In The Land of The Ancient Chams

  Cham-Champa-Charmed ! 

 One of the first things we see upon entering “The Valley of Divinity and Art” is a small low signboard that says “Bomb Crater” . A few steps away from it lies a rubble of reddish brown bricks  overgrown  with weeds.

It is vaguely unsettling. But our Guide , a cheerful man, merely shrugs and points ahead enthusiastically : “Here we are ! In the heart of ancient Champapura !”

Champa ! The mystical name of a forgotten empire ! Was it really named for the Champaka flower ? Or was it just the sanskritised name used in Indian writing of the time ? For record, not one Champaka tree was seen anywhere in the region, for all the four days we were there . 

Most people would have first encountered the name Champa /Cham  at  Angkor,  in Cambodia . The men  in conical headgear fighting the armies of Jayavarman on the wall panels of The Bayon  are pointed out as The Chams , people of Champa . While, in general , the Angkorian and Thai Kingdoms elicit more ready recognition and fanfare , the Chams , who  have an equally illustrious history , are often relegated to the rank of “supporting cast” in the historical panoramas of South East Asia. 

My Son Sanctuary -  an archeological site inscribed in 1999 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . Located in Quang Nam Province, Central Vietnam , an hour or so by road from Da Nang City. 

My Son ( pronounced Mie-San) Sanctuary, a large collection of ancient monuments,  nestles in an undulating valley surrounded by  mountain ranges.  The loftiest  summit of the range  is called Rang Meo (“Cat’s Tooth”) locally. The Emperors of Ancient Champa , who created the sacred ensemble of shrines, called the peak Mahaparvatha ( The Great Mountain), the Abode Of  Shiva.

“We start here “ says our man , unfolding a map of the site and tapping on a red dot .  

The monuments are grouped into sets labeled  from A to H , based on the period and styles of construction. Scholars count 5 Styles of Cham architecture - the Interpretation center at My Son Site lists them in huge posters , too lengthy to read ! Can google it later.  

Temple building activity went on in My Son Sanctuary  continuously from 4^th Century CE to 13^th Century  , when successive Emperors of Champa held sway over the 1000 km strip of land between the mountains and the Sea , along Central Vietnam.

During their long reign , their principal bases were  called Amaravathi , Indrapura, Vijaya and Panduranga . My Son Sanctuary is the remains of the vanished Indrapura. Was surprised to learn that the last royal base, Panduranga, fell to Viet forces only in 18th century ! 

The Cham polity was not a monolithic monarchy. There was federalism , Mandala system . The Guide tries to tell us about The Arecanut Kula and The Coconut Kula of Kings , but  either his English is limited or our understanding of ancient Kulas is deficient, we remain mystified beyond the single datum that King Bhadravarman was Arecanut Kula.  ( Only subsequent reading on the subject - in a book bought at the buggy station's snack kiosk - gave a more clear idea of the interesting system. )

  Shivite faith was embraced by the Chams around 2^nd Century CE , when maritime trade routes between India , South East Asia and China were busy , exchanging not only spices, silk and ivory but also  Ideas  and Concepts influencing life. Hinduism was easily absorbed because it gelled well with local ancient animistic beliefs. According to their legends , one King even went on a Kashi Yatra to India in order to bathe in Ganga , way back in 2nd.Century CE ! 

The My Son valley , with mountains representing Kailasa and the perennial River Thu Bon , representing Ganga , was most appropriate to set up a Royal Shivite Temple . The first temple  here was the timber shrine built by King Bhadravarman in the 4th Century , to Shiva bearing the name Bhadreshwara . By naming the Kingdom’s guardian deity thus , the King  was ensuring for himself the divine sanction to rule the land. That was a common strategy followed all over India and Indianised SE Asia in those days. The wooden  shrine was destroyed in a fire mishap , but was rebuilt by a later king and called Isana Bhadreshwara. Many other subsequent Lingams were also called Bhadreshwaras , with a prefix. 

 In later centuries , even when Buddhism was adopted , the Sanctuary continued to thrive, following a  hybrid religion, assimilating aspects of many influences .

All the monuments in My Son are built according to  the basic plan :  a  Kalan (tower over the sanctum) , a Gopura ( entrance ), a Mandapa ( pavilion or hall for congregation) and the enclosure wall. The Main Shrine often has subsidiary shrines to subsidiary deities ( like, the Dikpalakas, Skanda, Ganapathi and Uma) ,a  Kosagriha (Longhouse  or Treasury )and a SnanaDroni (Ablution trough).

The 70 buildings in the valley are in various states of ruin and reconstruction. All structures are of either Brick or Sandstone. A point of note is that the brick structures were built without use of mortar.

“They used the resin of a tree we call Dau Rai mixed with powdered brick to glue the bricks together !” Informs the Guide “ Strong glue ! And it did not allow  vegetation to grow on it…..our fishermen still use that resin to make their boats waterproof !”

