Champa

Not to be confused with Chamba State.

For other uses, see Champa (disambiguation).

Kingdom of Champa Campapura, Campanagara, Nagaracampa, Nagarcam
192–1832
The main Champa kingdom before 1306 (yellow) lay along the coast of present-day southern Vietnam. To the north (blue) lay Đại Việt; to the west (red), the Khmer Empire .
Territory of Champa after 1306 (light blue), neighboring with Đại Việt (dark pink) and Cambodia (orange) after marriage of princess Huyền Trân and Cham king Jaya Simhavarman III.
Capital	Kandapurpura (192-605) Simhapura (605-757) Virapura (757-875) Indrapura (875–982) Vijaya (982–1471) Kauthara polity (757–1653) Panduranga polity (1471–1832)
Common languages	Old Cham, Chamic languages, Sanskrit, Old Malay
Religion	Cham Folk religion, Hinduism and Buddhism, later Islam
Government	Monarchy
History
• Established	192
• Pandurangga annexed by Vietnam under Nguyễn dynasty	1832
Population
• peak	2,500,000
Preceded by Succeeded by Han dynasty Nguyễn monarchy
Today part of	Vietnam Laos Cambodia

Champa (Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; Khmer: ចាម្ប៉ា; Vietnamese: Chiêm Thành or Chăm Pa) was a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is today central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd century AD until 1832, when it was annexed by the Vietnamese Empire under Minh Mạng. The kingdom was known variously as Nagaracampa (Sanskrit: नगरचम्पः), ꨌꩌꨛꨩ in the Chamic and Châmpa (ចាម្ប៉ា) in the Khmer inscriptions, Chiêm Thành in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and Zhànchéng (Mandarin: 占城) in Chinese records. According to an article published by National Geographic in 2014, Champa's navy was considered unrivaled.

The Chams of modern Vietnam and Cambodia are the remnants of this former kingdom. They speak Chamic languages, a subfamily of Malayo-Polynesian closely related to the Malayic and Bali–Sasak languages.

Champa was preceded in the region by a kingdom called Lâm Ấp (Vietnamese), or Linyi (林邑, Middle Chinese (ZS): *liɪm ʔˠiɪp̚), that was in existence since 192 AD; although the historical relationship between Linyi and Champa is not clear. Champa reached its apogee in the 9th and 10th centuries AD. Thereafter, it began a gradual decline under pressure from Đại Việt, the Vietnamese polity centred in the region of modern Hanoi. In 1832, the Vietnamese emperor Minh Mạng annexed the remaining Cham territories.

Hinduism, adopted through conflicts and conquest of territory from neighbouring Funan in the 4th century AD, shaped the art and culture of the Cham kingdom for centuries, as testified by the many Cham Hindu statues and red brick temples that dotted the landscape in Cham lands. Mỹ Sơn, a former religious centre, and Hội An, one of Champa's main port cities, are now World Heritage Sites. Today, many Cham people adhere to Islam, a conversion which began in the 10th century, with the ruling dynasty having fully adopted the faith by the 17th century; they are called the Bani (Ni tục, from Arabic: Bani). There are, however, the Bacam (Bacham, Chiêm tục) who still retain and preserve their Hindu faith, rituals, and festivals. The Bacam are one of only two surviving non-Indic indigenous Hindu peoples in the world, with a culture dating back thousands of years. The other is the Balinese Hinduism of the Balinese of Indonesia.

Etymology

The name Champa derived from the Sanskrit word campaka (pronounced /tʃampaka/), which refers to Magnolia champaca, a species of flowering tree known for its fragrant flowers. The name of the flower is further derived from the Tamil term Cem, meaning "red".

Historiography

Sources

The historiography of Champa relies upon four types of sources:

• Physical remains, including ruins as well as stone sculptures;
• Inscriptions in Cham and Sanskrit on steles and other stone surfaces;
• Chinese and Vietnamese annals, diplomatic reports, and other literature such as those provided by Jia Dan;
• Historiography of modern Cham people.

Overarching theories

This Cham head of Shiva was made of electrum around 800. It decorated a kosa, or metal sleeve fitted to a liṅgam. One can recognise Shiva by the tall chignon hairstyle and by the third eye in the middle of his forehead.

