The Ma River murmurs its stories...

From the Bon Kho mountain range in Tuan Giao district, Dien Bien province, the Ma River flows through Son La, into Laos, and then back into Vietnam, traversing the S-shaped strip of land before reaching the sea. Thanh Hoa province has embraced this return section of the river, creating the Ma River Delta, the third largest delta after the Red River Delta and the Mekong Delta. I traveled along the banks of the Ma River from Muong Lat to the Lach Hoi and Lach Truong estuaries. Everywhere I went, I heard whispers of history. The entire stretch of the Ma River in Thanh Hoa is intertwined with cultural heritage, but for me, the most special are the source and the end of this historical flow.

1. The Ma River enters Vietnam again through the Ten Tan border gate in Muong Lat district. I vividly remember a summer day in 2023 when I joined writers on a field trip to border guard posts in the northernmost part of Thanh Hoa province. Lieutenant Colonel Ho Ngoc Thu, Deputy Head of Political Affairs of the Thanh Hoa Border Guard, led the entire group to a temple where the Ma River flows into Vietnamese territory. This is understandable, because the story from the 15th century tells of a young man from Dao village in Ba Thuoc district, skilled in archery and martial arts, who was chosen by the king to be his son-in-law. When the country was invaded by foreign enemies, Son-in-law Hai Dao volunteered to lead troops to repel the invaders and secure the borders. He was granted the title of Border Guard Commander and established a garrison at Ten Tan. He established villages and built Muong Xia into a beautiful and prosperous land. From the beautiful Muong Xia, Commander Hai Dao requested permission from the king to establish Muong Chu San, connecting a vast border region of Son La - Thanh Hoa - Nghe An. Muong Chu San comprised 14 districts south of the Ma River, from Muong Chanh, which is now part of Muong Lat, to Muong Chu, which is now part of Quan Son.

Lieutenant Colonel Ho Ngoc Thu informed the visitors about the history of the temple. Before its current small but solemn restoration, the temple dedicated to Commander Hai Dao was historically a wooden stilt house of the Thai ethnic group. The temple had once burned down, leaving only the old foundation with some traces and artifacts such as a bronze incense burner and a stone statue of a sacred animal. Afterwards, the people temporarily rebuilt the temple for worship. Even so, the temple dedicated to the Border Guard Commander remains very sacred. Local people say that, according to legend, any official passing through had to dismount from their palanquin or horse to pay their respects.

The place name Tén Tằn has remained intact since ancient times, at the point where the Mã River begins its journey back to its motherland.

2. The waves of the Ma River carried me back to Thanh Hoa City, stopping at a small riverside village that has gone down in history - Dong Son village.

The village's first guardian deity, whose given name was Lê Hữu, was the youngest son of Lê Ngọc, the governor of Cửu Chân district. Legend says that after a battle with the Tang invaders, he was beheaded, but he picked up the severed head, holding it in one hand and his sword in the other, continuing the fight, causing the enemy to flee in terror. He then reattached the head and fled to Đông Cương Thượng village, where he passed away. He was later revered as Tham Xung Tá Quốc. It is also said that the ancient temple dedicated to him, located on the banks of the Mã River, was considered sacred despite the harsh weather and constant rain. In the year Tân Hợi (1751), King Trần Thái Tông personally led an expedition to suppress the Champa invaders. While crossing the Mã River, his boat kept spinning around at this point. The king believed there must be a sacred temple nearby, so he sent soldiers ashore to inquire. Indeed, there was a temple dedicated to Tham Xung Tá Quốc. The king performed a ceremony, asking for his help in defeating the Champa invaders. Afterward, the boat sailed smoothly downstream, and his prayers were answered; the foreign invaders were defeated. Upon his return, the king issued a decree instructing the villagers to choose a beautiful location to move the temple to a peaceful place for worship, and also granted 30,000 quan (Vietnamese currency) for the spring and autumn sacrificial ceremonies. The king also bestowed the title "Supreme Blessed Deity" to be revered for generations to come at the Tham Xung Ta Quoc temple.

We visited the Dong Son village communal house. In front of the communal house was a crescent-shaped pond, its water lilies a vibrant red, nestled among ancient, silvery-gray banyan trees. Each laterite stone slab stood as a testament, recounting stories from the village's founding and naming legends about its patron deity. Mr. Duong Dinh Tho, the caretaker of the Dong Son communal house, explained that Dong Son, according to the interpretation passed down through generations by the locals, means "many mountains." Many mountains clustered together have given rise to the village's legends. No one in Dong Son doesn't know the verse, "99 mountains on the East side / But the Nit mountain on the river hasn't returned yet." According to Mr. Tho's interpretation, Nit mountain means "child." A whole group of children gathered together, yet one lost child is missing on the other side of the river. That Nit mountain is none other than Ngoc mountain on the other side of the Ham Rong bridge.

During a visit to Dong Son, I walked along the Ma River with Mr. Nguyen Van Ve, a descendant of Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, who discovered the first bronze drum in Dong Son village in 1924. This discovery led archaeologists to begin searching for and researching artifacts and archaeological sites, gradually defining a distinct culture. Decades later, after all the research was complete, validated, and hypotheses proven, the name Dong Son, originally the name of a village, became the name of a culture whose influence spread far and wide, from Vietnam to Thailand and even China.

Following Mr. Ve, I found the place where the bronze drum originated on the banks of the Ma River. The riverbank was still windy, the waves still rippling as they were a hundred years ago. The grass was still green as it was a hundred years ago. The land here always holds secrets, and one of the greatest secrets has been revealed. I kept wondering, if the Ma River hadn't changed its course one day, would Mr. Nguyen Van Nam have accidentally discovered the bronze drum by the riverbank in Dong Son village? Perhaps history had its own arrangements. That the change of course wasn't accidental; the thunder and lightning, the raging storms, were surely the twists and turns of nature preparing for a change in the course of history.

3. Thanh Hoa City, since 1804, when King Gia Long issued a decree to move the Thanh Hoa Citadel from Duong Xa village to Tho Hac village, the city's construction and renaming to Thanh Hoa has been a remarkable achievement, spanning exactly 220 years. And in 2024, when the Standing Committee of the National Assembly issued a resolution on the reorganization of Thanh Hoa province's administrative units, Dong Son district officially merged into Thanh Hoa City, creating new opportunities for the provincial capital of Thanh Hoa, situated on both banks of the Ma River.

My thoughts wandered along the Ma River's waves, flowing from its source to the vast ocean, from the turbulent mountains and forests to the deep green plains and shores, harmonizing with the nation's history in its profound depths, touching upon the hustle and bustle of today's nation-building efforts, with new opportunities and new challenges. Stories of yesterday and today flickered and blurred. And the Ma River remained there, majestic yet proud, murmuring as it turned the pages of history for this land.

NGUYEN XUAN THUY

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/song-ma-ri-ram-ke-chuyen-237940.htm