1.4056°N, 99.7306°E.
The Bahal Temples are a group of three Vajrayana Buddhist brick temples in the Padang Lawas region of North Sumatra, Indonesia, built between approximately 1100 and 1300 CE under the Pannai kingdom — a Sumatran polity that emerged after the decline of Srivijaya. The three temples — Bahal I, Bahal II, and Bahal III — stand on a low ridge at intervals of roughly 1 to 2 kilometres along a single line, each set within a square brick enclosure. The principal structure at each site is a stepped temple of red brick with sandstone ornament rising 10 to 15 metres, topped originally by a stupa or pinnacle. The temples display Tantric Buddhist iconography including reliefs of dancing yaksha figures, indicating connections to the Vajrayana traditions then current in Bengal and Tibet. Dutch surveys in the late 19th century first documented the temples, and Indonesian restoration has consolidated all three since the 1970s.
Bahal I remains the best-preserved of the trio and stands fully restored to its original profile.