( Dau Rai , it turns out,  is the species Dipterocarpus alatus)

The brick towers were raised by corbelling and the wonderful precision work can be seen from the inside in two towers. Sculptures on outer walls were carved only after the entire structure was completed and , as is apparent, it must have taken highly skilled hands to chisel such intricate designs on brick. Sandstone panels and  carved lintels were also fixed to the brick base.

Though the monument clusters are  labeled A to H ,we visit groups in non-alphabetical order, since  they are scattered  in random fashion. The  most important cluster , called Central Group, contains groups B-C-D with a total of 30 relics. 

There is a considerable crowd milling around . Assorted Europeans , turning pink and red under the morning sun. A group of ladies , sitting under a tree, are fanning vigorously with  brochures. Two young men are hunting around for more "Bomb craters". An old couple is seriously analysing the "phallic symbols" sprouting all over. Some are trying to get the best Instagram pictures with the russet ruins in the foreground, green  hills rising high behind them and the brilliant blue sky above , with puffs of  racing clouds. Young women climb on the empty pedestals of long lost deities to pose . Two children in foul mood throw stones into thickets. One man is seriously studying a thick "Lonely Planet"guide. Someone grumbles : "This is not a patch on Angkor Wat ! Wait till you see the Real Thing ! "A family of  Mumbai-Tamil -parents -and- Techie- son emerge from a tower ,  enquire "where you from ?" and then disappear. 

The bigger group which is in Brownian Motion , getting in and out of the narrow portals,is  suddenly herded by their Guide :  The Show is to begin in 15 mins , so please move to that shed to choose the best places . And the whole gaggle of them hurry to the other side .

Our man eggs us on too. "The Show is included in the price of the ticket", he says. "Dont miss Vietnam Culture !" A drumming starts up at the shed. We choose to miss it. We choose, instead,  to explore the towers in peace , now that the crowd has migrated . The Culture to be found here seems more interesting than watching costumed youth singing  patriotic songs. 

The Towers or Kalans : 

 C-1 was  constructed in 13^th Century  and , unusually, housed a Standing Shiva icon when discovered . Generally , Shiva is only worshipped as a Lingam. The Standing Shiva was moved to the Museum in Da Nang as soon as discovered.  And so,  fortunately, it escaped the Bombers during the American War.  

B-1 is notable as the first stone temple built here . There is also a tall stone stele by its side with a Sanskrit inscription in Grantha script giving some historical information. Some of the pillars seen here resemble Roman coloumns.  B-5 has an interesting pavilion with a wagon vault roof .

D-1 and D-2 are longhouses which would have served as prayer halls for  pilgrims. Now the space is used for displaying some lovely pieces of sculpture salvaged from the ruins around. A triangular bas relief panel of a dancing Shiva is particularly attractive. Incongruously, the empty shell of an American bomb is also displayed along with Nagas, Apsaras and Lingams ! Part of history, surely !

Group A monuments are dated 9^th century. A-1 , the principal tower, is recorded by early explorers to have been 24meters tall and lavishly decorated with carvings. Unfortunately , it was completely destroyed during The War  and all that remains of this  epitome of Cham Art are  the  drawings  made  by Henri Parmentier, (the French archeologist who extensively documented and saved Cham antiquities in early 20^th Century.)

A-10 houses a gigantic Lingam with an intricately carved frieze on its pedestal. This is registered as a National Treasure. The G group, though damaged , is still unique for its laterite enclosure and the three flights of steps leading to the cell. The E group , dated 7^th Century, stands within a large compound facing West , while almost all others face East. Beautiful standstone statues from here are safe in Da Nang Museum.

“ It took a few years for the Government to completely clear this area of mines and shells , after the war”,  Says the Guide. ( A few must have died too , I tell myself, feeling sorry for their sacrifice to make things easy for us ) “Then they brought specialists from other countries  to do renovation work.”

He does not seem very happy that some restorers had used cement,  which he feels does not have lasting quality like the resin . "Cement cracks, allowing plants to grow."   

Bright looking bricks, made locally in the traditional way ,to match the ancient ones , have been used in repairing enclosures and parapets.

We see from signboards that the Archeological Survey of India was also here recently, helping in restorations . New excavations are still going on in the buffer zone of the site.

Though not as massive and magnificent as  the Angkor monuments , the towers of My Son  definitely have a quiet charm . They are  more ancient and the Sanctuary  is also the longest inhabited archeological site in  Mainland South East Asia.

A visit to My Son site has to be supplemented by a visit to Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture , in Da Nang city . It houses the world’s largest collection of Cham antiquities and the exhibits are  simply mind blowing . Ganapathi with  long cornrow plaits  ?! Thats the cutest imagination possible. 

Cham communities are still around , in pockets, all along central and south Vietnam . They are divided into followers of  Islam and followers of ....  a strange variety of Hinduism which lays more stress on ancestral worship and  putting Mother Goddess Po Tran above all else. My Son is not the only site having ancient Hindu temples . Kalans are found  in at least 8 or 10 different sites it seems . 

PS : The Chams and The Balinese are the only Hindus of non-Indic origin in the world. Their origins are  Austronesian .