from:
Bao Tang Phu Nu Nam Bo: The Vietnamese Women.
Vestiges & Landscapes. The Cultural-Historic
(Di Tich Thang Canh Lich Su Van Hoa. Phu nu Viet
Nam); Nha Xuat Ban Phu Nu 1999; volume 2:
remains of goddesses - lady ancestors of
different professions - mothers of famous
persons (Di tich ve nu than, mau, ba to cac
nganh nghe va me cac danh nhan)
3.1 THIEN
MU (THIÊN MU) Pagoda [a woman in a red blouse
- a holy mountain with the pagoda]
HUONG LONG VILLAGE - HUE CITY
Thiên Mu Pagoda is the oldest pagoda and also the
most beautiful landscape in Huê.
In the 6th month of Tan Suu lunar year (1601),
Lord Nguyên Hoang, having governed Thuan Hóa had
took a visitation over the region. He discovered
on the flat plain at Ha Khê village Huong Trà
district an earth mound which looking like a
dragon's head turning round. He asked the locals
and was told that the earth mound had been
marvelous. Once in a night, there had been someone
who had seen a woman in red blouse and green pants
sitting on the top of the mound and saying that
there would be a good King coming here and
building a pagoda where would gather sacred energy
of Heaven and Earth and preserve invisible force
and power of the geographical position which would
have decisive influence on the nation and people's
fate. The Lord supposed the mountain was holy so
he had the pagoda built and named it Thiên Mu.
In the lunar year At Ty (1665), Lord Nguyên Phúc
Tân had the pagoda renovated.
In the lunar year Canh Dân (1710), Lord Nguyên
Phúc Chu had the big bell of 3285 Chinese pound
weight molded on which carved the piece of work
written by Lord himself.
In the lunar year Giàp Ngo (1714), the scale of
the pagoda was expanded with the added
constructions including the hall of Thiên Vuong,
the hall of the God, the temple of Dai Hung (Ɖai
Hùng), the house of preaching, the store
of prayer book, the House of Thuy Vân, the temple
of Dai Bi, the rooms of meditation, the dormitory
of priest... The Lord wrote himself the epitaph on
the stele of 2.60 meters [of] height and 1.2
meters [of] width standing on the back of big
marble tortoise. The stele recorded the renovation
process and the name of reign's year of the 11th
Canh Thinh (p.190).
In front of the Huong River, the Lord had Dieu Ngu
station built for fishing. By the end of the Le
reign and the Tay Son period, the pagoda was
heavily harmful by fire. In 1815, King Gia Long
had it restored. In 1831, King Minh Mang had it
repaired more beautifully.
In 1844, King Thieu Tri had an octagonal stupa
built outside of Nghi Mon gate called Tu Nhan
stupa of 21.24 meters height then it was renamed
Phuoc Duyen with seven storeys.
In front of the stupa, the king ordered to build
the temple of Huong Nguyen with three departments;
on its roof put a wheel rim called Phap Luan. It
turns when the wind blows.
In 1904, the pagoda was destroyed by a storm. In
1907, King Thanh Thai had it restored. Matreya
hall and Ta Huu Thap Vuong hall were razed to the
ground. Huong Nguyen temple was rebuilt on the
former site of Matreya hall to worship Guan-Yu.
Thien Mu pagoda was the greatest architectural
works which began the brilliant history of the
Nguyen Kings during the process of land breaking
and settlement in the South.
King Thieu Tri listed Thien Mu pagoda as one of
the 20 landscapes of the former capital in the
poem "Thien Mu Chung Thanh". Today, it remains to
be a beautiful pagoda in Hue city where still
attracts many people in Hue and tourists from all
directions (p.191).
3.2 The HUONG River
THUA THIEN - HUE PROVINCE
The Huong river is like a green silk band crossing
in the front of the former capital, surrounding
the citadels, ramparts [fortresses and walls] and
royal palaces of Huê. It enhances the beauty of
"the poetic city".
Taking its source from the Viet Nam - Laos border,
the river flows through forests of sweet sedge
[grass] - a medical herb which is very fragrant;
that's a reason why the river has the name of the
Huong river (p.193).