Crown of Champa in 7th and 8th century. (Museum of Vietnamese History)

Modern scholarship has been guided by two competing theories in the historiography of Champa. Scholars agree that historically Champa was divided into several regions or principalities spread out from south to north along the coast of modern Vietnam and united by a common language, culture, and heritage. It is acknowledged that the historical record is not equally rich for each of the regions in every historical period. For example, in the 10th century AD, the record is richest for Indrapura; in the 12th century AD, it is richest for Vijaya; following the 15th century AD, it is richest for Panduranga. Some scholars have taken these shifts in the historical record to reflect the movement of the Cham capital from one location to another. According to such scholars, if the 10th-century record is richest for Indrapura, it is so because at that time Indrapura was the capital of Champa. Other scholars have disputed this contention, holding that Champa was never a united country, and arguing that the presence of a particularly rich historical record for a given region in a given period is no basis for claiming that the region functioned as the capital of a united Champa during that period.

History

Main articles: History of Champa and Timeline of Champa

Sources of foreign cultural influence

Cham alphabet script in stone

Through the centuries, Cham culture and society were influenced by forces emanating from Cambodia, China, Java and India amongst others. Lâm Ấp, a predecessor state in the region, began its existence in AD 192 as a breakaway Chinese colony. An official successfully revolted against Chinese rule in central Vietnam, and Lâm Ấp was founded in AD 192. In the 4th century AD, wars with the neighbouring Kingdom of Funan in Cambodia and the acquisition of Funanese territory led to the infusion of Indian culture into Cham society. Sanskrit was adopted as a scholarly language, and Hinduism, especially Shaivism, became the state religion. Starting from 10th century AD, the Arab maritime trade introduces Islamic cultural and religious influences to the region. Although Hinduism was the predominant religion among the Cham people until the 16th century, Islam began to attract large numbers of Chams, when some members of the Cham royalty converted to Islam in the 17th century. Champa came to serve as an important link in the spice trade, which stretched from the Persian Gulf to South China, and later in the Arab maritime routes in Mainland Southeast Asia as a supplier of aloe.

Despite the frequent wars between the Cham and the Khmer, the two nations also traded and their cultural influences moved in the same directions. Since royal families of the two countries intermarried frequently. Champa also had close trade and cultural relations with the powerful maritime empire of Srivijaya and later with the Majapahit of the Malay Archipelago.

Evidence gathered from linguistic studies around Aceh confirms that a very strong Chamic cultural influence existed in Indonesia; this is indicated by the use of the Chamic language Acehnese as the main language in the coastal regions of Aceh. Linguists believe the Acehnese language, a descendant of the Proto-Chamic language, separated from the Chamic tongue sometime in the 1st millennium AD. However, scholarly views on the precise nature of Aceh-Chamic relations vary.

Founding legend

According to Cham folk legends, Champa was founded by Lady Po Nagar–the divide mother goddess of the kingdom. She came from the moon and arrived in Central Vietnam and found the kingdom, but a typhoon drifted her away and left her stranded on the coast of China, where she married a Chinese prince, and returned to Champa. The Po Nagar temple built in Nha Trang during the 8th century, and rebuilt in 11th century. Her portrayal image in the temple is said dating from 965 AD, is of a commanding personage seated cross-legged upon a throne. She is also worshiped by the Vietnamese, a tradition dates back to the 11th century during the Ly dynasty period.

Formation and growth

The people of Champa descended from seafaring settlers who reached the Southeast Asian mainland from Borneo about the time of the Sa Huỳnh culture between 1000 BC and 200 AD, the predecessor of the Cham kingdom. The Cham language is part of the Austronesian family. According to one study, Cham is related most closely to modern Acehnese in northern Sumatra.

While Northern Vietnam Kinh people assimilated Han Chinese immigrants into their population, have a sinicized culture and carry the patrilineal Han Chinese O-M7 haplogroup, Cham people carry the patrilineal R-M17 haplogroup of South Asian Indian origin from South Asian merchants spreading Hinduism to Champa and marrying Cham females since Chams have no matrilineal South Asian mtDNA, and this fits with the matrilocal structure of Cham families. Analysis of Vietnamese Kinh people's genetics show that within the last 800 years there was mixture between a Malay like southern Asian and a Chinese ancestral component that happens to fit the time period in which Kinh expanded south from their Red River Delta homeland in the nam tiến (lit. 'southward advance') process, which also matches the event 700 years ago when the Cham population suffered massive losses. With the exception of Cham who are Austronesian speaking and Mang who are Austroasiatic speaking, the southern Han Chinese and all other ethnic groups in Vietnam share ancestry.

