by Jim Goodman
 |
| King Pôrômê as an incarnation of Shiva |
After the indigenous
Vietnamese themselves, and the Chinese who conquered and administered them for
over a thousand years, the most important players in the country’s history were
the Chăm kingdoms in central Vietnam.
For much of its history Vietnam was divided into three distinct parts;
geographically, culturally and politically.
The northern third was Vietnamese, the Mekong Delta was
Khmer and the narrow strip between the mountains and the sea in central Vietnam
was Châm.
An Austronesian people who
began migrating into Vietnam from the 3rd century, the Chăm
eventually established five different states along the coast. The northernmost Chăm got involved with
raids on Vietnamese settlements even while the Chinese were still there. After Vietnam won back its independence
it responded to a new wave of assaults by attacking and destroying the capitals
of the states that sponsored them, extending its own frontiers to the Hải
Văn Pass above contemporary Đà Nẵng.
 |
| Ninh Thuận Chăm dancers in Nha Trang |
The Chăm inhabitants fled
further south to Vijaya, a still strong Chăm kingdom with its capital near
present-day Quy Nh
ơn. For the
next few centuries Vijaya was involved in wars with the Khmer, the Mongols and
the Vietnamese. They beat the
Mongols as allies of the Vietnamese, but afterwards resumed hostilities and in
the late 14th century sacked the Vietnamese capital three times.
The next century, though, Đăi
Việt, as the nation was known, had a new dynasty. Its greatest king, Lê Thánh
Tông, responded to a new set of Chăm provocations by leading his armed forces
down to Vijaya and conquering it in 1472 and obliterating its existence. Most of Vijaya’s soldiers died or were
captured. The civilians scattered
to the hills of today’s Phú Yên province or further south to the last two Chăm
kingdoms in Kauthara, now Nha Trang, and Panduranga, in Ninh Thuận
province.
 |
| weaver on the backstrap loom, Mỹ Nghiệp |
The Chăm were both farmers and
seafarers and among the latter many converted to Islam. Kauthara was about equally divided
between them. Violent faction
fights broke out in the early 17th century, only quelled when an
ethnic Churu chieftain became King Pôrômê of Panduranga and used his army to
put down the fighting in 1627.
Kauthara later launched another invasion of Phú Yên in 1651, attempting
to annex it while Đai Việt was busy with its own civil conflicts in the Red
River Delta. But the Chăm had once
again underestimated their foe and a vigorous Vietnamese counter-attack took
the capital and put an end to the kingdom.
Kauthara’s population all
fled. The capita city was
deserted. The Muslim Chăm went to
Cambodia, Indonesia and Siam.
Hindu Chăm moved south to Panduranga, the last Chăm state outside Đai Việt’s
borders. It was never as rich or
as martial as the others. Ninh Thuận
and BìnhThuận, the next province south, are the most arid places in Vietnam. Panduranga was far from the
Chăm-Vietnamese conflict zones and mostly stayed out of Vihaya’s wars. It did, however, in the 12th
century, attack and drive out Angkor’s Khmer army from Vijaya.
 |
| weaving from the side on an upright Chăm loom |
 |
| ancient style image on a Bầu Trúc vase |
After Đai Việt’s annexation of
Kauthara, Panduranga became the last bastion of Chăm political control, culture
and arts. Its ruler King Pôrômê
had just been caught in a skirmish around Kauthara and killed during the Vietnamese
assault on Kauthara. The
victorious Vietnamese of the Nguyễn Lords’ realm then installed a couple
successive client kings while they turned their attention north with an attack
on the territory of their rival Trịnh Lords.
 |
| Hòa Lai towers |
Meanwhile, a local lord named
Pô Sot took Panduranga’s throne in 1657 and for the next 35 years the frontiers
were quiet and relations with Đai Việt peaceful. But in 1692 Pô Sot ordered his army to seize Kauthara,
hoping to incorporate it back into Panduranga. The new young Nguyễn Lord Nguyến Phúc Chu sent military
forces down that repelled the invasion, seized Panduranga’s territory and
announced its annexation. The
following year a plague broke out in Panduranga, killing Pô Sot, whose younger
brother Pô Saktiray succeeded and then organized a revolt that drove out the
Vietnamese.
