Concerns over the only Cham tower in the Central Highlands being encroached upon

Hidden in a dense forest of about 4 hectares, next to the Ea H'leo River, Yang Prong Tower (Ea Rok Commune, formerly Ea Sup District, Dak Lak ) has a quiet beauty and unique architecture in the style of the ancient Cham people.

Nỗi lo tháp Chăm duy nhất ở Tây nguyên bị xâm hại- Ảnh 1. — Yang Prong Tower carries many cultural values associated with the lives of indigenous people.

Mr. Y Sum Eban (67 years old, guard of Yang Prong tower) said that the tower was formed a long time ago and is very sacred. The dense forest of the tower is one of the local "red addresses" during the resistance war against America to save the country.

According to documents of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak, the architecture of Yang Prong tower was ranked as a national architectural relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) on August 3, 1991, with a total protected area of 4.76 hectares.

Many documents confirm that Yang Prong tower is the only ancient Cham tower in the Central Highlands, built by Cham King Jaya Shinhavarman III in the late 13th century to worship the god Siva in the form of Mukhalinga (the great god), a symbol of the genitals, praying for the growth of the race and prosperity and happiness.

The Yang Prong Tower relic connects with other tourist attractions in the old Ea Sup district, such as: the scenic spot of Ea Sup Thuong Lake, the stone drill bit manufacturing workshop at the Thac Hai archaeological site - where archaeologists have determined that there existed a very sophisticated and unique stone drill bit manufacturing workshop, a discovery of great significance in archaeological research not only for the Central Highlands but also for Southeast Asia. This is an area that will form an ideal cultural tourism route for visitors from all over the world.

Yang Prong Tower is about 2 km away from Thac Hai archaeological site as the crow flies. "There are many hypotheses about the surrounding area of Yang Prong Tower and Thac Hai archaeological site. This may have been the place where the ancient Cham people lived, they could have traded by the Ea H'leo River, so the existence of many vestiges of high cultural value is also something that needs to be studied. However, this is just an hypothesis and it will take a lot of time to conduct archaeology and collect documents to verify this area," said a leader of Dak Lak Museum.

MEASURES NEEDED TO RESTORE AND CONSERVE NATIONAL MONUMENTS

While lighting incense and praying to the gods at Yang Prong Tower, Mr. Y Sum Eban expressed his concern that the Ea H'leo River was encroaching on the forest, about 10 meters from the tower. Notably, the tower's architecture was written and painted with "strange" words while he was sick and unable to come to look after it (early August 2025).

Nỗi lo tháp Chăm duy nhất ở Tây nguyên bị xâm hại- Ảnh 2. — Yang Prong Tower campus is at risk of being eroded by the Ea H'leo stream.

"I hope the local and provincial authorities have a plan to preserve and build embankments to prevent the Ea H'leo river from eroding the foot of Yang Prong tower. In addition, I cannot read the "strange" words that appear on the tower. We need to deal with the problem of the tower being written and painted, affecting the value of the national monument," Mr. Y Sum Eban confided.

Speaking to Thanh Nien , Dr. Nguyen Hoang Than, former Director of the Center for Social Sciences and Humanities Research (University of Da Nang), said that the "strange" writing appearing at Yang Prong Tower is not Chinese script, but may belong to the type of talisman symbols. This talisman system tends to be influenced by Chinese Taoist culture. "This line of writing is unlikely to belong to the language system of the indigenous people of the South Island (including 5 ethnic groups: Cham, Ede, Gia Rai, Raglai and Chu Ru). According to my guess, the above line of writing symbolizes the image of the sun and the moon, which can be understood in a positive way," Dr. Than commented.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak said it had sent a document requesting the People's Committee of Ea Rok commune - the locality directly managing the relic, to direct relevant units, organizations and individuals to inspect the "strange" words appearing on the Yang Prong tower architecture and handle them according to the provisions of the law on cultural heritage.

Nỗi lo tháp Chăm duy nhất ở Tây nguyên bị xâm hại- Ảnh 3. — “Strange” words appeared at the only entrance of Yang Prong tower in early August 2025

In 2021, facing the risk of the Ea H'leo River eroding the tower area, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak organized a working group to conduct a field survey at the national architectural relic of Yang Prong Tower and met to discuss and agree on a plan to protect the relics. The Department has proposed that the People's Committee of Ea Sup District (old) include the national architectural relic of Yang Prong Tower in the urgent priority items to develop a medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021 - 2025.

Nỗi lo tháp Chăm duy nhất ở Tây nguyên bị xâm hại- Ảnh 4. — Yang Prong Tower is located in the jungle.

Nỗi lo tháp Chăm duy nhất ở Tây nguyên bị xâm hại- Ảnh 5. — Mr. Y Sum Eban has been the guardian of the Yang Prong tower area for many years.

Nỗi lo tháp Chăm duy nhất ở Tây nguyên bị xâm hại- Ảnh 6. — Yang Prong Tower is in a state of disrepair.

Currently, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak is building a medium-term public investment portfolio for 2026 - 2030. The Department will work with the locality to soon propose the content of the restoration and embellishment of the national architectural relic Yang Prong tower to promote the value of the tower in tourism development, contributing to the sustainable socio-economic development of the locality.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/noi-lo-thap-cham-duy-nhat-o-tay-nguyen-bi-xam-hai-18525082819543062.htm