To the Han Chinese, the country of Champa was known as 林邑 Linyi in Mandarin and Lam Yap in Cantonese and to the Vietnamese, Lâm Ấp (which is the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of 林邑). It was founded in 192 AD.

Around the 4th century AD, Cham polities began to absorb much of Indic influences, probably through its neighbour, Funan. Hinduism was established as Champa began to create Sanskrit stone inscriptions and erect red brick Hindu temples. The first king acknowledged in the inscriptions is Bhadravarman, who reigned from 380 to 413 AD. At Mỹ Sơn, King Bhadravarman established a linga called Bhadresvara, whose name was a combination of the king's own name and that of the Hindu god of gods Shiva. The worship of the original god-king under the name Bhadresvara and other names continued through the centuries that followed.

Rudravarman of Champa founded a new dynasty in 529 AD and was succeeded by his son, Sambhuvarman (r. 572–629). He reconstructed the temple of Bhadravarman and renamed it Shambhu-bhadreshvara. He died in 629 and was succeeded by his son, Kandarpadharma, who died in 630–31. Kandarpadharma was succeeded by his son, Prabhasadharma, who died in 645.

Between the 7th to 10th centuries AD, the Cham polities rose to become a naval power; as Cham ports attracted local and foreign traders, Cham fleets also controlled the trade in spices and silk in the South China Sea, between China, the Indonesian archipelago and India. They supplemented their income from the trade routes not only by exporting ivory and aloe, but also by engaging in piracy and raiding. However, the rising influence of Champa caught the attention of a neighbouring thalassocracy that considered Champa as a rival, the Javanese (Javaka, probably refers to Srivijaya ruler of Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java). In 767, the Tonkin coast was raided by a Javanese fleet (Daba) and Kunlun pirates, Champa was subsequently assaulted by Javanese or Kunlun vessels in 774 and 787. In 774 an assault was launched on Po-Nagar in Nha-trang where the pirates demolished temples, while in 787 an assault was launched on Phang-rang.

Depiction of Cham people in the Boxer Codex from 1590

Afterwards, during the 1000s, Rajah Kiling, the Hindu king of the Philippine kingdom of the Rajahnate of Butuan instigated a commercial rivalry with the Champa Civilization by requesting for diplomatic equality in court protocol towards his Rajahnate, from the Chinese Empire, which was later denied by the Chinese Imperial court, mainly because of favoritism over the Champa civilization. However, the future Rajah of Butuan, Sri Bata Shaja later succeeded in attaining diplomatic equality with Champa by sending the flamboyant ambassador Likanhsieh. Likanhsieh shocked the Emperor Zhenzong by presenting a memorial engraved on a gold tablet, some white dragon (Bailong 白龍) camphor, Moluccan cloves, and a South Sea slave at the eve of an important ceremonial state sacrifice.

Cham merchants then immigrated to what is the now the Sultanate of Sulu, which is also in the Philippines. They were called Orang Dampuan. The Champa civilization and the port-kingdom of Sulu engaged in commerce with each other which resulted in merchant Chams settling in Sulu from the 10th-13th centuries. The Orang Dampuan were slaughtered by envious native Sulu Buranuns due to the wealth of the Orang Dampuan. The Buranun were then subjected to retaliatory slaughter by the Orang Dampuan. Harmonious commerce between Sulu and the Orang Dampuan was later restored. The Yakans were descendants of the Taguima-based Orang Dampuan who came to Sulu from Champa.

1686 map of Champa(Chiampa)

According to Cham inscriptions, in 1190, Jayavarman VII conquered Champa and made it a dependency of the Khmer Empire for 30 years.

Decline

See also: History of the Cham–Vietnamese wars and Nam tiến

1770s map of Champa(Ciampa)

In the Cham–Vietnamese War (AD 1471), Champa suffered serious defeats at the hands of the Vietnamese, in which 120,000 people were either captured or killed, and the kingdom was reduced to a small enclave near Nha Trang with many Chams fleeing to Cambodia.