The Nguyễn Court opted to make
a deal. It canceled outright
annexation. Chăm rulers would be
vassals of the Nguyễn Lords, but have full authority over Chăm residents of the
state. Resident Vietnamese
officials would oversee state policies and be in charge of Vietnamese
settlers. Reconfirmed twenty years
later, the agreement remained in force until Emperor Minh Mạng abrogated it in
1832.
 |
| carvings on Hòa Lai's North Tower |
Vietnamese settlers who moved
into Panduranga did not displace the local Chăm but instead cleared unoccupied
land. Unlike the fall of Kauthara
and other Chăm states further north, no mass dispersal of the indigenous
population took place. Descendants
of Panduranga’s 17th century inhabitants are still living in Ninh
Thuân and Bình Thuận provinces, as well as in the hills of Phú Yên. They are a minority there and the
entire population of the Chăm in Vietnam today is only around 165,000,
including the Muslim Chăm in the Mekong Delta, mostly around Chău Đốc.
Yet Chăm culture has
continued, both that of the majority Hindu Brahmin Chăm and the smaller Muslim
community the Bani Chăm. While not
every ancient tradition and practice has survived, the core elements have. The Brahmin Chăm still venerate the
Hindu deities, as well as their own mother-goddess Po Nagar and various nature
spirits. The Bani Chăm follow a
less strict form of Islam, do not read Arabic and so do not study the Koran,
and only their priests observe the Ramadan fast. They have retained their pre-Islamic veneration of spirits
associated with natural elements like the rain, the mountains and the sea, and
sometimes join with the Brahmin Chăm in agricultural rituals, such as the
Rain-Praying Festival at the beginning of the Chăm year.
 |
| warrior carving, Hòa Lai North Tower |
 |
| entrance tower, Poklong Garai |
Both Brahmin and Bani Chăm are
matrilineal and this is the primary distinction between them and their
Vietnamese neighbors. This system
was so infuriating to the Lê Court’s Confucian kings and mandarins that it
banned marriage between Vietnamese males and Chăm females. In the Chăm’s matrilineal system, of
course, the husband goes to life with his wife’s family and the inheritance
goes from mother to daughter. The
rites of passage for girls in adolescence is a much grander ceremony than the
equivalent one for boys, even among the Bani Chăm, where the boys’ rite
involves circumcision.
 |
| Poklong Garai temple complex |
Among the other ancient
customs still practiced by the Brahmin Chăm are the funeral rites. Cremation is the mode and the manner
and associated rituals are the same as those in the Indian Hindu heartland,
except at the conclusion. The Chăm
cut nine pieces of bone from the forehead of the corpse and place them in a
metal box. After the fire has
consumed the corpse and the ashes have been thrown in the river, the mourning
family takes the box with the forehead bone pieces back to the village cemetery
and ritually deposits it under a stone stele called kút in the Chăm language.
Most Chăm are farmers and live
in houses indistinguishable from those of their Vietnamese neighbors. Both men and women wear headscarves,
though the emerging generation seems to eschew this custom. Besides basic agricultural activity, a couple
villages still maintain their traditional crafts.
A little south of Phan Rang,
the provincial capital, is Mỹ Nghiệp. a village specializing in weaving. Women here use two kinds of looms. With the backstrap loom (̣a.k.a. loin
loom), which can be tied to any post, tree, bench or even the rear of a parked tractor-trailer,
they sit on the ground or floor and weave cloth about 50 centimeters wide and
of variable length. Afterwards
they stitch two lengths together to make the final product wide enough for
blankets or curtains.
 |
| the face of King Poklong Garai |
 |
| mini-towers on the upper tiers |
The other is a narrow standing
loom, about 2-3 meters long, which the weaver operates by sitting to the side
of it rather than behind. This
they use to make narrow strips of cloth for belts, sashes, headscarves,
etc.
