Priest statues found at the Duong Long Tower Complex

December digs at a central tower complex add a new perspective to studies on ancient Cham art and architecture.

Vietnamese archeologists have unearthed thousands of rock carvings and sculptures at the Duong Long tower complex in their latest dig at the famous Cham temples in Tay Son District of central Binh Dinh Province.

The complex is the tallest Cham tower complex in Southeast Asia. It was first studied by French archeologist Henri Parmentier in 1909.

The complex comprises three towers – a central 42-meter high tower, and two 34 meter and 36 meter towers.

The discoveries were made during the third excavation co-organized by Binh Dinh’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Center for Archeological Research, under the Southern Institute of Sustainable Development, that ended in late December.

Archeologists dug up thousands of sandstone carvings and sculptures that had once decorated the three towers before they fell into disrepair.

The dig uncovered a 2.3-meter-high decorative section for the tower foot, which is carved with many Hindu figures including Kala’s face, the Naga snake, women’s breasts, lotuses and the Garuda bird.

The complex’s laterite sandstone foundation is still solid. In the excavation pits in front of and behind the towers, archeologists found decorative details for the roofs and tiles, the^ stone floor of a long house and other smaller architectural work that had been buried generations ago.

On the western side of the towers, archeologists discovered a rectangular brick foundation measuring about eight meters by seven meters, about 6.5 meters from the foot of the central and southern towers.

A brick altar bearing a large Yoni was found on the foundations which provided the first evidence that the towers were designed to worship Kali, who was the consort of Shiva, the god of destruction in India’s Hinduism.

According to Wikipedia, Yoni is the Sanskrit word for "divine passage," "place of birth," "womb" in the sense of 'source of life' rather than a human organ, or "sacred temple." The Yoni symbol is considered to be of the goddess Kali - Shiva’s consort, or of the goddess Shakti.

Yonis are usually worshipped with lingam, a cylinder-shaped symbol of Shiva and many of them have been found in Central Vietnam.

No Cham towers in the central region of Vietnam have as many rock sculptures as Duong Long towers. The recent archeological finds were buried between 0.5-2.3 meters deep. They include gods and goddesses in different postures, dancers, women’s bosoms, flowers and leaves and animals such as elephants, monkeys and snakes. The most typical among them are the reliefs of Brahma, the god of creation and statues of Hindu monks.

The meticulous carvings show a renovation of the old style depicting humans, costumes and adornments.

While researchers in the past used the Mam Tower as the basis to discuss Binh Dinh’s Cham sculptures, these new discoveries at the Duong Long towers add a new perspective to their studies.

The Mam Tower style of the 11th through the 14th century is named after a Cham Tower in Binh Dinh Province where sculptors were more concerned with the detail of ornamentation than with the grace and motion of the figures themselves.

One of the most original motifs of the Mam Tower was a row of female breast sculptures unparalleled anywhere in South East Asia around the base of a pedestal.

• Source: thanhniennews