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Introduction to the history and
significance of Champa
A talk and presentation by Michael Vickery
Present: John Aloia, Klaus Berkmüller, Maya & David
Bradley, Bonnie Brereton, Peter J. Bumke, Pitya Bunnag, John
Cadet, Bea Camp, Guy Cardinal, Patricia Cheesman, Bernard Davis, Roshan Dhunjibhoy,
Andrew Forbes, Louis Gabaude, Jim Goodman, Oliver Hargreave, David
Henley, Reinhard Hohler, Otome Klein Hutheesing, Anja De
Jongh. Carool Kersten,
Josef Konrad, Francois Lagirarde, Bill Lee, Ranee
Lertleumsai,
Marie-Hélène Lylap, Maggie McKerron, Richard Nelson-Jones, Jean-Claude Neveu, Thomas Ohlson, Hans & Nengnoi Penth, Fuengfah Piachampa,
Uyen & Genevieve Le Quang, Ron Renard, Clarence Shettlesworth,
Heather Silverberg, Ute Sodemann, David
Steane, David Summers, Vanvadee Suvatanashaw, Rae Svarnas,
Claudine Triolo, Ricky Ward, Patrick
Wright. An audience of 47.
Summary of the talk:
What was Champa?
Champa no longer exists
as a separate entity. There was an officially recognized Champa (recognized at the time by China, Vietnam
and Cambodia) under that name along parts of the coast of what is now
central and southern Vietnam from at least the 7th century until the
beginning of the 19th century. At its greatest extent the regions
comprising Champa extended from Quang Binh in
modern north-central Vietnam
to just north of Saigon in the South.
During conflict with Vietnam
beginning in the late 10th century territory was gradually lost,
although there were times when the Cham
invaded Vietnam,
and in the late 14th century nearly conquered their northern neighbor.
However, by the end of the 15th century, following the Vietnamese
conquest of the current Champa capital Vijaya, near modern Qui Nho'n,
Champa was clearly on the
decline politically, its territory confined to the region of Phan Rang (illustration and maps of total area).
That total area was never politically unified. There were always at
least two Champas, sometimes three, or
even four, located along the mouths of large rivers flowing from the
mountains eastward to the Pacific Ocean.
When Champa history begins Vietnam did not exist politically, and
the area which would become Vietnam
after the 10th century was a province of China.
The most important centers of Champa
recognized from their architectural remains were (illustrations of
architecture from each site): Mi So’n,
with inscriptions from the 5th century and architecture from the 7th or
8th; Tra Kieu,
near Mi So'n, shown be archaeology to have
been important from the early centuries A.D. and from which some of the
best pieces of sculpture (8th-10th centuries) have been recovered; ?ong Du'o'ng a large
Buddhist center which was probably in the city of Indrapura,
capital of north Champa in the 9th-10th
centuries; Vijaya, now Qui Nhon, perhaps from the 11th century, with
architecture from the 12th-14th centuries; Nha
Trang, with its temple of
Po Nagar containing structures and inscriptions from perhaps the 7th or
8th centuries; Phan Rang, with three
important temples dating from the 8th to 16th centuries and several
inscriptions; and Phan Thiet, with a temple of peculiar style in which Cham and Khmer architecture seems to be mixed.
(photocopy maps with these main Champa centers indicated were provided to the
audience).
Champa origins
The standard history of Champa, written by
French scholars from old Chinese records and Champa
inscriptions, begins with Chinese records of a country called Lin Yi
probably centered in the area just north of the Vietnamese city of Hué, and which the Chinese complained was
constantly attacking northward against the Chinese province which is
now northern Vietnam. The Chinese did not start using the name ‘Champa’ until 877, and kept writing about
Lin Yi until 758. Cambodian and Champa
inscriptions, however, used the name ‘Champa’
from the 7th century, and probably the Lin Yi about which the Chinese
wrote was separate from Champa and farther
north.
The language of the Cham people belongs to
the group of languages called ‘Austronesian’,
including the languages of the Philippines
and Indonesia.
Historians now believe that the Cham came
by sea to the coast of Vietnam around 2500 years
ago from Borneo/Kalimantan. They were among the famous Southeast Asian
seafarers of prehistoric times who spread the Austronesian
languages from Taiwan to the Philippines, Indonesia, Polynesia, and
even as far as Madagascar, and last of all from Borneo to the coast of
future Vietnam (the Cham) and to the Malay
peninsula (Malay).
