Mỹ Sơn is a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu
temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the kings of
Champa (Chiêm Thành in Vietnamese). The temples are dedicated to the worship of
the god Shiva, known under various local names, the most important of which is
“Bhadresvara”.
Mỹ Sơn is located near the village of Duy Phú, in the
administrative district of Duy Xuyên in Quảng Nam Province in Central Vietnam,
69 km southwest of Da Nang, and approximately 10 km from the historic town of
Trà Kiệu. The temples are in a valley roughly two kilometres wide that is
surrounded by two mountain ranges.
From the 4th to the 14th century AD, the valley at Mỹ Sơn
was a site of religious ceremony for kings of the ruling dynasties of Champa,
as well as a burial place for Cham royalty and national heroes. It was closely
associated with the nearby Cham cities of Indrapura (Đồng Dương) and Simhapura
(Trà Kiệu). At one time, the site encompassed over 70 temples as well as
numerous stele bearing historically important inscriptions in Sanskrit and
Cham.
Mỹ Sơn is perhaps the longest inhabited archaeological site
in Indochina, but a large majority of its architecture was destroyed by US
carpet bombing during a single week of the Vietnam War.
The Mỹ Sơn temple complex is regarded one of the foremost
Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is the foremost heritage site of
this nature in Vietnam. It is often compared with other historical temple
complexes in Southeast Asia, such as Borobudur of Java in Indonesia, Angkor Wat
of Cambodia, Bagan of Myanmar and Ayutthaya of Thailand. As of 1999, Mỹ Sơn has
been recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site.
The over 70 temples and tombs extant at Mỹ Sơn have been
dated to the period between the 4th century and the 14th century AD. However,
the inscriptions and other evidence indicate that earlier now defunct
constructions probably were present from the 4th century. The complex may have
been the religious and cultural centre of historical Champa, while the
government was based in nearby Trà Kiệu or Đồng Dương.
Bhadravarman (“Fanhuda”) and Bhadreśvara
This stone linga is dated to the 10th century. It stands
next to the temple known as “B4.”
The earliest historical events documented by the evidence
recovered at Mỹ Sơn relate to the era of King Fànhúdá (Chinese: 范胡达;
pinyin: Fànhúdá; Vietnamese: Phạm Hồ Đạt, Sanskrit Bhadravarman, literally
“Blessed armour” but also meaning the Jasminum sambac flower), who ruled from
380 until 413, and who spent the latter part of his reign waging war against
the population of Chinese-occupied northern Vietnam. At Mỹ Sơn, Bhadravarman
built a hall containing a lingam to worship Shiva under the Sanskrit name
Bhadreśvara “Blessed Lord”, a composite created from the king’s own name and
the word īśvara “lord” commonly used to refer to Shiva.
King Bhadravarman caused a stele to be erected at Mỹ Sơn the
inscription on which recorded his foundation. The stele indicates that the king
dedicated the entire valley of Mỹ Sơn to Bhadreśvara. The text ends with a plea
from Bhadravarman to his successors: “Out of compassion for me do not destroy
what I have given.” Drawing upon the doctrines of saṃsāra and karma, he added,
“If you destroy [my foundation], all your good deeds in your different births
shall be mine, and all the bad deeds done by me shall be yours. If, on the
contrary, you properly maintain the endowment, the merit shall belong to you
alone.” Bhadravarman’s successors heard his plea, it seems, for Mỹ Sơn became
the religious hub of Champa for many generations.
The great temple “A1” dedicated to the god Sambhubhadresvara
by King Sambhuvarman in the 7th century is now a pile of rubble: fortunately,
scholars were able to make this diagram before its destruction during the
Vietnam War.
More than two centuries after Bhadravaman’s foundation, the
temple to Bhadresvara was destroyed by fire. In the 7th century, King
Sambhuvarman (Phạm Phạn Chi in Vietnamese, Fan Che as transcribed from the
Chinese), who reigned from 577 until 629, rebuilt the temple, reinstalled the
god under the name Sambhu-Bhadresvara, and erected a stele to document the
event.:326 The stele affirmed that Sambhu-Bhadresvara was the creator of the
world and the destroyer of sin, and expressed the wish that he “cause happiness
in the kingdom of Champa.” The stele also applauded the king himself, claiming
that he was “like a terrestrial sun illuminating the night” and that his glory
rose “like the moon on an autumn evening.”