3.3 Lady KY THACH temple [two stones on
the ground of the sea bring luck]
BA DA Temple (BÀ ƉÁ Temple)
lady Ky Thach temple in Thua Thiên - Huê province
was built in unknown time.
According to legend, the Thanh Phuc people made
their living by fishery. In a morning a fisherman
drew his net which felt heavy. He dived into the
water and saw a stone caught in the net, he took it
off and left it at the bottom river. In that night,
he met a woman in his dream who said she had been a
goddess living there for a long time; if he took her
out of the water, he would be wealthy. [The] next
morning, he told his dream to other fishermen. They
had a discussion to dive together and took two blue
and white stones out of the water; these two stones
were as big as two sleeping mats and had shape of
human appearance but animal face. The fishermen
built a worship temple called Ba Da (Bà Ɖá) temple. From now on, the
people of the village earned their better living than
before.
In a drought year, the harvests were bad, the king was
told about Ba Da (
Ɖá) temple in
Thanh Phuc village, that turned out to be
awe-inspiringly powerful he ordered his subordinates
to bring offering there to pray for blessing. As a
result, the rain came down heavily in that night;
but it was very strange that there remained only one
stone in the temple. The king had the temple
renovated and granted the holy title of "Lady Ky
Thach" to it (p.195).
3.4 Lady THAI DUONG temple (Lady Thái
Duong temple) [a stone and fisherman Bá on the
beach]
THAI DUONG VILLAGE - HUONG DIEN DISTRICT - THUA
THIEN - HUE PROVINCE
According to legend, at Thai Duong village (Huê), in
a night of heavy rain and strong wind, it appeared a
big and beautiful stone on the beach. There was a
fisherman named Bá who saw the nice stone and liked
it very much. He came to and touched it then he fell
asleep. In his dream, Bá met an unsurpassingly
beautiful woman who came in front of him and scolded
severely: "I am Thai Duong goddess. Why a mundane
man like you dare to disrespect me?"
Bá frightfully woke up and pressed his palms
together to ask the goddess for forgive. From now
on, Bá made good living and became rich. Having felt
grateful to the goddess, Bá had a temple built to
worship the stone.
Once, a sailor on a foreign merchant ship passing
this region saw the beautiful stone and thought that
it was a jade. He hammered the stone and fell down.
Another man did the same and fell down as well. All
the crew brought the stone to the ship; when the
ship sailed off, it began to sink down gradually.
The sailors were frightened, turned the ship back
and carried the stone to give back at the initial
place; and as the matter of fact the ship sailed
normally. From that time, ships which sailed by the
temple usually brought offerings in-dedication to
pray.
Heaving known the sacred story, Lord Nguyen Phuc
Lan, Lord Nguyen Phuc Tan ordered to rebuild the
temple more majestically and granted the divine
royal decree to name the goddess Lady Thai Duong
(p.197).
3.5
NGOC TRAN temple [a Chama temple on Ngoc Tran
mountain for goddess Poh Imo Nagar]
HON CHEN temple (H̉N CHÉN temple)
NGOC TRAN MOUNTAIN - HAI CAT VILLAGE - HUONG TRA
DISTRICT - THUA THIEN - HUE PROVINCE
Located by the side of the romantic Huong river of
Huê city, in the Hai Cát village, the mountain
named Ngoc Tran which means the jade bowl due to a
hollow on its top where rainwater gathers, looking
like a bowl of water in the distance.
On the mountain is "Ngoc Tran temple" built by the
Champa people to worship goddess Poh Imo Nagar.
As the Vietnamese came there for settlement, the
Goddess remained to be worshipped under the name
of "Thiên Y Ana Holy Mother". Later on, the altars
of Princess Liêu Hanh and some other deities were
additionally installed in the temple for worship.
Nobody knows when the Ngoc Tran temple was first
built. It is only known that restoration and
enlargement work in March 1832 upon the order by
King Minh Mang of the Nguyên dynasty. In 1886,
King Dong Khanh (Ɖông
Khánh) had the temple upgraded to
become more spacious and renamed Ḥn
Nam temple".
