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 rea