Champa was reduced to the principalities of Panduranga and Kauthara at the beginning of the 17th century. Kauthara was annexed by the Vietnamese in 1653. The last remaining principality of Champa, Panduranga, survived until August 1832, when Minh Mang of Vietnam began his purge against Le Van Duyet's faction, and accused the Cham leaders for supporting Duyet. Minh Mang ordered the last Cham king and the vice-king to be arrested in Hue, while incorporating the last remnants of Champa into what is Ninh Thuan province. Two widespread Cham revolts against the court of Minh Mang's oppression arose in 1833–1835, the latter led by khatib Ja Thak Wa–a Cham Bani clergy–which was more successful and even briefly reestablished a Cham state in short period of time, before being crushed by Minh Mang's forces.

Government

King

King of Champa is the title ruler of Champa. Champa rulers often use two Hinduist style titles: raja-di-raja (राजाधिराजः​ "raja of rajas": written here in Devanagari since the Cham used their own Cham script) or po-tana-raya (भूमिस्वामी "lord of all territories").

The regnal name of the Champa rulers originated from the Hindu tradition, often consisting of titles and aliases. Titles (prefix) like: Jaya (जय "victory"), Maha (महा "great"), Sri (श्री "glory"). Aliases (stem) like: Bhadravarman, Vikrantavarman, Rudravarman, Simhavarman, Indravarman, Paramesvaravarman, Harivarman... Among them, the suffix -varman belongs to the Kshatriya class and is only for those leaders of the Champa Alliance.

The last king of Champa was deposed by Minh Mạng in 1832.

Military

See also: History of the Cham–Vietnamese wars and Khmer–Cham wars

Sculpture of Cham mounted archers on chariots. c. 11th–13th century.

Depiction of a Cham–Khmer naval battle, stone relief at the Bayon.

The Cham traditionally used large numbers of soldiers for their infantry along with elephant corps. They wore various types of armor such as leather armor, scale lamellar, chainmail, and buff coats. Though the Cham were traditionally seafarers, their navy consisted of mostly large war boats powered by oars that could carry many marines to engage the Khmer and Vietnamese ships in close quarters combat. However, after the gunpowder age, Chinese firearms - including rockets and handguns were imported and employed by most Southeast Asian rulers in Dai Viet, Lan Na, and Luchuan. But Champa and Ayutthaya failed to adopt this technology and suffered the consequences. In 1390, the powerful Cham ruler Po Binasuor died in a naval battle. The Vietnamese records (written in Chữ Hán) attribute his death to the weapon called Huochong- long understood as referring to cannon but more probably a handgun. The use of these new weapons technology helped permanently shift the balance of power between the two kingdoms.

Geography of historical Champa

Champa (ca. 11th century) at its greatest extent

Champa territory (purple) in 1471 after the Vietnamese invasion of Champa.

Between the 2nd and the 15th centuries AD, Champa's territorial extent at times included the modern provinces of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên Huế, Da Nang, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận, and Bình Thuận. Through Cham territory included the mountainous zones west of the coastal plain and (at times) extended into present-day Laos, for the most part, the Cham remained a seafaring people dedicated to trading and maintained few settlements of any size away from the coast. Scholarships also hold consensus that Champa, like Dai Viet, was always multi-ethnic, not just the Cham people alone, but also encompassing several different ethnic groups such as Jarai, Rhadé, and Bahnar/Bahnaric-speaking and Katuic-speaking peoples. Others argue that Cham rule once might have stretched as far west as the Mekong River in the present-day Lao province of Campassak.

Historical Champa consisted of up to five principalities:

• Indrapura ("City of Indra") was the capital of Champa from about 875 to about 1000 AC. It was located at the site of the modern village of Đồng Dương, near the modern city of Da Nang. Also found in the region of Da Nang is the ancient Cham city of Singhapura ("City of the Lion"), the location of which has been identified with an archaeological site in the modern village of Trà Kiệu, and the valley of Mỹ Sơn, where a number of ruined temples and towers can still be seen. The associated port was at modern Hội An. The territory once controlled by this principality included present-day Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, and Thừa Thiên–Huế provinces.
• Amaravati was located in present-day Châu Sa citadel of Quảng Ngãi Province. The earliest mention of Amaravati is from an AD 1160 inscription at Po Nagar.

Closeup of the inscription in Cham script on the Po Nagar stele, 965. The stele describes feats by the Champa kings.