Not only known as a religious
vestige, "Ngoc Tran temple" is also an
outstanding scenery in Huê. The
landscape around Ngoc Tran is quite
romantic, the architectures here were
built at halfway the mountain side and
hidden among the woods of secular trees
by the serence and crystalline Huong
river. King Dong Khanh (Ɖông Khánh) compared Ngoc Tran
mountain with a lion in prostration lapping water
from the Huong river. On a boat trip along the
Huong river, tourists who drop in "Ngoc Tran
temple" might have the feeling of appreciation a
lovely landscape painting (p.199).
3.6 Lang CÔ
HAI VAN PASS - THUA THIEN - HUÊ
3.7 Some towers and temples of the
CHAMPA people in the South
Nearly 40 ancient towers which are dated from the
9th to the 16th century and scattered from Quang
Nam-Da Nang province to Binh Thuan province
contribute to the diversification and abundance of
Vietnam history. It shows that the Champa culture
used to be developed brilliantly and has been
preserved up to now. Among them, there were many
Champa towers whose names and the legends of their
existence were related to woman appearance, not
including the towers in the fields of architecture
and religion were the worshipping places of
goddesses or typical women through various reigns
of the Champa kingdom. Perhaps as the Champa were
on matriarchy, the position of women in family and
in society was very important, thus the images of
Champa women existed in spiritual world and was
expressed in the architectural art.
You can see this through some remaining Champa
towers.
3.7.1 PHU HAI Tower (PHÚ HÀI Tower) [for
fairy Chuot]
Fairy CHUÔT Temple
The Champa usually call this tower area Poh Sanur
(Poh Cah Anih, Poh Nagar Goddess's daughters).
According to another hypothesis, Phu Hai Tower
might be the worshipping temple of Fairy Chuot
(also known as Poh Biatikuh), one of Poh Nagar
Goddess's daughters.
In the Phu Hai Tower, there is a statue of a lady
sitting in front of a stele, her two hands on her
knees, wearing a hat in cylinder which is bent at
its front side, that is the statue of Poh Cah
Anih.
Every year, during the Rija Nagar ceremony
(praying for favorable rain and wind) and Poh
Mbang Yang ceremony (first month of Champa
calendar) the people usually gather here to ask
for blessings (p.203).
3.7.2 BANH IT Tower (BÁNH ÍT Tower)
PHUOC HIEP VILLAGE - TUY PHUOC DISTRICT - BINH
DINH PROVINCE
According to "Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi", this tower
had many names such as: Tho Son Co Thap or Thi
Thien tower (because it is said that, there was a
Ms. Thien who did small business near the tower
area so the tower was called after her name). And
among the masses of people, it was called with the
descriptive name Banh It tower (from afar, it
looks like the form of the three-cornered patty
[location]). The French called it Bac tower (the
Silver tower).
The tower remains the sculpture of the Champa
dances on the bass reliefs inside (p.205).
3.7.3 CANH TIEN Tower (CÁNH TIÊN Tower)
NHON HAU VILLAGE - AN NHON DISTRICT - BINH DINH
PROVINCE
Canh Tien tower, the place was said that where
fairies descended to the earth (p.206).
3.7.4 NHAN Tower [for goddess Poh Nagar]
TINH PHU YEN - PHU YEN PROVINCE
This is one of the largest towers dedicated to
worship Goddess Poh Nagar. The story about Nhan
tower was connected closely with the legend of Poh
Nagar who killed ferocious monster, cleared the Da
Rang (Ɖà Ràng) estuary's
obstruction to facilitate the river ways for the
people to the sea (p.207).
3.7.5 POH KLAUNG GARAI Tower [on Trau
mountain - couple finds a girl in a river -
son Poh Ong]
PHAN RANG TOWN - NINH THUAN PROVINCE
The tower was also called Buu Son Tower. It was
built on the top of Trau mountain.
