The origin of the Dai Viet dragon symbol

The Dai Viet dragon symbol is the dragon symbol of the Dai Viet dynasties Dinh - Tien Le - Ly - Tran - Le (10th - 18th centuries). The origin and nature of that symbol is the river - water god, identified with the Vietnamese rain god.

In ancient times, water from rivers, streams, seas and rainwater from the sky were always associated with human life and death. Most of the great human civilizations originated from rivers.

The Vietnamese have lost the original legend of a flood that destroyed humanity. But the Vietnamese still have the legend of Son Tinh - Thuy Tinh about the flood caused by Thuy Tinh.

Snake pattern on a water offering bowl in Phung Nguyen Culture.

The Vietnamese have a saying "First water - second fertilizer" which shows the importance of water in rice cultivation. But the Vietnamese also have a saying "Thuy, fire, bandits, thieves" which shows the extent of disasters caused by water.

From the respect and fear of the power of rivers and water, Vietnamese people respect and worship the river god whose oldest incarnation is the water snake of rivers and lakes, whose winding body resembles the shape of a river, the movement of water waves, and the shape of lightning in a rainstorm. The ancestors of the ancient Vietnamese people called the river god by the word meaning river or water. Linguistics has proven that the word "dragon" in Vietnamese and the word "long" in Sino-Vietnamese both originate from the word for river klông or krông in the ancient Bach Viet language, which is still found in the names of some rivers in the Central Highlands such as Krong Pac, Krong No, Krong Ana... Meanwhile, the word for dragon (neak) in Khmer and (ngưok) in Thai originate from another word for river in the ancient Bach Viet language, related to the word water in Vietnamese, the word Đắc in the names of some rivers and lakes in the Central Highlands such as Dak Krong River (Quang Tri), Lak Lake ( Dak Lak ), Dak Bla (Kon Tum)...

With the desire to receive more love and protection from the river god, ancient Vietnamese people recognized the god as their Ancestor, believing they could communicate with the god through worship rituals.

For generations, the Vietnamese have kept a legend of origin called the Hong Bang Family, which means people of Dragon Bird lineage with the most recent Ancestor being Lac Long Quan or Dragon King Lac, the Dragon King of the Lac Viet people.

The earliest dragon symbol in Vietnamese culture is the winding snake image on a ceramic vase in Xom Ren, Phu Tho , an early site of the Phung Nguyen Neolithic culture, 2,000-1,400 years BC. Archaeologists often call it "worm pattern", but it should be called "snake pattern" because it shows the winding snake image when crawling or swimming, a symbol of rivers and endless life.

The owners of Phung Nguyen Culture were mainly people living in river areas, living on water, thanks to water and worshiping the water snake totem. They were the first people to use the word water or country to refer to the place where they were born, grew up, loved and protected.

The Dong Son period, namely the Hung King - An Duong Vuong - Hai Ba Trung period (7th century BC - 1st century AD), was a time of many population changes and social stratification, and also witnessed the diversity of dragon totem symbols.

During the Hung Kings' time (7th - 3rd century BC), the dragon and snake were the totem and symbol of the Hung Kings.

The stylized turtle image in the middle of the bronze plate attached to the Dong Son noble costume later turned into the omega-shaped horn on the dragon's head during the Ly Dynasty.

Currently, we only have indirect evidence of the dragon-snake symbol during the Hung Kings' time. That is the predominance of the snake symbol in the Dien culture in Yunnan, especially the image of a pair of snakes coiled on the pillars of the harvest-praying ceremony and the image of a snake coiled on the golden seal of King Dien. Archaeological documents show that the Dien culture is a brother culture of the Dong Son culture. Ethnological documents also show that the Dien Viet people are actually a Lac Viet group.

During the reign of Thuc Phan - An Duong Vuong (257 - 179 BC), the concrete incarnation of the dragon was the turtle, which was the totem - symbol - guardian deity of the Au Lac royal family. The evidence is the real and stylized turtle image on the belt buckle and the bronze plate - sacred charm attached to the Dong Son noble costumes; the turtle-shaped house with convex curved roof on the Ngoc Lu and Co Loa drums; and especially the legendary Golden Turtle God who helped An Duong Vuong build Co Loa citadel - Turtle Citadel...

