Champa Ruins: A Look at Vietnam's Distant Past

Before this trip, I was seriously ignorant with regard to Vietnam’s long and complex history. I was familiar, of course, with the Vietnam War (which the Vietnamese refer to as the American War), at least from the U.S. perspective. I also knew that all of Indochina had been a French colony at one time. I even knew that the Chinese had ruled Vietnam for several centuries, although I wasn’t sure exactly when. But I’d certainly never heard of the Champa kingdom until we set out early one morning from Hoi An to see the ruins of this once powerful kingdom. 

While our motorcoach traveled through the beautiful countryside, An gave us a brief history of the Cham, whose kingdom first appeared around present day Danang on the central coast in the 2^ndcentury. Through warfare, the Champa kingdom expanded greatly during the 4^th-7^thcenturies and gained control of a large area from the city of Hue in the north, to Nha Trang in the south, and west to Laos. 

Nearing the site of the Champa ruins

Trade brought the Cham into contact with India and led to their adoption of Hinduism as the official religion and the use of Sanskrit as a sacred language. Indian art also exerted a strong influence on the art of the Champa kingdom. While most of the Cham, including the rulers, practiced Hinduism, later Muslim immigrants from Malaysia brought Islam to the kingdom. 

In the late 4^thcentury, the Cham king began construction of a large religious sanctuary at My Son, located in a lush green valley near Cat’s Tooth Mountain (see photo above). The My Son Sanctuary remained the chief religious center of the Champa  Kingdom until the 13^thcentury. At one time, it contained at least 68 red brick temples dedicated to Shiva, the patron divinity of the Cham rulers. 

Piracy was an important source of revenue for the Champa kingdom. As a result of their frequent attacks on passing ships, the Cham were constantly fighting with the Vietnamese to north and the Khmers to the southwest. After about three hundred years of warfare, the Cham lost most of their land and were absorbed by Vietnam in the 17^thcentury. 

The remains of My Son were found by the French in late 19^thcentury. During the American War, the Viet Cong used the sanctuary as a base. Consequently, it was heavily damaged by American bombing. Only twenty Cham structures are still standing. Today, My Son has UNESCO World Heritage status, and the governments of India and Vietnam are engaged in a cooperative effort to restore the site. 

We arrived early on the day of our visit in order to get ahead of the crowds who flock to My Son. On our short hike through the jungle, we noted white egrets skimming over gurgling streams, and the area seemed quite peaceful. However, An called our attention to bomb craters and signs cautioning us to stay out of areas with unexploded land mines. 

What’s especially remarkable about the Cham temples and towers is that these structures were built without the use of mortar to hold the bricks in place. The ruins make a striking sight, with their deep red in stark contrast to the vivid greens of the surrounding foliage and the cerulean expanse of the sky. I could only imagine how splendid the Cham towers must have looked in their original state, when their summits were covered with a layer of gold. 

Our Vietnamese tour leader, An

We strolled through the site, admiring the carvings and the numerous lingas and yonis, the physical representation of Shiva and his consort.  

While the Cham kingdom ceased to exist over 300 years ago, the Cham people, both Hindu and Muslim, remain a significant ethnic minority in Vietnam. Today, they number about 140,000 people, concentrated in the area around My Son, as well as in the southern coastal city of Phan Rang and near the border with Laos. 

During our visit to the My Son Sanctuary, we saw performances of Cham music and dance, and saw Cham weavers creating colorful and distinctively designed textiles. 

Now that I’m back home, I often use the hand-woven shoulder bag I bought. Its intricate pattern reminds me of the diversity of Vietnam, both past and present.