Ironically, perhaps, Sambhuvarman’s reign was marred by one
of the most devastating invasions ever suffered by the country of Champa. In
605 AD, the Chinese general Liu Fang led an army southwards from the area of
what is now northern Vietnam, defeated the elephant-riders of Sambhuvarman, and
sacked the Cham capital, making off with an enormous booty that included over
one thousand Buddhist books as well as the gold tablets commemorating the
reigns of the previous eighteen kings. Heading back north with their heist, the
Chinese invaders were struck by an epidemic that felled a large number of them,
including Liu Fang. Sambhuvarman, for his part, returned home to his kingdom,
began the process of rebuilding, and made sure to send regular shipments of
tribute to the Chinese court, in order through appeasement to prevent a
recurrence of the recent disaster.
French scholars investigating Mỹ Sơn at the beginning of the
20th century identified a then still existent edifice distinguished for “its
majestic proportions, the antiquity of its style, and the richness of its
decoration” as the temple of Sambhu-Bhadresvara constructed by King
Sambhuvarman. Unfortunately, the edifice, which is known to scholars as “A1,”
was practically destroyed by US aerial bombing in the Vietnam War and is now
little more than a formless pile of bricks.
Prakasadharma
King Prakasadharma (Po Kia Pho Pa Mo, as transcribed from
the Chinese) ruled Champa from 653 AD to approximately 687. Upon ascending to
the throne, he also assumed the name Vikrantavarman.:326 During his reign, he
expanded the borders of Champa toward the South and sent ambassadors and
tribute (including tame elephants) to China. Inscriptions link him not only to
Mỹ Sơn, but also to the nearby urban settlements of Trà Kiệu and Đồng Dương. He
began the religious practice of donating “kosas” or decorated metallic sleeves
to be placed over a lingam. Unusually for a king of Champa, he was devoted not
only to Shiva, but also to Vishnu.
One of the most important steles to be found at Mỹ Sơn is
that erected by Prakasadharma in 657 AD. The purpose of the stele was to
commemorate the king’s establishment of a god identified as the ruler of the
world, i.e. Shiva, with a view to overcoming the seeds of karma that lead to
rebirth. The stele is important because it sets forth the king’s ancestry and
is of great help in reconstructing the sequence of Champa’s rulers. Among his
ancestors, notably, the king claimed a Cambodian king named Isanavarman I. And
like the Cambodian kings, he traced his ancestry to the legendary couple of the
brahman Kaundinya and the nāga-princess Soma.
Later developments
A Cham artist of approximately the 10th century depicted a
Cham temple tower in this fragment located in the museum at My Son.
Subsequent kings renovated the older temples and constructed
additional ones. For many centuries, the building of temples and shrines of
varying sizes continued, and Mỹ Sơn served as the religious and cultural center
of the Cham civilization in central Vietnam, as well as the burial place of
kings and religious leaders.
Most of the extant temples at Mỹ Sơn, such as the Isanabhadresvara,
were built in the 10th century AD: Unfortunately, the inscriptions from this
period have not survived, except in fragmentary form. At the beginning of the
10th century, the Cham center of power was at Đồng Dương, not far from Mỹ Sơn.
By the end of the century, it had been displaced southward to Bình Định
Province on account of military setbacks in wars with the Viet. However, Cham
kings continued periodically to renovate the temples at Mỹ Sơn and even to
build new foundations. The latest significant Cham record at Mỹ Sơn is a pillar
inscription of King Jaya Indravarman V dated 1243 AD. By the early 15th
century, the Cham had lost their northernmost lands, including the area of Mỹ
Sơn, to the Viet.
Modern scholarship
Following the conquest of central Vietnam by the Viet and
the decline and eventual fall of Champa, the Mỹ Sơn complex fell into disuse
and was largely forgotten. It was rediscovered in 1898 by the Frenchman M. C.
Paris.[21] A year later, members of the scholarly society called École française
d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) began to study the inscriptions, architecture, and art
of Mỹ Sơn. In 1904, they published their initial findings in the journal of the
society called Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême Orient (BEFEO). Henri
Parmentier gave a description of the ruins at Mỹ Sơn, and M. L. Finot published
the inscriptions that had been found there.
