Thu Bon - sacred source of history and art

Paintings on ipad by foreign artists.

Historical Mark

Looking at the Feng Shui from ancient Hindu culture, the south has the symbolic image of the sacred mountain Meru with the Temple Mountain/God Mountain whose ancient Sanskrit name is Mahaparvata/Great Mountain with the shape of Cat's Tooth, but similar to the image of the beak of the Garuda bird. For the north, water is the worship image of the Mother/Goddess symbolizing the sacred river Ganges/Ganga. It is the Mountain/Father god Siva with the River/Mother goddess Parvati.

For the mother river Thu Bon, both banks have left brilliant cultural imprints such as the World Cultural Heritage My Son and the Ancient Town of Hoi An. Residents living on both banks of the Thu River have benefited from the river for generations. Water brings aquatic resources, fertile alluvium, transportation, traffic and trade with the "salt road" connecting the lowlands and the highlands.

To remember the mother river with the legend of the merits and heroic death of Princess Bo Bo or Lady Thu Bon, the riverside villages of Duy Xuyen, Dai Loc and Nong Son later annually on the 12th day of the second lunar month hold the festival of Lady Thu Bon or known by the Cham name Bo Bo. Regarding the story of Princess Bo Bo, the Nguyen Dynasty court bestowed upon her the title of “My Duc Thuc Hanh Bo Bo Phu Nhan Thuong Dang Than”.

I have traveled upstream many times to find traces of the ancient Cham people on the banks of this sacred river. First of all, I have to mention the article by French ethnologist Albert Sallet.

In the article “Preserving Cham traces in Annam customs and beliefs in Quang Nam” published in the Bulletin des Amis du Vieux Hue (BAVH) in 1923, Albert Sallet - working in Central Vietnam, said: “A rock cliff with inscriptions, on the upper Thu Bon River, is only exposed when the water is low. Thach Bich cliff is submerged in water (about 50cm) on the right bank of Thu Bon River, close to Hon Kem - Da Dung. Local people call it “Da Bua” so August 18 is the cliff’s annual festival and this stele is called Thach Bich stele.

Cham sculptures found in Thu Bon River. Photo: THUONG HY

This Cham stele was Latinized and translated into French by a French assistant, Edourd Huber, professor at the French School of the Far East.

Translation: Long live the glorious King of Champa, the King of Champa. The Lord of this land offers this Siva. So on this river is the historical mark of the Prithivindravarman dynasty, marking the starting point of the Hoan Vuong dynasty, the capital in Virapura in the south of Champa. The Simhapura dynasty, with the capital Tra Kieu on the Thu Bon river in the 4th century.

In addition, there is another statue that the Vietnamese later worshiped in a temple on the shore of Phu Gia village, Que Phuoc (formerly Nong Son). The story of this statue is quite interesting: around 1989, I visited a friend at the exact place where this statue was worshiped, then the statue was lost. It was not until 2000 that the statue was returned to the village's water wharf and is currently being kept by the Que Son District Cultural, Sports and Tourism Center. Researchers call this the Vishnu Naraya statue, a sandstone relief with details of water wave motifs related to the God of Conservation of the river.

Art Source

The story of the sacred Thu Bon River has entered the consciousness of the people. For folk literature, this river is a treasure trove to explore. For the literary and artistic world, it is difficult to count how many works have been written about Thu Bon.

Like the song “Thu Bon oi!” by Le Anh: “ Who named the river like your name, it goes into my memories. The river of my hometown is as soft as silk, I always call. Always call Thu Bon, always call Thu Bon ”… Or like musician Vu Duc Sao Bien with “Thu sings for people” put the river of my hometown into a romantic song: “ Which river takes my lover away forever/ Which autumn brings you back to visit the old wharf/ The yellow crane flies, flies forever leaving the dreamy sky/ Returning to the sim hill, I miss you endlessly ”…

As for painting, we can mention the painting “Giao Chi Quoc Thuong Do Hai Do” (Giao Chi Quoc Thuong Do Hai Do), a watercolor painting (78cm high, 498cm long) painted by merchant Chaya Shiroku. The painting depicts the voyage of a Japanese merchant ship from Truong Ky port (Nagasaki) to Hoi An port and then to Dinh Chiem to offer gifts and pay respects to Lord Nguyen.

Surely in the past, when foreign merchant ships came to trade in Hoi An, there would be many quick drawings of the bustling, prosperous river, depicting the scene on the docks and under the boats. Even later, there were many paintings by domestic and foreign artists depicting the landscape and activities on the Hoai River branch of Thu Bon. And on the upper reaches of the Thu River, there were many paintings by resistance artists such as Trieu Khac Le, recording the days of stationing troops along the riverbank. Now the paintings are preserved in the museum's collection.

In 2022, the exhibition "Downstream of the Thu River" will be held with nearly 100 paintings by famous artists: Luu Cong Nhan, Bui Tien Tuan, Doan Hoang Lam, Bui Van Tuat, Le The Anh, Hung Ro, Nguy Dinh Ha, Thao Hien, Thu An, Nguyen Duc Huy. This is a charity gallery that raises money from selling paintings to help the poor in Quang Nam and Hue.

Artist Bui Tien Tuan is also a son of Quang with the painting "Autumn River" painted on Do paper with the main color of blue full of mystery. The writer of this article also has many quick sketches on the waterways, roads about the mother river Thu Bon... Through many historical changes, that river has become an important cultural source of Quang.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/thu-bon-nguon-thieng-cua-lich-su-va-nghe-thuat-3150736.html