There was a legend about the tower as follows:
once up on a time, there was a Champa couple which
had no children. One day, having passed Ben Dau,
they saw a bundle drifting in the river; they
opened it and saw a beautiful girl baby inside.
They took her home to foster.
Having grown up, she often followed her adopted
parents to [the] forest to cut trees. In a hot
day, she drank water from a clear pool in the
forest. Strangely, she had already drunk, the pool
disappeared. After that, she was pregnant and gave
birth to a boy and his body was full of scabies
[eczema], she named him Poh Ong.
At the age of seven, Poh Ong could graze [guard]
oxen in the fields for the king. One day, as he
was engrossed [busy] in his play with other young
cowboys, he made an ox lost. Worriedly, he climbed
up a high tree to look for it. Suddenly, the tree
turned into a dragon looking at him respectfully.
The lost ox went to a vicar's house. Poh Ong had
recourse to someone to take again the ox. Having
realized that Poh Ong's physiognomy was unusual,
the vicar gave his daughter in marriage to him.
Later, Poh Ong was enthroned (p.209).
3.7.6 POH DAM Tower [six towers three
and three]
PHU LAC VILLAGE - TUY HONG DISTRICT - BINH THUAN
PROVINCE
It is also called Poh Tam Tower. Poh Dam is a
combination of six towers divided into 2 groups,
each group of three towers, the two groups locate
on two parallel axes towards the South direction.
It was the burial and worship place of King Poh
Dam and his family. Of which there was a tower in
the north western direction where buried King Poh
Dam's mother, Lady Poh Bia Dhan (p.210).
3.7.7 POH ROME Tower [for King Poh Rome]
PHUOC HUU VILLAGE - NINH PHUOC DISTRICT - NINH
THUAN PROVINCE
The tower was built on a hill of 50 meters height
in Hau Sinh village. Its age is estimated
approximately from 350 to 400 years.
The Poh Rome tower was dedicated to worship King
Poh Rome and his three empresses (p.212).
3.7.8 King POH NICH Temple [for King Poh
Nich]
PHAN HIEP VILLAGE - BAC BINH DISTRICT - BINH THUAN
PROVINCE
This is the worshipping place of King Poh Nich,
his two empresses and confidential mandarin
(p.213).
3.7.9 King POH KLONG NAIR worshipping
temple [for King Poh Klong Nair]
LUONG SON VILLAGE - BAC BINH DISTRICT - BINH THUAN
PROVINCE
The worshipping temple of King Poh Klong Nair with
his empresses (p.214)
3.8 BA NA (BÀ NÀ) [bit rainy forest
region]
HOA KHANH VILLAGE - HOA VANG DISTRICT - DA NANG
CITY
Ba Na tourist zone is about 38 km distant from Da
Nang city center in the northwest west direction,
within Hoa Khanh village, Hoa Vang district at an
elevation of 1480 meters. This is a well-known
beautiful scenery with the total area of 8425 ha
forests for special use. Ba Na forest makes the
largest "evergreen tropical rainy forest" which
remains in the Central of Vietnam (p.216).
3.9 TRA KUEU cathedral (TRÀ KIÊU
cathedral)
DUY SON VILLAGE - DUY XUYEN DISTRICT - QUANG NAM
PROVINCE
It was built on the site of the former capital of
Champa kingdom. In 1749, the church was only a
small hut. Through many constructions and
renovations, it became solid. In 1963, it was
rebuilt according to the design of architect Ngo
Viet Thu (Ngô Viêt Thu). (p.217)
3.10 HOI AN Ancient Street (HÔI AN
Ancient Street) [region of the tiger skin -
Chinese refugees from Qing dynasty]
HOI AN TOWN - QUANG NAM PROVINCE
At the beginning of the Dai Viet (Ɖai Viêt) people, the
former Hoi An (Hôi An) used to be called with the
wild name: Ho Bi Xu (Hô B́ Xú) which means the
region of the tiger skin. The Hôi An development
had the contribution of Chinese immigrants fleeing
from the Qing dynasty. They came here to found
Minh Huong village, of whom there was a woman
named lady Ngô Thi Lanh (p.219).