Restoration
In 1937, French scholars began to restore the temples at Mỹ
Sơn. In 1937 and 1938, the main temple known as “A1” and the smaller temples
surrounding it were restored. Other major temples were restored between 1939
and 1943. However, many historical buildings were destroyed during the Vietnam
War. United States B52 aircraft carpet-bombed the region in August 1969. The
surrounding area is still rendered dangerous through the presence of unexploded
land mines.
Bombs dropped during the Vietnam War made craters that are
still visible.
The majority of the temple sites in the centre of the
complex have survived to this day. However, worries persist regarding the
structural soundness of the remaining temples, some of which are vulnerable to
collapse. Although many statues have been removed to France or to historical
museums in Vietnam, such as the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang, others can
be viewed in a temporary museum that has been set up on site in two of the
temples, with the funding of benefactors from Germany and Poland.
From 2002 to 2004, the Ministry of Culture of Vietnam
allotted around 440,000 USD to maintain the site. A draft plan of UNESCO was
funded by the Government of Italy and sponsors from Japan to prevent further
degradation. These efforts are also funded by the World Monuments Fund.
Archeology and architecture
Types of buildings
All of the remaining buildings at Mỹ Sơn are believed to be
religious buildings. They are of the following types:
A kalan is a brick sanctuary, typically in the form of a
tower, used to house a deity.
A mandapa is an entry hallway contiguous with a sanctuary.
A kosagrha or “fire-house” is a construction, typically with
a saddle-shaped roof, used to house the valuables belonging to the deity or to
cook for the deity.
A gopura is a gate-tower leading into a walled temple
complex.
This map shows the relative locations of the temple groups.
System for the identification of buildings
When he began his studies of Mỹ Sơn in 1899, Henri
Parmentier found the remnants of 71 temples. He classified them into 14 groups,
including 10 principal groups each consisting of multiple temples.[24] For
purposes of identification, he assigned a letter to each of these principal
groups: A, A’, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K. Within each group, he assigned numbers
to the edifices comprising it. Thus “My Son E1” refers to the edifice at My Son
belonging to group “E” that has been assigned the number “1.”
Architectural styles
Art historians have classified the architectural and
artistic legacy of Champa into seven artistic styles or phases of
development.[26] Six of the styles are represented at Mỹ Sơn, and two are
believed to have originated from there. They are known as the Mỹ Sơn E1 Style
and the Mỹ Sơn A1 Style. In particular the temple known as “A1” is often
referred to as the architectural masterpiece of the Cham. The six styles of
Cham architecture represented at Mỹ Sơn are the following:
The style of Mỹ Sơn E1 and F1 dates to the 8th century AD.
Unfortunately, the temple known as “E1” is now ruined. The style which it
established is represented today by two works of art that formerly belonged to
the temple but today are housed in the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang: a
pedestal and a tympanum.
The style exemplified by My Son A2, C7 and F3 is similar to
the style of Hòa Lai from the turn of the 9th century.
The Đồng Dương style of the late 9th century is reflected in
Mỹ Sơn A10, A11-13, B4, and B12. This style is named after the Vietnamese town
that occupies the site of the 9th century city and Buddhist monastery of
Indrapura. The archeological site of the monastery has been largely destroyed;
fortunately, French scholars of the early 20th century were able to create
diagrams of its layout and the disposition of its buildings. Numerous striking
works of sculpture belonging to this style survive in Vietnamese museums.
This pedestal and the outline of a wall are all that remain
of the once magnificent temple called “A1.”
The storehouse known as “B5” (background) is the outstanding
surviving exemplar of the My Son A1 style.
The Mỹ Sơn A1 style of the 10th century is exemplified by Mỹ
Sơn B5, B6, B7, B9, C1, C2, C5, D1, D2, and D4. It is the most heavily represented
style at My Son, and is known for its elegance and grace. The style’s namesake
and most important architectural exemplar, the once magnificent tower known as
“A1,” is largely ruined. It is a mound of earth, surrounded by rubble and the
outline of a wall, at the center of which stands a whitish pedestal. A scale
model of the former temple created by Japanese researchers as well as a
schematic frontal view are exhibited in the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da
Nang. The most striking of the remaining buildings belonging to the style may
be the storehouse B5, which exemplifies the saddle-shaped roof peculiar to Cham
artchitecture. The My Son A1 style is sometimes also known as the Tra Kieu
Style, after the nearby town of Trà Kiệu which may be the site of the
historical Cham city of Simhapura. Many architectural ornaments from this style
survive and are displayed in the Museum of Cham Sculpture.
