We woke to another morning of mist and heavy overcast. During our morning walk along the coast of the South Sea, we debated whether or not to make the excursion to My Son Sanctuary. It was a 75 minute shuttle ride and we had been warned not to expect anything as impressive or well preserved as Angor Wat. Nonetheless, My Son Sanctuary, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 was an important intellectual and religious center for the Cham people who lived here and traded on the maritime Silk Road. This plus the forecast for rain all morning, convinced us to don our raincoats and make the trip.
We passed through several small villages enroute to My Son Sanctuary, typically a cluster of mud and brick homes, a temple or pagonda, small school, market or store and a bamboo grove. The solid, straight bamboo tree is symbolic of resilience and courage to the Vietnamese people so these trees frequently surround a village. As we neared the village of Duy Phu and the entrance to My Son, the terrain became more and more lush, with heavy vegetation and a ring of mountains in the distance.
At the entrance to sanctuary, we boarded a tram that ferried us about mile to the main temples of the archeological site. Constructed between the 4th and 14th centuries by the kings of Champa, at one time the site encompassed over 70 temples, carved stele and statues, but today is a shadow of its former greatness, with partially renovated structures, many of which were further damaged during the Vietnam-American War.
The Cham people descended from seafaring settlers who reached the Southeast Asian mainland from Borneo between 1000 BC and 200 AD. Actively involved in maritime trading networks, they built close relationships with other states in Southeast Asia and consequently were strongly influenced by others art, architecture and religion. In particular, the Cham’s spirtual origins are strongly tied to Indian Hinduism and the worship of Lord Shiva. My Son was built as an important Cham intellectual and religious center where the Champa king, in the incarnation of Shiva, was venerated as lord protector.
Temples, dedicated to Shiva, were constructed at My Son starting in the 4th century and continuing over nearly a thousand years. These tower temples have a variety of architectural styles. Although in ruinous condition, one can still see images of Shiva adorning the brickwork.
The majority of temples in My Son are constructed with fired brick, giving many buildings a distinct reddish hue. The construction techniques used by the Champa are not well understood even today – how were bricks fired, how was mortar applied to produce such a tight, even grout. The quality of the construction and the fact that many temples are still standing despite their age, neglect and bombing during war is a testament to the excellent engineering and architectural skills of the Champa.
Stone pillars augmented the fired brick construction. Sometimes decorative carvings were cut in the brick itself; other times figures from Hindu mythology were carved in sandstone base relief. One of the temple chambers housed fragments of these carvings that would evenutually be pieced together by archeologists. India has recently joined with Vietnam in a joint effort to investigate, excavate and renovate the sanctuary. We spent more time than warranted examining these carving fragments as we waited out a heavy downpour of rain.
The rain did not cooperate so we donned ponchos over our raincoats and finsihed our tour with water running in rivulets down the plastic and humidity steaming underneath, rather like our own personal wet sauna. Despite our discomfort, the rain brought the landscape to life – the small river bordering the site was flush with fast flowing water, the vegetation glistened a vibrant green.
We finsihed our exploration of My Son, stopping in a restroom in an attempt to dry off before heading back to our vehicle. The rain had changed to a light drizzle and off in the distance we saw a small break in the clouds – maybe, just maybe we might see the sun before we departed Vietnam!
March, 2023