Khao Kha Ancient Monument is the most significant religious shrine of all the Hindu shrines uncovered in the area of Sichon District in the southern Thailand province of Nakhon Sri Thammarat.
The monument enjoys such prominence given the evidence surrounding Khao Kha Ancient Monument that lines up with Hindu ancient beliefs that setting up a new town is often associated with a sacred mountain wherein the Supreme Being resides. According to archaeologists, it is where the Tamavara Linga region, one of the early ancient towns, was founded in the South Seas.
Heavy concentrations of ancient artifacts and monuments aroun Khao Kha underline evolutionary stages of a prehistoric community into an organized town settlement in which Khao Kha, the symbol of Khao Phra Sumeru representing the epicenter of the universe, is the town center.
Since 1966, when excavation work uncovered the ancient monument on the edge of Khao Kha for the first time, a number of archaeologists have continued investigating and studying the connection of major artifacts with the ancient settlement of Hindu's Saiva sect.
It is thought the Khao Kha Ancient Monument forms the center, or heart, of the Tamavara Linga region whose prosperity peaked around the 12th and 13th centuries B.E.
The region continued to thrive until the 15th to 16th centuries B.E. when change set in and the region embraced Buddhism as a new religion after the influence of Lanka in the 17 to 18th centuries B.E. At the time, the town center was shifted to Sai Keo Beach now the province of contemporary Nakhon Sri Thammarat.
Several ancient monuments are located on the two mounds over Khao Kha, with the most important sited on the northern mound. On the edge of the mound is a gigantic two-meter knoll jutting from the earth's surface curved to an angle of 70 to 80 degree.
According to Hindu tenets, the huge knoll symbolizes the lingam that was the work of nature. Called Mount Linga or Savayambhu Linga, it is revered by Hindus as something holy granted by the Supreme Being as the center of the universe. Around the area are traces of construction and refinements using natural stones.
On the southern mound, to the right of the staircase from Thathon Canal which, in ancient times, provided an important channel of transportation, are the sites of ancient monuments numbered one, two, three and four that straddle horizontally from north to south.
Archaeologists believe the four ancient monuments were used for Hindo ritual ceremonies with the second ancient monument being the main building where Brahmans performed ceremonies to pay homage to the divine. The second ancient monument was so regarded because it is located right on top of Khao Kha which, in line with the Saiva sect belief, is where the religious shrine is regarded as God Shiva's abode.
Today the Khao Kha Ancient Monument is known as Saivabhumemondhol, or center of the territory of Hindu's Saiva Sect.