A transitional style of the early 11th century to the middle
of the 12th century is exhibited in Mỹ Sơn E4, F2, and the K group of sites.
The style of Bình Định that prevailed in Cham architecture
from the end of the 11th century, when the center of the Cham polity was
displaced southward from the area around My Son to Vijaya in Bình Định
Province, to the start of the 14th is represented by Mỹ Sơn B1 and groups G and
H.
Building techniques
Most of the temples at Mỹ Sơn were made of red brick, and
only one (the temple labelled “B1”) was made of stone. Even the decorative
carvings on the Cham temples were cut directly onto the bricks themselves,
rather than onto sandstone slabs inserted into brick walls as is observable for
example in the 9th century Cambodian temple of Bakong.
To this day, the construction techniques used by the Cham
builders are not completely understood. Issues that have not been completely
resolved include issues about the firing of the bricks, the mortar between the
bricks, and decorative carvings found on the bricks.
The temples at Mỹ Sơn are made of a reddish brick.
Decorative carvings have been cut directly into the bricks.
At what point in the building process were the bricks
hardened by fire? Were the bricks hardened first, and then arranged in order to
build the structures, or were the structures built out of partially hardened
bricks, after which the entire structures were heated by fire to finish the
hardening of the bricks? The hypothesis that the entire structures were
reheated following assembly is supported by evidence that the mortar between
the bricks was at some point subjected to high temperatures. The contrary hypothesis
is supported by the observation that the structures bear no signs of scarring
from large intense fires such as would be needed in order to reheat them as
whole.
How were the bricks stuck together? One hypothesis is that
the builders at Mỹ Sơn developed a way to glue bricks together using tree resin
native to central Vietnam. Another hypothesis is that the builders used a
sticky mortar made from the same clay as the bricks themselves. The latter
hypothesis is supported by chemical tests that have found no trace of any
organic substance between the bricks, but instead have found mineral substances
similar to those present in the core of the bricks. Today the mortar that once
held the bricks together has largely decayed, and even a strong wind can knock
loose bricks from the structures.
At what point in the process were the decorative carvings
made? Were the walls constructed and then carved, or were the bricks carved
first and then assembled so as to create the walls? An examination of the
carvings reveals no broken lines as would be expected if the bricks were carved
first and then assembled; and as a result scholars have concluded that the Cham
craftsmen made their carvings directly onto finished brick walls.
Inscriptions
The people of Champa maintained written records in both
Sanskrit and old Cham. They wrote on perishable materials, such as large
leaves, and also created inscriptions in stone. They used scripts borrowed from
India. None of the writings on perishable materials have survived. However,
numerous stone inscriptions have been preserved, transcribed, and translated
into modern languages.
Many of Champa’s most important inscriptions are on steles,
that is to say on slabs or pillars of stone erected precisely for the purpose
of hosting inscriptions. Scholars have found approximately 32 steles at Mỹ Sơn,
dated between the 5th and the 12th century AD.
The subject-matter of Cham inscriptions is mostly political
and religious. They are written from the perspective of kings or very high
potentates seeking to affirm their legitimacy and their relationship to the
divine. Many of the inscriptions document a gift to a god, such as a gift of
land, of people, or of treasure, or a foundation dedicated to a god, such as
the foundation of a temple, an altar, or a pedestal. The inscriptions also
provide us with important information such as the name of the country
(typically Campadesa in the Sanskrit inscriptions, nagara Campa in the Cham
inscriptions), and the names of some of its most important cities: Simhapura
(“Lion City”), Virapura (“Knight City”), Rajapura (“King City”), Vijaya
(“District”). Finally, a number of the inscriptions allude to or describe
interesting historical events, such as the ongoing wars between Champa and
Cambodia in the 12th century.
See a beautiful example of Chinese craftsmanship in the elaborate statues and artwork at this colorful temple.