• Vijaya was located in present-day Bình Định Province. Early mention is made of Vijaya in an 1160 inscription at Po Nagar. The capital has been identified with the archaeological site at Cha Ban. The associated port was at present-day Qui Nhơn. Important excavations have also been conducted at nearby Tháp Mắm, which may have been a religious and cultural centre. Vijaya became the political and cultural centre of Champa around 1000, when the northern capital of Indrapura was abandoned due to pressure from the Viet. It remained the centre of Champa until 1471, when it was sacked by the Việt and the centre of Champa was again displaced toward the south. In its time, the principality of Vijaya controlled much of present-day Quang-Nam, Quang-Ngai, Bình Định, and Phú Yên Provinces.
• Kauthara was located in the area of modern Nha Trang in Khánh Hòa Province. Its religious and cultural centre was the temple of Po Nagar, several towers of which still stand at Nha Trang. Kauthara is first mentioned in an 784 AD inscription at Po Nagar.
• Panduranga was located in the area of present-day Phan Rang in Ninh Thuận Province. Panduranga was the last of the Cham territories to be annexed by the Vietnamese. Panduranga is first mentioned in an 817 AD inscription at Po Nagar.

Within the four principalities were two main clans: the "Dừa" (means "coconut" in Vietnamese) and the "Cau" (means "areca catechu" in Vietnamese). The Dừa lived in Amravati and Vijaya, while the Cau lived in Kauthara and Panduranga. The two clans differed in their customs and habits and conflicting interests led to many clashes and even war. But they usually managed to settle disagreements through intermarriage.

Religion

Religiously and culturally, the Chams were grouped into two major religio-cultural groups; the Balamon Chams that adhere to an indigenized form of Hinduism, and Bani Chams that adhere to an indigenized form of Islam. These two groups mostly live in separate villages. Intermarriage was prohibited in former times, and remains rare even nowadays. Both groups are matrilineal and conform to matrilocal residence practice. Both Cham groups' common ancestor worship is known as kut, characterized in the form of worshiping cemetery steles of dead ancestors. The Cham view the living world matters as just as transient one for a short-term existence, and eternity is the other world where ancestors, dead relatives and deities live.

Hinduism and Buddhism

Po Nagar

Ninh Thuận

Apsara with Saraswati (right)

Dancing Siva, c. 10th century AD

Champa art, Hindu temples and statues have been found in many parts of Vietnam.

The term "Balamon" derived from "Brahman" or "Brahmin", one of Hindu caste of religious elite. Balamon Chams adhere to the old religion of their ancestor, an indigenized form of Hinduism that thrived since the ancient era of Kingdom of Champa in 5th century AD. While today the Bacam (Bacham) are the only surviving Hindus in Vietnam, the region once hosted some of the most exquisite and vibrant Hindu cultures in the world. The entire region of Southeast Asia, in fact, was home to numerous sophisticated Hindu kingdoms. From Angkor in neighbouring Cambodia, to Java and Bali in Indonesia. The Cham Sunni in the Mekong Delta often refer the Balamon as Kafir (Derived from Arabic Kāfir for infidels).

10th-century Cham Saivite relief of Śiva

Cham Bodhisattva on a relief cube, c. 12th century

Before the conquest of Champa by the Đại Việt ruler Le Thánh Tông in 1471, the dominant religion of the Cham people was Hinduism, and the culture was heavily influenced by that of India. The Hinduism of Champa was overwhelmingly Shaiva and it was liberally combined with elements of local religious cults such as the worship of the Earth goddess Lady Po Nagar. The main symbols of Cham Shaivism were the lingam, the mukhalinga, the jaṭāliṅgam, the segmented liṅgam, and the kośa.

• A liṅga (or liṅgam) is black stone pillar that serves as a representation of Shiva. Cham kings frequently erected and dedicated stone lingas as the central religious images in royal temples. The name a Cham king would give to such a linga would be a composite of the king's own name and suffix "-iśvara", which stands for Shiva.
• A mukhaliṅga is a linga upon which has been painted or carved an image of Shiva as a human being or a human face.
• A jaṭāliṅga is a linga upon which has been engraved a stylised representation of Shiva's chignon hairstyle.
• A segmented liṅga is a linga post divided into three sections to represent the three aspects of the Hindu godhead or trimurti: the lowest section, square in shape, represents Brahma; the middle section, octagonal in shape, represents Vishnu, and the top section, circular in shape, represents Shiva.
• A kośa is a cylindrical basket of precious metal used to cover a linga. The donation of a kośa to the decoration of a liṅga was a distinguishing characteristic of Cham Shaivism. Cham kings gave names to special kośas in much the way that they gave names to the liṅgas themselves.

