My Son
Mỹ Sơn (Mee Sern) is a Hindu temple complex, located in the village of Duy Phú,
in the administrative district of Duy Xuyên in Quảng Nam province in Vietnam,
69km southwest of Da Nang, and approximately 10km from the historic town of Trà
Kiệu. It comprises many Champa temples, in a valley roughly two kilometres wide,
surrounded by two mountain ranges. It was the site of religious ceremony of
kings of the Champa dynasty, and was also a burial place of Champa royals and
national heroes. The Mỹ Sơn temple complex is one of the foremost temple
complexes of Hinduism in South East Asia and is the foremost heritage site of
this nature in Vietnam.
This temple complex is often popularly compared to other temple complexes in
South east Asia, such as Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Borobodur, (Java, Indonesia),
Pagan (Burma) and Ayutthaya (Thailand). since 1999, My Son has been selected by
UNESCO as a world heritage listed site, at its 23rd meeting, under the criteria
C (II) as an example displaying the evolution and change in culture, and
criteria C (III) as a foremost evidence of Asian civilisation which is now
extinct.
History
The construction of My Son was likely to have been started in the 4th century
[1]. During many centuries, the temple complex had more buildings and stupas
constructed of varying sizes and became the main cultural vestige of the Champa
dynasty in Vietnam. Aside from religious celebrations, which allowed the
dynastic royals to spiritually connect with the gods, My Son was also a cultural
and religious centre and was the burial place of kings and religious leaders.
The earliest discovered relics date back to the era of the great king
Bhadravarman I (Phạm Hồ Đạt), who reigned from 381 until 413, who had built a
hall to worship Linga and Shiva. My Son shows the hallmarks of a strong
architectural influence from India - present in the stupas of the temples, now
fading in the splendour of the past, and in cultural influences - the
inscriptions on the stele are written in Pali.
Based on other steles, it was learnt that there was an initial wooden temple in
the 4th century. More than two centuries later, the temple was incinerated in a
large fire. In the 7th century, King Sambhuvarman (Phạm Phạn Chi), who reigned
from 577 until 629 used brick to rebuild the temple, which stands to this day
(it was possibly moved from Khu Lật to Trà Kiệu). Subsequent kings continued to
renovate the older templates and construct more temples to worship gods. Brick
and reliable materials were used to preserve the memory of this civilisation and
the construction techniques used by the Cham people remain to this day difficult
to understand. There still has been no comprehensive explanation as to the raw
materials used to stick the bricks together, nor as to how they were lifted into
place.
The stupas and tombs range from the 7th century to the 14th century - the
results of tomb exhumations revealed that Cham kings were buried here since the
4th century. There are a total of over 70 buildings in the complex. The My Son
complex may have been the religious and cultural centre of the Champa government
whilst the government was based in Trà Kiệu or Đồng Dương.
Archaeological studies
After the decline of the Chiêm Thành kingdom, the My Son complex faded into
oblivion through the centuries, until 1885, when it was rediscovered. Ten years
later, researchers began detailed expeditions to the area. The research activity
of French scientists may be separated into two phases.
1898-1899: Louis de Finot and Launet de Lajonquere studied the inscriptions on
the steles.
1901-1902: Henri Pamlentier studied the artistry, in 1904 he conducted and
exhumation study there.
In 1904, the most fundamental details about My Son were announced by Finot and
Pamlentier. From the research work of Pamlentier, it was shown that there were
68 architectural sites, which is divided into groups labelled from A, A' to N.
The art researcher F.S. Tern divided the remains of the Champa into seven styles
of art by their phases of development. My Son has representation of all the
styles, two of which are believed to have originated from there. In particular
the A1 temple is often referred to as the architectural masterpiece of the Cham.
The French archaeologists divided the architectural works at My Son into 10
principal groups, A, A', B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K to enable a system of labelling
sites by capital letter and number.
Architecture
With regards to the architecture of the temples and tombs at My Son, it is the
convegence of a diverse range of styles, from the very historic to the newer
variety - My Son E1 and F1 date to the 8th century, while My Son A2, C7 and F3
are similar to the style of Hòa Lai at 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, the style of Mỹ Sơn A1 of the 10th century is shared by, Mỹ Sơn B5, B6, B7,
B9, C1, C2, C5, D1, D2, and D4, while the transitional Mỹ Sơn A1-Bình Định 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 final style of Bình Định (from the end
of the 11th century to the start of the 14th) comprises Mỹ Sơn B1 and groups G
and H.
The artistic and architectural styelf of the temples can heavy influences from
India. The complex consists of a major stupa (kalan) and many smaller stupas
which encircle it. The stupas are of conical shape, representing the peak of
Meru mountain, the residence of Hindu gods. The gates of the stupa face the East
in order to accept the sun's rays. Many stupas exhibit ornate architecture and
depictions of gods serenely surrounded by flowers. The majority of these
depicitions are now decayed, however there remain a few engravings with traces
of gold that the Champa used. Most of the main temples at My Son are devoted to
Linga or to a staute of Shiva, the protector of the Champa dynasty. Most
devotees in past eras would traverse the stupas in a clockwise direction.
Despite the large influence of Hinduism, representations of Buddhism are also
found at My Son, as Mahayana Buddhism had become the foremost relgion of the
Champa in the 10th century. A few of the temples were constructed in this
period, and in the 17th century, some of the temples and stupas were
reconstructed or expanded.
The builders at My Son developed their own indigenous styles. One trick they
discovered was a way to "glue" bricks together using tree resin native to
central Vietnam. The actual method is now lost. It appears that the Champa
builders set the resin in place by baking whole monuments in a fire for a few
days. Archaeologists believe that the monuments were detailed many weeks later
after the structures were thoroughly cooled [2].
Stone Temple
At the My Son complex, there is one temple constructed of stone, the foremost
stone temple in Champa civilisation. The stele inscription reveals that the last
stone alterations to this temple were made in 1234. Today, this temple is no
longer standing, although it once stood at over 30m, the tallest building in the
complex. Evidence gathered from the surrounding area show that it was once part
of the original temple in the 4th century.
Restoration
The restoration work began in 1937, with the work of French scientists. In the
era 1937 to 1938, the A1 temple and smaller ones surrounding it were restored.
in later years, from 1939 to 1943, B5, B4, C2, C3, D1, D2 were restored.
However, many stupas and tombs (comprising group A and stupa A1, comprising the
24m tall A1 and 6 surrounding stupas, previously in good condition), were
destroyed in 1969 in the Vietnam War. The surrounding area is still dangerous
due to the threat of unexploded land mines and other relics of war.
The majority of the temple sites in the centre of the complex, such as the B, C
and D groups survive, and although many statues, prayer thrones were removed to
France or to historical museums in Vietnam, such as in Ho Chi Minh City and the
Cham Museum in Da Nang, a temporary museum has been set up in two of the temples
with the funding of benefactors from Germany and Poland to display images of the
remaining tombs and relics. On March 25, 2005, Quang Nam Province held an
opening ceremony, displaying the relics of My Son with an area of 5400m2 and a
display house of 1000m2 accompanied by a 1km access road built with finance from
Japan. however, there remain worries about the architectural construction of the
temples, some of which are vulnerable to collapse. 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 to the sum of USD
800,000 and the efforts of sponsors from Japan to prevent further degradation.
These efforts are also funded by the World Monuments Fund. Wikipedia
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