Champa

Not to be confused with Chamba State.
For other uses, see Champa (disambiguation).
Chăm Pa
Chiêm Thành
192–1832 →
The territory of Champa circa 1000–1100 CE, depicted in green, lay along the coast of present-day southern Vietnam. To the north (in yellow) lay Đại Việt; to the west (in blue), Angkor.
Capital Indrapura
(875–978)
Vijaya
(978–1485)
Panduranga
(1485–1832)
Languages Chamic languages, Sanskrit
Religion Cham religion, Hinduism and Buddhism, later Islam
Government Monarchy
History
 •  Established 192
 •  Panduranga annexed by Vietnam's Nguyễn dynasty 1832
Today part of  Vietnam

The term Champa refers to a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is today central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through 19th century (1832), before being absorbed and annexed by the Vietnamese state.[1] The kingdom was known variously as nagara Campa (Sanskrit; Khmer: ចាម្ប៉ា) in the Chamic and Cambodian inscriptions, Chăm Pa in Vietnamese (Chiêm Thành in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary) and 占城 (Zhànchéng) in Chinese records.

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 Linyi (林邑, Lim Ip in Middle Chinese) or Lâm Ấp (Vietnamese) that was in existence from 192 AD; the historical relationship between Linyi and Champa is not clear. Champa reached its apogee in the 9th and 10th centuries. 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 from India since early in its history, has shaped the art and culture of Champa kingdom for centuries, as testified with numbers of exquisite Cham Hindu statues and red brick temples dotted the landscapes 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, some of Cham people adheres to Islamic faith, a conversion which was started in 15th century, and they are called Bani Cham. There are however, Balamon Cham (from Sanskrit:Brahman) people that still retains and preserves their Hindu faith, rituals and festivals. Balamon Cham people is one of only two surviving non-Indic indigenous Hindu peoples in the world, with a culture dating back thousands of years. The other one is the Hindu Balinese of Indonesia.[1]

Overview

Geography of historical Champa

Between the 2nd and the 15th centuries, Champa at times included the modern provinces of Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận, and Bình Thuận. Though 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 trade, and maintained few settlements of any size away from the coast.

Historical Champa consisted of up to five principalities:

Depiction of fighting Cham naval soldier against the Khmer, stone relief at the Bayon
Closeup of the inscription in Cham script on the Po Nagar stele, 965 CE. The stele describes feats by the Champa kings.

Within the four principalities were two main clans: the "Dua" and the "Cau". The Dua 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.[4]

Historiography

Sources

The historiography of Champa relies upon three types of sources:[5]

Overarching theories

This Cham head of Shiva was made of electrum around 800 AD. 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.

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, the record is richest for Indrapura; in the 12th century, it is richest for Vijaya; following the 15th century, 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.[6]

Sources of foreign cultural influence

Through the centuries, Cham culture and society were influenced by forces emanating from Cambodia, China, Java and India amongst others. Lin Yi, a predecessor state in the region, began its existence in 192 AD as a breakaway Chinese colony. An official successfully revolted against Chinese rule in central Vietnam, and Lin Yi was founded in 192.[7] In the 4th century, 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. From the 10th century onwards, Arab maritime trade in the region brought increasing Islamic cultural and religious influences. 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 Champa and Cambodia, the two countries also traded and cultural influences moved in both directions. 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 Champan 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 Pidie, Aceh Besar, Aceh Jaya, North Aceh, East Aceh, West Aceh and Southwest Aceh Regencies and the cities of Lhokseumawe and Bireuën.

History

Main article: History of Champa

Cham in present-day Vietnam

The Vietnamese government fears that evidence of Champa's influence over the disputed area in the South China Sea would bring attention to human rights violations and killings of ethnic minorities in Vietnam such as in the 2001 and 2004 uprisings, and lead to the issue of Cham autonomy being brought into the dispute, since the Vietnamese conquered Cham people in a war in 1832. The Vietnamese continue to destroy evidence of Cham culture and artefacts left behind, plundering or building on top of Cham temples, building farms over them, banning Cham religious practices, and omitting references to the Cham capital of Song Luy, destroyed in the 1832 invasion, in history books and tourist guides. The situation of Cham compared to ethnic Vietnamese is substandard, lacking water and electricity and living in houses made out of mud.[8]

