Cham golden linga excavated at relic site

Recently, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province held a ceremony to announce the Prime Minister's decision to recognize the national treasure, the golden Linga of the Cham people.

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Binh Thuan province, the Po Dam Cham tower relic site is where the golden Linga was discovered, located on the slopes of Ong Xiem mountain in Lac Tri village, Phu Lac commune, Tuy Phong district, about 120km from Phan Thiet city. The Po Dam tower group was ranked as a national architectural and artistic relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 1996.

With the approval of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in 2013-2014, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Binh Thuan province coordinated with the Institute of Social Sciences of the Southern region to organize two archaeological excavations at the Po Dam Cham tower complex, with a total excavation area of ​​1,455m², to clarify the location, size, architectural structure... of the collapsed tower bases buried underground to serve the restoration and rehabilitation of some architectural structures of the relic.

Ceremony to announce the Prime Minister's decision to recognize the national treasure, the golden Linga of the Cham people.

Through two archaeological excavations, the staff removed all the layers of soil, bricks, and stones covering the surface of the Po Dam Tower. Thereby revealing a number of important structures in the Tower area that French scholar Henry Parmentier had not previously mentioned in his drawings.

Specifically, the long house-shaped architecture, the square-shaped architecture in the south; the ancient brick-stepped staircase running in the East-West direction up to the South Tower; four square brick blocks that may be the place to place the statue; the internal path system in the Tower Area; traces of chiseling the western rock wall to expand the construction space of the Tower Area... These discoveries help the archaeological team to better understand the inherent architecture of the Tower Area and it is from these individual architectures that will contribute to identifying the functions of the architectures in the overall space of the Tower Area.

The specially crafted Linga weighs 78.36 grams, with 90.4% pure gold and the remaining 9.6% being silver and copper.

Many valuable artifacts such as stone slabs carved with ancient Cham characters in the form of stele inscriptions, the results of analysis of the ancient characters on the stone slabs indicate that the tower was built around 710. This is an extremely important new discovery, contributing to determining the construction date of the Tower Complex in the early 8th century, equivalent to the My Son E1 and My Son C7 architectural groups in Quang Nam.

In particular, this archaeological excavation at the Po Dam tower relic discovered a golden Linga and many other valuable artifacts such as: yoni pedestal, grinding table. Musical instruments such as: bells, cymbals, rattles; muta rings, bronze mirrors, axes, spears. Along with a large number of roof tiles and many relics including broken objects such as vases, jars, bowls, cups, plates, pots... contributing to affirming the historical, cultural , religious, and phallic worship values ​​of the Cham people at the Po Dam tower relic.

Linga is a unique, rare original artifact with a unique form; has historical, cultural and aesthetic value.

Immediately after the discovery, Mr. Vo Thanh Huy, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Binh Thuan province, said that the Department has developed a dossier on the discovered golden Linga artifact of Po Dam tower, consulting the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province to submit to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the National Cultural Heritage Council for consideration, appraisal, and submission to the Prime Minister for recognition as a national treasure according to regulations.

On January 18, 2023, the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 73/QD-TTg on the recognition of national treasures in the 12th batch of 2023. Among the 29 national treasures recognized in this batch is the Golden Linga of Binh Thuan province.

Foreign tourists learn about Linga treasure.

The national treasure Golden Linga of Binh Thuan province dates back to around the 8th-9th century. It is a unique, rare original artifact with a unique form; has historical, cultural and aesthetic value; is a symbol of the growth of all things and species, is specially crafted and weighs 78.36 grams, with a pure gold content of 90.4%, the remaining 9.6% is silver and copper.

The golden metal Linga at the Po Dam site was discovered in the strata during the archaeological excavation process, containing important scientific information, of great value for research and awareness of cultural-historical issues related to the Po Dam site in particular and Cham culture in general. The national treasure, the golden Linga, is an important scientific document not only for archaeology, but also of great value for research on history, culture, fine arts, religion, metallurgy, goldsmithing, etc. of the Cham community in the past.

The national treasure Golden Linga of Binh Thuan province dates back to around the 8th-9th century.

To effectively manage, protect and promote the value of the national treasure Golden Linga, Mr. Bui The Nhan, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Binh Thuan province, said that units should step up propaganda and promotion work to raise awareness among cadres, party members and people about the value, meaning and importance of the national treasure in order to enhance responsibility in preserving the national treasure.

The Department has directed the Binh Thuan Provincial Museum to focus on strengthening the management, protection and promotion of the value of the national treasure, the Golden Linga, through displaying, exhibiting, and introducing it on the website and media to promote and advertise the local cultural heritage and national treasures, meeting the needs of visitors for sightseeing, research and study. At the same time, the Binh Thuan Provincial Police have developed a plan to protect, patrol, control and ensure the safety of artifacts and national treasures stored and displayed at the museum.

Thanh Hai

Source: https://nhandan.vn/linga-vang-cua-nguoi-cham-duoc-khai-quat-tai-khu-di-tich-post834459.html