Linga-yoni pedestal discovered at My Son A10 tower. Photo: My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board
The findings
On July 24, the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board sent a document to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism requesting that this unit complete procedures to send to relevant levels and sectors for consideration and submission to the Prime Minister for recognition of the My Son A10 Worshiping Platform as a national treasure.
This is just the next move of the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board when discovering this altar in 2020 when implementing the project to restore tower group A (within the framework of the project to preserve and restore tower groups K, H, A in the period 2016 - 2021 sponsored by the Indian government ).
Along with the discovery of the national treasure Ekamukhalinga in 2012, the discovery of the My Son A10 Altar once again proves the mysteries that still lie beneath the My Son valley as well as the surrounding areas.
Mr. Nguyen Cong Khiet - Deputy Director of the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board said that, with the scale and role of My Son, the hypothesis about the treasures of the ancient Champa kingdom that were present in history is completely reasonable. "This is a mystery that needs to be further researched" - Mr. Khiet said.
My Son still has many artifacts of high artistic and technical value. Photo: My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board
In fact, after each project in My Son, valuable artifacts of art and technology were discovered.
If in the project to preserve and restore the G tower group (2003 - 2013), hundreds of terracotta artifacts such as Hamsa wood, animal heads, decorative ears with engraved letters... were discovered, then in the project to preserve the K, H, A tower groups, after 5 years of implementation, in addition to successfully restoring the relics, Vietnamese and Indian experts also collected many artifacts such as lion statues, steles, tower tops... In particular, the rediscovery of Altar A10 (mentioned by the French in the early 20th century).
Unrevealed mystery
Of the 215 national treasures recognized by the Department of Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) from 2012 to present, artifacts belonging to Champa culture account for about 29 treasures, most of which were discovered in the Central provinces.
In Quang Nam alone, about 9 national treasures related to Champa cultural temples have been recognized, including: Dong Duong Buddha statue, Devi goddess statue, Tara Bodhisattva statue, My Son E1 altar, Tra Kieu altar, Ekamukhalinga, Shiva statue head, Dong Duong altar, Ganesha statue. Of which, 3 treasures originated from My Son temple complex: My Son E1 altar, Ganesha statue and Ekamukhalinga.
If My Son E1 altar and Ganesha statue were discovered by the French in the early 20th century (1903), Ekamukhalinga was only discovered and recognized as a national treasure in January 2015.
After each conservation project, My Son discovers valuable artifacts. Photo: VL
According to researcher Le Dinh Phung - Member of the Vietnam Archaeological Association (former Associate Professor, Doctor of the Institute of Archaeology), the Provincial People's Committee's proposal to recognize the My Son A10 Altar as a national treasure is worthy and timely because it is not only a unique artifact but also ensures unique artistic and technical values expressed in the mounting pins, proving that the ancient Cham people worshiped precious metal artifacts recorded in the My Son stele, but due to war and social factors, they have now been lost or misplaced.
“The stele at Tower C7 (built in 617) records that the Champa king covered the altars with gold, so we can completely confirm that there were precious metals in My Son. This was also proven during the French archaeological excavation of the tower (in 1902) when a set of gold decorations was discovered inside Tower C7,” researcher Le Dinh Phung explained.
In particular, although some documents left by the French mentioned the excavation of My Son temples such as E1 and G1, most of the assets found were not announced, while the sacred pit was often the place to keep valuable artifacts inside.
According to the analysis of researcher Le Dinh Phung, with factors such as artifacts (found), inscribed stele inscriptions and technical traces on the artifacts, it proves that My Son once possessed many valuable artifacts in history that later generations did not know about.
My Son still has many undiscovered underground mysteries - photo VL
“My Son A10 altar or Ekamukhalinga are just a few of the artistic masterpieces that we have discovered in My Son. There are certainly many other valuable artifacts, possibly made of precious metals such as decorations, jewelry, including the gold mask of Ekamukhalinga… but they have not been found or accessed yet,” Mr. Le Dinh Phung shared.
According to French documents, by the beginning of the 20th century, the My Son relic site had about 70 temple towers, dating from the 7th to 13th centuries (the last construction in My Son was tower B1, around 1226). However, due to the ravages of time and war, the number of remaining temples and towers today is only about 30 (including those newly restored in recent years), most of which are not intact.
Since the 1980s, a number of My Son conservation projects have been implemented, which not only restored and reinforced the architecture but also helped discover many more artifacts made of sandstone, terracotta, etc. with high artistic and technical value. The most prominent is the Ekamukhalinga treasure (discovered in 2012) and now the My Son A10 Altar. It is expected that the My Son A10 Altar will be recognized as a national treasure by the National Council for Appraisal of Relics, Antiquities, and Treasures (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) at the end of 2021.
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/co-mot-my-son-trong-long-dat-3066156.html
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