The predominance of Hinduism in Cham religion was interrupted for a time in the 9th and 10th centuries AD, when a dynasty at Indrapura (modern Đồng Dương, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam) adopted Mahayana Buddhism as its faith. King Indravarman II (r. 854–893) built a giant Buddhist monastery, a meditation hall, and temple for Champa's monks (sangha), and celebrated the veneration of the Buddhist deity Lokeśvara under the name Laksmindra Lokeśvara Svabhayada in 875. The Buddhist art of Đồng Dương has received special acclaim for its originality.

Beginning in the 10th century AD, Hinduism again became the predominant religion of Champa. Some of the sites that have yielded important works of religious art and architecture from this period are, aside from Mỹ Sơn, Khương Mỹ, Trà Kiệu, Chanh Lo, and Tháp Mắm.

Islam

Bani Chams are Muslim Chams that converted to a version of localized Shi'a Islam mixed with Hindu-Chamic customs, as the faith started making headway among the population after the 10th century AD. The term "Bani" derived from Arabic term "bani" (بني) which means "people". By the 17th century, the royal families of the Cham had converted to Bani Islam. Most Cham are now evenly split between being followers of Islam and Hinduism, with the majority of Central Vietnam Cham being Hindu and Bani, while the majority of Cambodian Chams and Mekong Delta Chams are Sunni Muslim, though significant minorities of Mahayana Buddhists continue to exist. Historical documents regarded that 18th-century Cham and Malay settlements in the Mekong Delta established by the Nguyen lords earlier than Vietnamese settlements in order to establish Viet-controlled settlements for frontier defense. The embodiment of more fundamentalist Sunni faiths in the Mekong Delta and Cambodia gave the Cham communities here socio-cultural inclinations toward the wider Malay/Islamic world compared with the fair-isolated Cham Bani in Central Vietnam. Islam also provides disciplining ethno-religious values to the Cham, thus successfully reconsolidated and preserved their ethnic cultural identity despite living in a dynamic transnational environment.

Indonesian 15th century records indicate the influence of Princess Daravati, a Cham, converted to Islam, and influenced her husband, Kertawijaya, Majapahit's seventh ruler to convert the Majapahit royal family to Islam. The Islamic tomb of Putri Champa (Princess of Champa) can be found in Trowulan, East Java, the site of the Majapahit imperial capital. In the 15th to 17th century, Muslim Cham maintained a cordial relationship with the Aceh Sultanate through dynastic marriage. This sultanate was located on the northern tip of Sumatra and was an active promoter of the Islamic faith in the Indonesian archipelago.

Economy

In contrast to Đại Việt, Champa's economy was not based on agriculture. As seafaring people, the Cham were highly mobile and established a network of trade including not only the major ports at Hội An, Thị Nại but also extending into the mountainous hinterland. Maritime trade was facilitated by a network of wells that provided fresh water to Cham and foreign ships along the coast of Champa and the islands of Cù Lao Chàm and Lý Sơn. While Kenneth R. Hall suggests that Champa was not able to rely on taxes on trade for continuous revenue, but instead financed their rule by raiding neighbouring countries, Hardy argues that the country's prosperity was above all based on commerce.

The vast majority of Champa's export products came from the mountainous hinterland, sourced from as far as Attapeu in southern Laos. They included gold and silver, slaves, animal and animal products, and precious woods. By far the most important export product was eaglewood. It was the only product mentioned in Marco Polo's brief account and similarly impressed the Arab trader Sulayman several centuries earlier. Most of it was probably taken from the Aquilaria crassna tree, just as most of the eaglewood in Vietnam today.

Cham port-cities

Two Cham women playing Polo. c. 600–900 AD.

Cham man playing flute.

During the medieval age, the Champa Kingdom benefited greatly from the luxurious maritime trade routes through the South China Sea and overland trade networks connecting Angkor and Bagan to Champa. Champa concentrated its wealth in highly urbanized port-cities, some of them located in self-governing regions. Prominent examples include Amarendrapura (the modern city of Huế); Visnupura (Nhan Bieu, Thua Thien Hue) in the north; Indrapura and Amavarati (Quang Nam); Vijaya (Qui Nhon) in the central region; and Nha Trang and Panduranga in the south.

