VIETNAM, May 29, 2020 (Swarajya): A monolithic sandstone Shivalinga from the 9th century CE was excavated by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at My Son in central Vietnam. The Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar congratulated the ASI on the discovery and applauded its ongoing conservation project at the Cham Temple complex. He also said that the project was “reaffirming a civilizational connect”. The Cham Temple complex is a cluster of ancient Hindu temples in Quảng Nam province in central Vietnam. The temples aren’t in use anymore and are partially ruined. The architecture is influenced by Southern Indian temple architecture, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Last year, Vietnam celebrated the 20th anniversary of the declaration of My Son as a World Heritage site. The temple complex dates back to the Champa civilization or the Cham civilization that flourished in central Vietnam over 2,000 years ago.

The oldest Cham artifacts — brick flooring, sandstone pillars and pottery found at Tra Kieu in Quang Nam Province — date to the second century A.D, according to a National Geographic report. Apart from red-brick temples known as Cham towers, the language and cities with names like Indrapura, Simhapura, Amaravati, Vijaya and Panduranga are a legacy of the Cham civilization. Several Cham citadels, around 25 temple sites with varying numbers of towers have been found by the archaeologists still standing along Vietnam’s coast. It is estimated that hundreds of such sites might be lining the rivers (river-banks have been a site of choice for temple construction in Hinduism) leading into the Central Highlands and beyond to eastern Cambodia and Laos.

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