Because of their advanced skills in seafaring, for the time, they
probably visited India
too, and the Indian influence in Southeast Asia may have been brought
from India
by those Southeast Asians, not by Indian colonists or merchants as was
once believed.
Before the Cham arrived the populations of
what is now Vietnam
spoke Mon-Khmer languages. During several hundred years the Cham spread along the coast and into the
interior. They settled mostly in good ports at the mouths of large
rivers, and the remains of their inscriptions and architecture show
simultaneous development of some of the centers which I listed above.
After Vietnam
separated from China
in the 10th century direct relations developed between new Vietnam
and Champa. Sometimes the relations were
peaceful, but often there was warfare, which often began with attacks
by Champa northward against Vietnam.
Slowly, during several centuries, the wars resulted in expansion of Vietnam
to the South. The most serious permanent defeat for the Cham was the Vietnamese capture of Qui Nhon in 1471. A small kingdom of Champa,
however, continued to exist in the south until the early 19th century.
The interest in Champa today
Champa is of general
interest today for its architecture and sculpture. The architecture
consists of religious edifices, temples, consecrated to the well-known
religions of India,
Sivaism, Vishnuism and Buddhism, easily recognized by the
images found in them. This does not mean that the Cham
practiced those religions in the same way as in India. Some students of Champa believe that the Cham
adapted Indian facades for their own beliefs existing from before the
time they had extensive contact with India. This interpretation
is strengthened by the realization now that early contact between India and Southeast Asia was probably
initiated by seafarers from Southeast Asia,
not by Indians. The extant architecture and sculpture is from the 7th
century (perhaps), or the 8th century to the last standing temple, 'Po
Rome', near Phan Rang, believed
constructed in the 16th century.
This time range of Cham art and
architecture is comparable with Cambodia
in its pre-Angkor and Angkor periods, and at first glance a new visitor
is immediately reminded of Cambodia by some
similarities in Champa art. There are
differences, however, which soon enable even a casual visitor to
distinguish between the two. Champa
temples were always constructed with brick (with some stone decorative
pieces), whereas in Cambodia
stone was used almost exclusively after the 8th century. The structures
of walls, lintels, pediments/frontons, and colonnettes
are also quite distinct in the architecture of the two areas.
(slides and photographs accompanied the talk
to illustrate these points).
The most famous site of still standing Champa
architecture is Mi So'n, the Buddhist site
of ?ong Du'o'ng
was destroyed by bombing during the American-Vietnam war, around Qui Nho'n there remain several fairly intact
single-tower monuments and one three-tower structure, the Po Nagar
temple in Nha Trang
is in fairly good condition, and near Phan
Rang three temples of quite different periods remain in quite good
condition, the two towers (originally three) of Hoa
Lai (9th century), Po Kong Garai with
three main structures (13th century) and the single edifice of Po Rome
(16th century).
The best pieces of sculpture from all sites have been collected in the Cham
Museum
in Danang. These include important objects
from the destroyed ?ong Du'o'ng, from Tra Kieu, where all architecture had disappeared
before the arrival of the French in the 19th century, and from Thap Mam, near Qui Nho'n, a temple which appears to have collapsed
while under construction or soon after. Its sculpture, quite different
from that of the other sites, shows Vietnamese/Chinese influence, and
may well date from the 14th-15th centuries.
There are still small communities of Cham
in Vietnam and Cambodia
today. The most important in Vietnam is near Phan Rang, where they maintain their own old
religion, and where there is a famous center for weaving traditional
cloth (photographs were shown). Other Cham
communities, and almost
the entire Cham population in Cambodia
are Muslim, their ancestors having converted probably after the 15th
century, although no precise date may be established. It is believed
that the Cambodian Cham migrated there
following Vietnam-Champa wars, but Cham language terms in 7th century Khmer
inscriptions show that there was some Cham
community in Cambodia
from very early times.
After the question and answer
session, the meeting adjourned to the Alliance Cafeteria where members
of the audience engaged Michael in more informal discussion over drinks
and snacks.
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