When French scholars arrived in the mid-19th century, they were impressed with Cham ruins, Cham urbanism, and medieval networks throughout the former kingdom. The middle-age densely populated areas of Tra Kieu and My Son were well connected by paved stone roads, bridges, urban ruins that were 16 feet high, rampart and stone citadel in a rectangle shape of 984 feet by 1640 feet, which hosted temples, fortified palaces, and resident structures.

From the 4th to 15th century, these cities were relatively wealthy. Foreign traders and travelers from across medieval Eurasia were well-aware of Champa's richness and eyewitnessed the crowded, prosperous Cham port-cities. Columbus during his fourth voyage in 1503 around Central America coast, due to contemporary limited knowledge that mistakenly to locate Central America and eastern Asia, thought that he had figured out the kingdom of "Ciampa" where previously visited by Marco Polo in 1290. Because of this, Champa was the target of multiple warring powers surrounding: the Chinese in 4th century-605 AD; the Javanese in 774 and 787, the Vietnamese in 982, 1044, 1069, 1073, 1446, and 1471; the Khmer in 1074, 1126–1128, 1139–1150, 1190–1220; and the Mongol Yuan in 1283–85, many cities were ransacked by invaders and rebuilt or repaired overtime. Some Cham port-cities later ended up captured by Vietnamese in the mid-15th century, which later resulted in the rise of Nguyen domain depending on these port-cities, whom benefited international trades, and was well-balanced enough to fend off several northern Trinh invasions in the 17th century.

Archaeological remains and legacy

Mỹ Sơn is the site of the largest collection of Cham ruins.

Duong Long ruins in Bình Định province.

Religious

• Mỹ Sơn near the town of Hội An on the Thu Bồn River. Established by Bhadravarman I in the 5th century AD, Vikrantavarman I initiated a major building program in the 7th century. Construction continued until 1157 AD under Jaya Harivarman I.
• Po Nagar in Kauthara, on a harbour, comprising six temples and a pillared hall. Established before the 7th century AD, a wooden structure was burned in 774 AD by Javanese raiders. Prithindravarman initiated major construction in 757 AD. One tower dates from 813 AD and construction continued until 1256.
• Đồng Dương was founded by Indravarman II in 875 AD. Most of the complex was destroyed during the Vietnam War. The site consists of three large courts, a large assembly hall, and a main temple sanctuary. Two bronze statues, one of Buddha and one of Avalokiteśvara were found at the site.
• Po Klaung Garai in Panduranga (Phan Rang).
• Po Rome.
• Po Sah Inu in Hamu Lithit (Phan Thiết).

Fortresses

• Khu Túc (known in Chinese sources as Qusu) located along the Kiến Giang River of Quảng Bình province, was built in the 4th century AD and includes a revetted wall and moat as do the other centers. Khu Túc was sacked by the Chinese in 446 AD, "all inhabitants over the age of 15 were put to the sword" and as much as 48,000 of gold taken.
• Trà Bàn (Caban) was the capital of Vijaya. Ruins included Canh Tien towers, located north of Quy Nhon and contains a possible royal palace.
• Châu Sa or Amaravati in Quảng Ngãi province.
• Trà Kiệu or Simhapura, dating from two to three centuries BC until the 6th or 7th centuries AD.
• Thành Hồ (Ayaru) is located on the northern bank of the Đà Rằng River, Phú Yên.
• Song Luy (Bal Cattinon) is located on the coast south of Cape Dinh, Bình Thuận province.

Some of the network of wells that was used to provide fresh water to Cham and foreign ships still remains. Cham wells are recognisable by their square shape. They are still in use and provide fresh water even during times of drought.

Museums

Champa ladies dance at Poklong Garai stupa in Phan Rang.

The largest collection of Cham sculpture may be found in the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture (formerly known as "Musée Henri Parmentier") in the coastal city of Da Nang. The museum was established in 1915 by French scholars, and is regarded as one of the most beautiful in Southeast Asia. Other museums with collections of Cham art include the following:

• Museum of Fine Arts, Hanoi
• Museum of History, Hanoi
• Museum of Fine Arts, Saigon
• Museum of History, Saigon
• Musée Guimet, Paris

Cham influences on Vietnamese culture

A Vietnamese Shiva figure made by sandstone in Vong La temple, Hanoi, dated 12th century

Cham culture was absorbed by the Vietnamese, who in turn were strongly influenced by it. In 1044, after raiding Champa, Vietnamese king Lý Thái Tông took some 5,000 female Cham singers, dancers, servants, and engineers to Dai Viet and settled them in the capital Hanoi where they created music for the Vietnamese court and had a direct influence on Vietnamese art. Both Lý Thái Tông and his son Lý Thánh Tông had a great appreciation for Cham music, and in 1060 Lý Thái Tông ordered Cham songs to be translated into Vietnamese to incorporate the Cham trong com drum into the royal band.

