leaf. The motif is a rolled leaf laid in a row with gaps between the leaves, and it supports the pendant garland above it.^[3]: 18

Artefacts recovered from the site including lingas and pedestals were discovered in numerous small pieces suggesting they had been shattered in acts of desecration.^[1]

Two of the four known inscriptions of the Jyeṣṭhapura family were recovered at the hill.^[4]: 50 The earlier of them, K. 506 or P.Ch. 16, is dated 637 and is badly worn. It records Vaiṣṇava dedications by Īśvarakumāra, styled svāmi, master, of Jyeṣṭhapura and bhṛtya, servant, of a king whom Michael Vickery reads as Isanavarman I and Claude Jacques as Bhavavarman II.^[4]: 50 That disagreement is the one behind the attribution of the temple itself. Patcharaporn Ngernkerd and colleagues list the text among the royal orders of Bhavavarman II without discussing the alternative.^[5]: 7

Paul Lavy and Wesley Clarke hold that the ground around the hill, with the ancient town of Mueang Phai in the same district, probably corresponds to the polity the inscriptions call Jyeṣṭhapura.^[4]: 50 The undated Wat Kut Tae inscription, K. 1150 or P.Ch. 26, gives the same office at Jyeṣṭhapura to Sivadatta, a son of Isanavarman I and elder brother of Bhavavarman II.^{[4]: 50–1} Where that stone was found is reported differently. Ngernkerd and colleagues give the findspot as Prasat Kud Tare, elsewhere in Sa Kaeo.^[5]: 7 A survey of the pre-Angkorian inscriptions of Thailand instead reports it from Aranyaprathet district and holds that it was probably moved from the Khao Noi hill.^[6]: 97