Po Nagar is a

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script ***Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script *Cham Albanian ...

temple tower founded sometime before 781 and located in the medieval principality of Kauthara, near modern

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hòa District, Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh Distri ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It is dedicated to Yan Po Nagar, the goddess of the country, who came to be identified with the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

goddesses

Bhagavati Bhagavatī (Devanagari: भगवती, IAST: Bhagavatī), is a Hindus, Hindu epithet of Sanskrit origin, used as an honorific title for female deities in Hinduism. It is primarily used to address one of the Tridevi: Saraswati, Lakshmi, and P ...

and

Mahishasuramardini Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around comb ...

, and who in Vietnamese is called Thiên Y Thánh Mẫu.

History

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

dated 781 indicates that the

King

Satyavarman Jaya Satyavarman (died 787 AD), was the second king of the Fifth dynasty of Champa, modern-day Central Vietnam, reigned from 770 to 787. He was the nephew (sister's son) of king Prithindravarman, founder of a dynasty that centralized around the s ...

regained power in the area of "Ha-Ra Bridge", and that he restored the devastated temple. From this inscription can be deduced that the area previously had come under temporary foreign dominion, and that foreign vandals had damaged the already existing temple. Other steles indicate that the temple had contained a

mukhalinga In Hindu iconography, Mukhalinga or Mukhalingam (literally "''linga with a face''", ) is a linga with one or more human faces. The linga is an aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva. Mukhalingas may be of stone or can be made of a metal ...

decorated with jewelry and resembling an angel's head. Foreign robbers, perhaps from

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, "men living on food more horrible than cadavers, frightful, completely black and gaunt, dreadful and evil as death" had arrived in ships, had stolen the jewelry and had broken the

linga A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...

. Though the king had chased the robbers out to sea, the treasure had been lost forever. The steles also indicate that the king restored the linga in 784.Maspero, G., 2002, The Champa Kingdom, Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., The Cham military leader Senapati Par, under the reign of

Harivarman I Harivarman I was the king of Champa from around 802 to 817. During the period from 758 to 859 AD, mandala Champa was collectively called as Huánwáng by the Chinese, which obviously was not the proper name of Champa. Harivarman was the brother ...

, made endowments in 817. Senapati made attacks on the Khmers under

Jayavarman II Jayavarman II ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី២; c. 770 – 850) (reigned c. 802–850) was a Khmer prince who founded and became the ruler of the Khmer Empire (Cambodia) after unifying the Khmer civilization. The Khmer Empire was the ...

. Harivarman I was succeeded by his son,

Vikrantavarman III Vikrāntavarman III was a king of Champa, reigning from 817 to around 854. Vikrantavarman was a son of king Harivarman I (r. 802–817). In 813 he was appointed by his father position ruler (Adhipati) of Pāṇḍuraṅga Principality (Phan Ra ...

, who also made endowments. A

dated 918 by the Cham King Indravarman III states an order to build a golden statue to the goddess

. Later steles report that the original gold statue was stolen by the Khmer's

Rajendravarman II Rajendravarman II ( km, រាជេន្ទ្រវរ្ម័នទី២) was the king of the Khmer Empire (region of Angkor in Cambodia), from 944 to 968 AD. Rajendravarman II was the uncle and first cousin of Harshavarman. His principal m ...

in 950, and that in 965, the king Jaya Indravarman I replaced the lost statue with a new stone one. A stele dated 1050 says that offerings of land, slaves, jewelry, and precious metals were made to the statue by

Jaya Paramesvaravarman I Jaya Paramesvaravarman I ( Chinese: 俱舍唎波微收羅婆麻提楊卜; pinyin: ''Jù shě(ī)lì Bōwēishōuluópómátí Yáng Bǔ''), personal name Īśvaramūrti, was a king of Champa, reigning from 1044 to 1060. He founded a dynasty that ce ...

. Paramabhodisattva made "rich offerings" in 1084 after reuniting the country.

Jaya Indravarman III Jaya Indravarman III ( 1106–1145, r. 1139–1145) was a king of Champa during the middle of the 12th century. Harivarman V was an heirless king, so he abdicated in 1129. His adopted son, Jaya Indravarman III, was nominated for the Crown Prince ...

gave the temple a

Shivalinga A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional ...

and a Shrishana Vishnu in 1141 and another donation in 1143. In 1160,

Jaya Harivarman I Jaya Harivarman I (? – 1167) was a Cham noble and King of Champa. Rising to power during the 12th Century Khmer–Cham wars, he spent much of his rule consolidating his control over Champa. He was succeeded by his son, Jaya Harivarman II. Bio ...

"offered rich gifts". An inscription states

Jayavarman VII Jayavarman VII, posthumous name of Mahaparamasaugata ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី៧, c. 1122–1218), was king of the Khmer Empire. He was the son of King Dharanindravarman II (r. 1150–1160) and Queen Sri Jayarajacudamani. He was ...

of the Khmer Empire, "took the capital of Champa and carried of all the lingas." Later steles indicate the celebration of a cult in honor of the goddess Yan Po Nagar, as well as the presence of statues dedicated to the principal deities of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. In the 17th century, the

ese people occupied Champa and took over the temple tower, calling it Thiên Y Thánh Mâu Tower. A number of Vietnamese legends regarding the goddess and the tower have come into being.

Site

The Po Nagar complex is situated on Cù Lao Mountain. It consists of three levels, the highest of which encompasses two rows of towers. The main tower is about 25 m high. The temple's central image is a 1.2m tall stone statue of the goddess Yan Po Nagar sitting cross-legged, dressed only in a skirt, with ten hands holding various symbolic items. According to Vietnamese scholar Ngô Vǎn Doanh, these attributes show that Yan Po Nagar was identified also with the

goddess

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around co ...

, the slayer of the buffalo-demon. Another sculpture of the goddess Mahishasuramardini may be found in the

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

above the entrance to the temple: it depicts the four-armed goddess holding a hatchet, a lotus and a club, and standing on a buffalo. This sculpture belongs to the

Tra Kieu Tra or TRA may refer to: Biology * TRA (gene), in humans encodes the protein T-cell receptor alpha locus * Tra (gene), in ''Drosophila melanogaster'' encodes the protein female-specific protein transformer * Tra gene, a transfer gene * Triple re ...

style of Cham art from the end of the 10th century or the beginning of the 11th century.Ngô Vǎn Doanh, ''Champa: Ancient Towers'', p.215.

References

;Bibliography * Coedès, George, ''The Indianized States of Southeast Asia''. Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1968. * Ngô Vǎn Doanh, ''Champa: Ancient Towers''. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 2006. Chapter 14: "Po Nagar Tower: The Temple of the Goddess of the Country," pp. 187 ff. * Trần Kỳ Phương (2009): The Architecture of the Temple-Towers of Ancient Champa. in Hardy, Andrew et al. (ed): Champa and the Archaeology of Mỹ Sơn (Vietnam). NUS Press, Singapore

External links

Information about Po Nagar
{{Champa topics Buildings and structures completed in the 8th century Hindu temples in Vietnam Cham Nha Trang Buildings and structures in Khánh Hòa province Tourist attractions in Khánh Hòa province 8th-century establishments in Vietnam

History

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See also

References

External links