Cham art also spread far across the Red River Delta, where many Vietnamese Buddhist temples hosted Cham-style statues of dragons, lions, nāgá, makara, kinnari, Brahma and Hamsa dated back to the 11th–13th century (however, since these creatures also existed in China, it was more likely Chinese influence and not Champa). Thousand of bricks inscribed with Cham script indicate that a multitude of Vietnamese temples and holy sites were built by Cham engineers. A Buddhist stone stupa of Dạm tempe in Bắc Ninh Province, built by Vietnamese king Lý Nhân Tông in 1086, is a representation of a lingam and its yoni (a Hindu-Cham symbol of fertility and the power of creation).

In 1693, after lord Nguyen Phuc Chu's take over of Panduranga, the Cham were forced to wear regulated Vietnamese dress, at least the members of the ruling Mâh Taha dynasty, Cham king Po Saktiraydapatih, and Cham court officials.

See also

• King of Champa
• Art of Champa
• History of Vietnam
• Kampong Cham Province in east Cambodia
• Kingdom of Champasak in the south of Laos
• Champa independence movement

References

• Cœdès, George (1966), The Making of South East Asia, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-05061-4
• Hardy, Andrew David; Cucarzi, Mauro; Zolese, Patrizia (2009). Champa and the Archaeology of Mỹ Sơn (Vietnam). NUS Press. ISBN 978-9971-69-451-7.
• Higham, Charles (2014). Early Mainland Southeast Asia: From First Humans to Angkor. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-6-16733-944-3.
• Hubert, Jean-François (8 May 2012). The Art of Champa. Parkstone International. ISBN 978-1-78042-964-9.
• Kiernan, Ben (2009). Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14425-3.
• Marrison, G. E. (1985). "The Cham and their literature". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 58 (2): 45–70 – via JSTOR.
• Maspéro, Georges (1 January 2002). The Champa Kingdom: The History of an Extinct Vietnamese Culture. White Lotus Press. ISBN 978-974-7534-99-3.
• Miksic, John Norman; Yian, Goh Geok (2016). Ancient Southeast Asia. Routledge.
• Ngô, Văn Doanh (2005). Mỹ Sơn Relics. Thế Giới Publishers.
• Noseworthy, William (2017), Cham Bani also known as "Localized Shi'a Cham Muslims in Vietnam", "Bani Islam", Database of Religious History. University of British Columbia
• Tran, Ky Phuong; Lockhart, Bruce, eds. (2011). The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-9-971-69459-3.
  • Guy, John (2011), "Pan-Asian Buddhism and the Bodhisattva Cult in Champa", in Lockhart, Bruce; Trần, Kỳ Phương (eds.), The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, pp. 300–322
  • Yoshimoto, Yasuko (2011), "A Study of the Almanac of the Cham in South-Central Vietnam", in Lockhart, Bruce; Trần, Kỳ Phương (eds.), The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, pp. 323–336
• Vu, Hong Lien (2017), Cham Features in Buddhist Arts under the Lý Dynasty of Vietnam
• Weber, Nicolas (2012). "The destruction and assimilation of Campā (1832–35) as seen from Cam sources". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 43 (1): 158–180. doi:10.1017/S0022463411000701. S2CID 154818297.

External links

• "Research on Champa and its Evolution" (PDF).
• Website of the Asia Research Institute, including the working paper "Champa Revised" by Michael Vickery, and the draft translation "Champa in the Song hui-yao" by Geoff Wade
• Ken, Danny Wong Tze (11 March 2004). "Vietnam-Champa Relations and the Malay-Islam Regional Network in the 17th–19th Centuries". Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia.
• The Survivors of a Lost Civilisation
• Cham Muslims: A look at Cambodia's Muslim minority
• Photos of Cham art exhibited in Vietnamese museums
• Plumeria flowers – Champa Flowers – La fleur de frangipaniers – Hoa Sứ, Hoa đại, Hoa Champa
• Photographs of Champa Temples