The Cham in Vietnam are only recognised as a minority, and not as an indigenous people by the Vietnamese government despite being indigenous to the region. Both Hindu and Muslim Chams have experienced religious and ethnic persecution and restrictions on their faith under the current Vietnamese government, with the Vietnamese state confisticating Cham property and forbidding Cham from observing their religious beliefs. Hindu temples were turned into tourist sites against the wishes of the Cham Hindus. In 2010 and 2013 several incidents occurred in Thành Tín and Phươc Nhơn villages where Cham were murdered by Vietnamese. In 2012, Vietnamese police in Chau Giang village stormed into a Cham Mosque and stole the electric generator. [9] Cham Muslims in the Mekong Delta have also been economically marginalised and pushed into poverty by Vietnamese policies, with ethnic Vietnamese Kinh settling on majority Cham land with state support, and religious practices of minorities have been targeted for elimination by the Vietnamese government.[10]

Religion

Hinduism and Buddhism

10th century "dancers' pedestal" in the Tra Kieu style, depicting an apsara dancer and a gandharva musician.
13th century sculpture in the Thap Mam style, depicting Garuda devouring a serpent

While today the Balamon Cham are the only surviving Hindus in Vietnam, the region once hosted some of the most exquisite and vibrant Hindu cultures in the word. The entire region of Southeast Asia, in fact, was home to numerous sophisticated Hindu kingdoms. From Angkor in neighboring Cambodia, to Java and Bali in Indonesia.[1]

Before the conquest of Champa by the Đại Việt emperor Tran 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.[11]

The predominance of Hinduism in Cham religion was interrupted for a time in the 9th and 10th centuries, when a dynasty at Indrapura (modern Dong Duong, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam) adopted Mahayana Buddhism as its faith. The Buddhist art of Dong Duong has received special acclaim for its originality.

Beginning in the 10th century, 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, Khuong My, Trà Kiệu, Chanh Lo, and Thap Mam.

Islam

Islam started making headway among the Cham after the 10th century. By the 17th century, the royal families of the Cham had converted to Islam. Most Cham are now evenly split between being followers of Islam and Hinduism, with the majority of Vietnamese Cham being Hindu while the majority of Cambodian Cham are Muslim, though significant minorities of Mahayana Buddhists continue to exist.

Indonesian 15th century records indicate the influence of Princess Daravati, a Cham, converted to Islam,[14] 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.[15] 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, Thi Nai but also extending into the mountainous hinterland.[16] 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 Cu Lao Cham and Ly Son.[17] 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.[18]

The vast majority of Champa's export products came from the mountainous hinterland, sourced from as far as Attapeu in southern Laos.[19] They included gold and silver, slaves, animal and animal products, and precious woods.[20] 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.[21] Most of it was probably taken from the Aquilaria crassna tree, just as most of the eaglewood in Vietnam today.[21]

Archaeological remains

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

Religious

Defended centers

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.[17]

Museums

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:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Parker, Vrndavan Brannon. "Vietnam’s Champa Kingdom Marches on". Hinduism Today. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "KINGDOM OF CHAMPA".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., ISBN 9786167339443
  4. ↑ Rutherford, Insight Guide — Vietnam, pg. 256.
  5. ↑ Vickery, "Champa Revised", p.4 ff.
  6. ↑ Maspero, Le royaume de Champa, represented the thesis that Champa was politically unified. Vickery, "Champa Revised", challenges that thesis.
  7. ↑ Stacy Taus-Bolstad (2003). Vietnam in Pictures. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 20. ISBN 0-8225-4678-7. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  8. ↑ Bray, Adam (16 June 2014). "The Cham: Descendants of Ancient Rulers of South China Sea Watch Maritime Dispute From Sidelines". National Geographic News (National Geographic). Archived from the original on 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  9. ↑ "Mission to Vietnam Advocacy Day (Vietnamese-American Meet up 2013) in the U.S. Capitol. A UPR report By IOC-Campa". Chamtoday.com. 14 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Taylor, Philip (December 2006). "Economy in Motion: Cham Muslim Traders in the Mekong Delta" (PDF). The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (The Australian National University) 7 (3): 238. doi:10.1080/14442210600965174. ISSN 1444-2213. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Hubert 2012, p. 31.
  12. ↑ Ngô 2005, p. 68ff.
  13. ↑ Ngô 2005, p. 69.
  14. ↑ Maspéro 2002, p. 114.
  15. ↑ Taylor 2007, p. 72.
  16. ↑ Hardy 2009, 110–11
  17. 1 2 Hardy 2009, 111
  18. ↑ Hardy 2009, 113
  19. ↑ Hardy 2009, 114
  20. ↑ Hardy 2009, 111–12
  21. 1 2 Hardy 2009, 116

Bibliography

External links

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