Central Sanctuary

The central sanctuary is the dome that can be seen from far away and the chamber below it which contains the most important worship object in the temple.

Phimai's inner sanctuary viewed from the outer wall

The design of the dome comes from an Indian shikara design. 

click on the picture to see the modern Hindu temple in downtown KL for comparison

There are figures, antefixes, lining each layer of the dome, especially at the corners. Common figures are rishi (holy men) and nagas (snakes). At Phimai (central dome pictured below), because it is primarily Buddhist, you can see the seated Buddha figure in the center of the bottom row and nagas on the corners all the way up to the top.