In 1984 summer, Van Cao visited Binh Dinh. The talented musician-poet wrote a series of poems about Quy Nhon City. A big surprise came to Van Cao when he had  seen the Cham towers the first time. “ From the blue sky/ Fall down/ Several drops of Cham towers/ Around Quy Nhon/ And I/ Like a child loves legend/”.

If Van Cao had visited Cham towers in My Son Relic (Quang Nam Province) at that time, he wouldn’t have composed such a beautiful poem. Because in My Son, groups of Cham towers are “showers”. They can’t be compared as “a single drop of  rain”. It was the “scattering” characteristic of Cham towers in Binh Dinh Province that aroused inspiration of Van Cao to write such marvelous line of verse when he found out impromptu location of  Cham towers in Binh Dinh Province. It was also the location of the Cham towers in Binh Dinh Province that aroused strange emotion of Van Cao while he was watching the towers.

Most of the towers in Binh Dinh Province are built on top of hills while Cham towers in My Son are located densely in a valley and many towers in Quang Nam are constructed in flat areas.

Van Cao had no chance to visit all Cham towers in Binh Dinh Province. He, as a musician, just saw some of towers rising from the hills and then descriped them as raising note of music. But, in his eyes of a poet, he considered them sudden random and enigmatic drops of rain falling down Binh Dinh region.

Actually, the two opposite types of feelings can exist simutaneously if we watch groups of Cham towers in the region from a broad view.

When building the towers, Cham artists wanted to achieve a holy target rather than just  adoration towards existing dynasties or religious rituals. They wanted to achieve Aestheticism. The Cham towers in Binh Dinh Province are always in the most favourable positions to show out their beauty. Like any the Beauty, they often keep a certain distance to the watchers.

Archaeologists and researchers of Cham art comment that groups of Cham towers in Binh Dinh are actually mature masterpiece of architecture and sculpture. I suppose myself as a visitor from another place far away from Binh Dinh. What can I discover from such the open art space?

An inmost belief in material. Whenever we talk about Cham towers, we can’t ignore its construction material. Cham brick is made of clay like other kinds of brick. However, it still has been a controversial mystery that the Cham artists carved upon unburn or burn material. The carving is so sharp and perfect , the burn clay is so warm and close that we feel immortality of the clay through an undurable brick. We may believe that the brick bodies of the towers will exist through thousands of years.

In perception of farmers and Cham artists at that time, clay was what they venerated and also material for them to perform art and create the Beauty. If the Cham towers had been made of stone, they  wouldn’t have brought us such the warm and friendly feeling though they would have made us admire and feel secure about their durability. If so, they wouldn’t have surprised us so much. How can the brick towers exist thousands of years full of ups and downs ?

In harmony with natural peaceful landscape I haven’t visited all Cham towers in Binh Dinh Province but through my understanding about groups of towers or a single tower, the Cham towers in Binh Dinh sound like pedestrians walking through space and time. The great pedestrians always stop at simple and peaceful villages although they locates in high places. Standing harmonimously among natural peaceful landscape is a prominent characteristic of the Cham towers in Binh Dinh.

Such the Cham towers in Binh Dinh! Hence, let’s the towers live among villages, with local people and their daily simple activities. That’s the best way of preservation. If it is possible, we may restore ancient-looking villages with thatched roof and old simple facilities of Binh Dinh farmers  around the towers. That is also another way of preserving live art environment in which the Cham towers are the prominent figures.

Ever-lasting mystery Binh Dinh Province is the second locality owing large number of Cham towers after Quang Nam Province. My Son Relic is recognized as World Heritage by UNESCO. However, groups of the Cham towers in Binh Dinh are not replicas of My Son’s Cham towers. Although they have many similar characteristics, they are still variant individuals. That’s true art. The Cham towers in Binh Dinh Province are unique works of architecture and sculpture. If their dates are identified from 11th century to 12th century, they are thousand years old.

There have been many studies, researches and surveys of specialists. But what is real nature of the Cham towers? The answer is: mystery. The Egyptian Pyramids are mysterious. So are the Cham towers.  As an over-time lasting work of art, the towers will be mysterious forever. All attempt to decode the mystery leads to certain understanding about several aspects of the towers only. Each of the Cham towers in Binh Dinh has 4 visible facets. Actually, they are multi-faceted. That’s their magic charm.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Cham towers in Binh Dinh create not only an open space but also a special magnetic field. The magnetic field is not as dense as one in My Son but has strong impact if it is linked.

From my understanding, Binh Dinh is able to do the preservation providing that the province get assistance nationwide.

Simple and mysterious like clay - that’s nature of “Drops of Cham towers” in Binh Dinh Province.

• Written by Thanh Thao
• Translated by To Uyen

(*) Speech of Thanh Thao poet at seminar “How to increase values of Cham towers’ system in Binh Dinh” co-organized by Provincial Department of Culture-Information and Binh Dinh Newspaper on 14th November 2006.