The image of “tiger talisman” - from tradition to contemporary application

Vietnamese people "soften" the image of Rahu

Tiger talismans are very popular decorative images in Vietnamese fine arts, appearing in communal houses, pagodas, temples, shrines; in worship objects and even Vietnamese costumes. However, many studies show that the tiger talisman is actually Rahu - a symbol originating from Indian culture. This is what cultural experts shared at the discussion "Tiger talisman project - From tradition to creative design application" recently held in Hanoi.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Trong Duong (Hanoi University of Industry), after a process of research and tracing, his team found the first design with the word "tiger talisman" attached, but this was a drawing by a French scholar. "From then on, this image was called "tiger talisman" as it is today, but in our opinion, this is a mistake", Associate Professor Dr. Tran Trong Duong commented.

Image of Rahu. Photo: TL

Mr. Duong analyzed that “tiger talisman” is actually the name of a token used in ancient military. This is a type of badge with the shape of a tiger’s head, divided into two pieces. When going to war, the king keeps one half, the general leading the army into battle keeps the other half. Therefore, the name “tiger talisman” is a phenomenon of “lost symbol” - something that is not uncommon in Vietnamese culture. From there, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Trong Duong affirmed that the correct name of this image is La Hou, not “tiger talisman”.

Agreeing with this view, Dr. Tran Hau Yen The (School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts) said that there was a time when Vietnamese culture was broken and continued by the French. Although they were very knowledgeable, they still had some “discrepancies”, so our task now is to bridge those gaps.

The author of the book “In Search of Rahu’s Face” added that the image of Rahu originated from ancient Indian civilization with the story of the god Vishnu cutting off the body of the demon Rahu when it was stealing the elixir of life. This symbol was also adopted in Khmer culture and Thai culture. In particular, when entering Buddhist culture, with boundless magical power, Buddha subdued the demon Rahu, from which this demon became a symbol of submission, playing the role of protecting Buddhism in temples and guarding sacred spaces.

According to Dr. Tran Hau Yen The, in the process of development, there has been a Vietnamization of foreign cultural symbols. However, the appearance of the Rahu image in Vietnamese art is quite late, possibly at the end of the 18th century. At the same time, in Vietnamese culture, the La Hou image has layers related to Rahu, layers related to Buddhism and its appearance is quite similar to the Ria Hu mascot in Khmer culture. However, the Vietnamese visual elements have become less fierce, instead appearing are the elements of "dragonization" and "lotusization".

“Vietnamese culture may originate from the belief in the descendants of the Dragon and the Fairy, with a rich dragon ecosystem, while the Khmer community does not have that view, so the image related to demons seems more profound,” said Mr. The.

Dr. Tran Hau Yen The further emphasized that the mark of the Vietnamese people is clearly shown through the “lotus transformed into La Hau” design. This design is very rich and appears in many temples, pagodas and pagodas - that has proven the creativity of our ancestors.

Creators "struggle" when applying heritage

Many experts believe that, compared to other countries in the region, Vietnam's symbolic system is very rich when it has absorbed both Chinese and Indian cultures. However, applying traditional heritage to contemporary life still faces many difficulties. Among them, designer Nguyen Van Hieu - Head of Research and Product Development Department of Van Thien Y shared his recent story of "breaking his head and bleeding".

The story is, when participating in a film design project, he used the image of a “tiger talisman” in the products of the gate and altar. However, the first question he received from the film investor was “why is there a tiger talisman but no sign of a tiger?” To please the investor, he had to “remove the longevity character, add a bigger claw, add stripes, add ears”. After editing, the image indeed looked more like a tiger but no longer had any trace of a “tiger talisman”. And in the end, that image was not used.

After that, the group also added a Tiger/Rahu image to the scroll and received feedback that it looked “so silly”… Before that, they had put the Tiger image on the ceremonial clothes of the elders in the So communal house festival and the Do temple festival and received quite positive feedback. But when the same image was put on a T-shirt for young people, it became a “half-fat, half-lean” product and this was Van Thien Y’s worst-selling product.

The ancient stone bed placed in front of the main hall of Boi Khe Pagoda (Hanoi) has a carving of La Hou holding the word Tho. Photo: T. Toan

From his own experience, Nguyen Van Hieu said that he and many other young people are struggling when applying the artistic images of Vietnamese culture to creative products. The products always receive blunt comments that they are “naive” or “stupid”. Therefore, it is very difficult for creators to incorporate Vietnamese culture into their products to suit the public’s taste…

Also sharing a “bloody experience” to see that applying heritage to contemporary life is not a “rose-filled” path, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Trong Duong said that after completing the project to simulate the architecture of Dien Huu Pagoda using virtual reality technology, the research team created a role-playing game. Accordingly, players will wear VR glasses to “time travel” from the 21st century to the 12th century to fight the dark forces to protect Thang Long citadel. The game is brought into the space of a museum and not only children but also adults are “very fascinated”. Many children take a taxi to come, rewinding the game over and over again without getting bored.

“But the museums were “scratching their hair” and asked why did you bring in games? They did not accept games, even though we designed for 45 minutes, but after 40 minutes we talked about what a Mandala is, what archaeology is, what epigraphy is, and then the children watched and then played 5 minutes of games... So until now the product still cannot be commercialized,” said Mr. Duong.

Identifying many difficulties, but sharing with NB&CL Newspaper, designer Nguyen Van Hieu said that opportunities always come with challenges: “We already have a rich and beautiful heritage treasure, the problem is how to apply that heritage. Because, in the present era, the difference in the quality of goods is not much, people buy products also because of the story behind it. So creatively bringing cultural values ​​into products and telling that cultural story will create different values. We have made mistakes, failed but also had successful products”.

The Vu