Between Mỹ Nghiệp and Phan
Rang is the ceramics specialty village Bầu Trúc. On most any day one can see lines of freshly made pots
drying in the yards. Most of the
production is for everyday use, so rather plain and ordinary. But shops also sell more decorative items,
with some artistic flair, from miniature models of Chăm towers to vases
embossed with relief figures of Chăm goddesses.
 |
| Dancing Shiva at Poklong Garai |
In the vicinity of Phan Rang,
three sets of ruins from the heyday of historic Pandurang still stand, all in
relatively good condition. The oldest, built in the 9th century and
standing next to Highway 1A 14 km north of Phan Rang, is Hòa Lai. Originally it consisted of three towers,
but during the American War one was bombed to smithereens. Of the remaining two, the south tower
has lost some of its decorations, but the northern one is practically
intact. The arches over the
entrance and false doors feature carvings of vegetation, while low-relief
sculptures of warriors, mythical animals and the head of an elephant adorn the exterior
walls.
Local Chăm people believe the
Khmer built the Hòa Lai towers, though Western researchers found no evidence to
support this belief and consider them early Chăm creations. Nevertheless, the Chăm do not revere
them and hold no ceremonies there.
The other two, however, Poklong Garai and Tháp Pôrômê, see frequent
devotee visits and are the venues for the late summer Ka Te Festival, the most
important event in the Chăm calendar.
Poklong Garai, built in the 13th
century, sits on a mound called Betal Hill, five km northwest of Phan
Rang. It is the best preserved of
all Chăm relics. It is named after
a Chăm king who ruled from 1151-1206.
He was a real person, but the details of his life have been mixed with
legends. He promoted irrigation
works across his semi-arid kingdom and is even more famous for the way he dealt
with a Khmer invasion by challenging them to a tower building contest. The Chăm won and the Khmer went home.
 |
| Brahmins at prayer, Chăm Culture Museum painting |
People believe that the
largest of the three towers was the one built to win the contest, or at least
the model for it. But records say
the complex went up in the reign of Chê Mân in the late 13th
century. By then Poklong Garai had
become a Chăm protective deity and within the main tower the central worship
object is a lingam with the face of the king.
The main tower, with three
tiers, rises over twenty meters from a square base ten meters per side. At the
corners of the upper tiers are tiered mini-towers with tops shaped liked bulbs
and terracotta leaves protruding from their corners. It’s a much more ornate building than the Hòa Lai
towers. Over the entrance is a
stone Dancing Shiva, one of the finest examples of Chăm sculptural art. Small figures of devotees also sit in
niches of the upper walls.
The entrance tower, about a third
as high, in the same style but not as well decorated, stands east of the main
tower. In between them is the mandap, a rituals building on a
rectangular base and with a saddle-shaped roof. In the lot below the hill the Chăm Culture Museum features
exhibits of handicrafts like textiles and pottery, musical instruments, swords,
daggers, ritual items and men’s and women’s clothing. Photographs of various cultural activities, and paintings
depicting the past, compete the displays
 |
| playing the Chăm type of clarinet |
 |
| Ka Te Festival, Chăm Culture Museum painting |
In a rural area about fifteen
km southwest of Phan Rang is the province’s third Chăm relic—Pôrômê Tower. Also atop a small hill, this 17th
century monument, dedicated to the deified King Pôrômê, was the last brick
tower the Chăm constructed. It
follows the Poklong Garai style, but is only eight meters high and less ornate.
Around the mini-towers, though, are a few carvings of devotees in prayer and
bulls looking skyward.
Inside the tower is a stele
bearing the image of a multi-armed King Pôrômê and beside it a smaller
half-body stone image of one of his wives. Another wife image stands
outside. Pôrômê also was known for
great irrigation projects and the main ditch built in his reign is still in
use. At the mid-April New Year,
local Chăm perform the rituals devised during its construction and then carry
out its renovation.
 |
| the upper tier of Pôrômê Tower |
 |
| staircase to Pôrômê Tower |
At both Pôrômê and Poklong
Garai the major annual event, held for three days late October, is the Ka Te
Festival. Nearer to Phan Rang and
accessible via a good road, Poklong Garai draws bigger crowds, but at both
places the essentials are the same.
The first day Brahmin priests perform a variety of rituals and bathe and
clothe the images in the towers.
Then the people return home for ancestral rites, followed by three days
of feasting, singing and dancing.
Chăm power and glory have long
vanished. But Ka Te draws more
celebrants every year. The obvious
conclusion is that Chăm culture, traditions and customs, and above all Chăm
consciousness, continue unabated right through modern times.
 |
| top of the main tower at Poklong Garai |
No comments:
Post a Comment