On the other hand, on many Dong Son bronze objects such as Hoa Binh drum, Dao Thinh jar, Ninh Binh bronze plate, Thieu Duong axe... we see the dragon - crocodile symbol (giao long), the totem of some coastal ethnic groups. The custom of tattooing dragons told in legends is mainly associated with these ethnic groups. The boat image on Ngoc Lu drum and Dao Thinh jar is also a boat with a dragon head - crocodile, bird tail.

At the end of the Dong Son period, Vac village in the mountainous region of Nghe An became a gathering place for many groups of Dien nobles from Yunnan who came to seek refuge. They were the owners of bronze objects with dragon and snake symbols, evidenced by two short swords on the hilts with statues of a pair of snakes holding a tiger's paw and a pair of snakes holding an elephant's paw, along with snake-shaped bracelets.

Also at that time, the development of the profession of taming elephants for pulling wood and fighting led to the spread of the belief in elephant totem worship in the Thanh - Nghe mountainous region. Elephants are water-loving animals, can use their trunks to suck and spray water like rain, so they are also a symbol of rivers.

Since then, the dragon-elephant totem symbol has appeared on many Dong Son relics in this region such as bells, short swords and lamp stands. The image of domestic elephants is also prominent on large Dong Son bronze drums in Indonesia brought by groups of nobles migrating from Thanh - Nghe across the sea. Elephant and frog statues representing the rain god also appear on the surface of some late bronze drums in the mountainous region of Thanh Hoa, such as the Ngoc Lien and Hoi Xuan drums.

Snake bracelet from Vac village.

During the Dinh and Tien Le dynasties, although the Dinh Bo Linh clan worshiped the otter totem and although the Dinh dynasty considered Buddhism as the state religion, as emperors of a centralized monarchy, King Dinh and King Le also created a dragon symbol for their dynasty and people similar to and not inferior to the Northern dragon symbol. Unfortunately, we now have no documents about the dragon symbol of these two dynasties.

However, we can still guess that the symbol of the Dinh and Tien Le dragons is a dragon - snake. The evidence is that the two river gods - water snake gods with the popular names of Ong Dai - Ong Cut in the coastal areas of the Ca Lo, Cau and Thuong rivers were personified and historicized as the two brothers Truong Hong and Truong Hat. According to legend, the two men were originally two generals of Trieu Viet Vuong (524 - 571). When the king died, the two men committed suicide and became gods who continuously supported Ngo Quyen, Le Hoan and Ly Thuong Kiet in defeating the Southern Han and Song invaders, from then on they were given the title "King Gods protecting the country". The fact that Ly Thuong Kiet had someone read the poem "Than" which begins with the sentence "Nam quoc son ha Nam De cu" from the temple of the two gods also shows the important national role of these gods...

Most likely, the two water snake gods above have an origin connection with the pair of snakes holding elephant or tiger legs in the previous Dong Son culture as well as with the pair of snake gods called Ong Lot or Thanh Xa - Bach Xa of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Religion later.

The Ly Dynasty was a period of brilliant development of Dai Viet culture associated with the revival of many Dong Son traditions. The Ly kings cast and distributed bronze drums, worshiped the Bronze Drum god as the leader in the court's oath-taking ceremonies, held the Mid-Autumn Festival with dragon boat racing and water puppetry, and restored the custom of dragon tattooing...

The Ly dragon symbol was born, following the trend of the times, as a synthesis of the dragon symbols of Dai Viet, India and China. The earliest and most beautiful image of the Ly dragon was shown at Phat Tich pagoda with a crocodile head, frog eyes, elephant trunk, stylized turtle horns, snake body, tongue and fangs, that is, a synthesis of the Dong Son dragon symbols but the core and spirit is dragon - snake. Since then, the Ly dragon symbol, whether on the architecture of the Imperial Citadel or in the temples of the villages, has been both a symbol of the royal power and theocracy (Buddhism) of the Ly dynasty, and a symbol of the strength and beauty of the country and people of Dai Viet with the capital named Thang Long (rising dragon).

The dragon symbols of the Tran and Le dynasties, although having differences, still basically carry the essence and spirit of the dragon-snake symbol of the Ly dynasty.

According to People's Public Security Electronic Newspaper

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