In 2014, the Government of India and the Government of Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the conservation and restoration of the World Heritage Site at My Son. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was tasked with the conservation and restoration of Temples A, H and K at My Son Temple Complex.
Restoration work and new discoveries
To restore the My Son Temple Complex, the Indian government sent a team of experts from ASI to work directly on the site from 2017 to 2022. ASI is a government agency in India since the British colonial period, and is also the world's leading agency in West Asian and South Asian archaeology.
The conservation and restoration of tower groups A, H and K followed carefully established methods, with specially designed restoration techniques. They also opened introductory classes, transferring techniques - especially the technology of removing the mortar between ancient terracotta bricks and cleaning the wall surfaces of the towers to Vietnamese conservation experts.
The report by researcher Saudiptendu Ray - an Indian conservation expert, is an important part of the restoration work, which has been carried out. Vietnamese experts and workers have learned the methods of ASI experts to continue the conservation activities of similar heritages in Vietnam in the future.
In December 2022, the restoration of Tower Group A was completed and highly appreciated by the governments of both countries. The $3 million investment from the Indian government for the My Son project, ASI's first and largest project in Vietnam, marks an effective and positive sign for the future cooperation between the two countries.
Technically, the My Son project has restored the A' temple, after starting construction in 2020. The most valuable thing is that during the work inside the shrine of the A10 temple - a Shiva Linga block - a symbol of masculinity and vitality in Champa culture was discovered.
In addition, in the altar (Garbhagriha) of temple A13, people also found a statue of Lord Shiva and a Yoni Pitha block, a symbol of femininity and fertility (pitha - पीठ in Sanskrit is the place to worship the goddess and also the female vulva, according to the concept of ancient Indians). The Indian press assessed that these works show the value and historical stature of this unique heritage in Quang Nam, Vietnam.
My Son's location on the map of "connecting civilizations"
My Son is part of a series of five “Act East” projects of India in the cultural cooperation program through heritage, including: Ta Prohm temple (Cambodia), Ananda temple (Myanmar), Vat Phou temple (Laos), Borobudur complex (Indonesia) and My Son complex (Vietnam).
The Indian government’s idea is to preserve ancient historical links that have a positive impact on modern times. The Archaeological Survey of India plays a key role in the “Act East” program, launched in 2014.
The desire to spread “soft power” with geopolitical connotations predates the time of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the “Look East” policy introduced in 1991. Since 2003, after signing the first trade agreement with ASEAN, the Indian government and experts have expanded initiatives to find a route back to the “Golden Land” (Suvarnabhoomi), as their ancestors called Southeast Asia, a land of wealth and rich products.
Jayshree Sengupta, writing in the Observer Research Foundation (November 2017), said that India's influence on Southeast Asia lasted for 10 centuries, continuously from the 3rd to the 13th century. This is a cultural layer that is still present through the massive temples, but is also more hidden under the slices of Islam (which came to Southeast Asia from the 13th century), Chinese civilization and Western civilization from the colonial period.
Not everyone welcomed India’s involvement in the restoration and preservation of ancient structures in Southeast Asia. During the period 1986-1993, ASI’s involvement in the restoration of Angkor Wat in Cambodia was criticized by French and American newspapers. However, Indian media said that France’s attitude was “laden with colonial nostalgia” and ASI experts continued to work, despite security threats from Khmer Rouge remnants still harassing the Siem Reap area.
Not only that, in the period 2012-2022, Indians continued to be invited by Cambodia to restore many temples. At the same time as the completion of the restoration of the three towers in My Son, the restoration project of the "Hall of Dancers" at Ta Prohm Temple was carried out by ASI. When attending the inauguration ceremony of the project, Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, said that he felt like coming home because Cambodia is part of the "big Indian family".
At My Son, Indian experts highly value the heritage of the three restored towers because they are the “places of worship of the kings of the Champa kingdom” of which Vietnam is the successor country. Religion is one of the four clusters of ancient civilizational values that India wants to emphasize when connecting with Southeast Asia, including language contact (Sanskrit), Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam (of the Tamil people), architecture and spirituality.
By placing My Son on the global heritage map, India affirms its role as a "civilisational state".
The restoration and conservation of the relics here has been very successful, not only helping Quang Nam and Vietnam attract more tourists, but on a higher level, reviving the multidimensional connections between the Ganges civilization, Tamil and Bengali culture with societies further away from the rising sun.
To borrow the words of Shreya Singh, this is a thread that connects the present with the past to magically reflect the nuances of everyday life, past and present, of all Southeast Asians.
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/my-son-tren-ban-do-ket-noi-van-minh-cua-an-do-3148383.html
Comment (0)