The name Hoang De Citadel originated during the Tay Son dynasty, when the Nguyen Van Nhac brothers occupied and renovated the old citadel to establish their capital, proclaiming it Hoang De Citadel. The old citadel's name, written in Chinese characters, is 闍槃, which is translated into Vietnamese as Do Ban or Cha Ban.
Do Ban is known through poems in Che Lan Vien's collection Dieu Tan (1937): "The city of Do Ban has also ceased its sobbing / In the mystical mist, listen carefully" (Waiting for the Cham woman) as well as through later works of literature and art.
However, according to Hoang Xuan Han, Do Ban is a misspelled version of Cha Ban. "Thanh Phat The, the capital of Champa at that time, was located in the area of present-day Binh Dinh province. The Champa name was Vijaya; later it was called Cha Ban, which we often mistakenly wrote as Do Ban."
Examination of the Chinese versions of the books Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Phủ biên tạp lục, Đồng Khánh địa dư chí, and Đại Nam nhất thống chí reveals that the name of this city is written the same way, using the same Chinese character 闍槃. The difference between Chà Bàn and Đồ Bàn only becomes apparent when translated into the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script.
The reason there are two ways to pronounce the character 闍 is that modern Chinese dictionaries record it as /dū/ or /shé/. In Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation, 闍 is pronounced /đồ/, meaning a platform on a city gate, and is pronounced /xà/ or /chà/ when used to transcribe Sanskrit, such as the Sanskrit ācārya transcribed into Chinese as 阿闍梨, pronounced a-xà-lê (a Buddhist teacher).
Hoang Xuan Han's assessment is also consistent with the writing style of French scholars in the early 20th century. In Louis Finot's research (1904), when referring to the "major provinces" of Champa, the author notes Vijaya as follows: "Vijaya probably corresponds to the province of Binh-dinh, and the city of this name was certainly Cha-ban" (Vijaya probably corresponds to the province of Binh-dinh, and the city bearing this name is certainly Cha-ban).
French scholars must have read historical documents written in Chinese characters containing the character 闍槃, but when transcribed into Latin script, they wrote "Cha-ban" and not "Đồ bàn" as Vietnamese translators have written.
It is possible that in the early 20th century, the local dialect still contained the pronunciation of "Chà bàn," a shortened form of the name Vijaya (appearing in Champa inscriptions before the 15th century, referring to a region of Champa, corresponding to present-day Binh Dinh). "Vijaya" was shortened to "Jaya," pronounced /chà-ya/, and gradually transformed into "chà bàn" in 20th-century Vietnamese.
Currently, archaeology has discovered at least two sites in Binh Dinh province with remnants of ancient Champa-era citadels, both located in what is now An Nhon town. Besides the site now known as Hoang De Citadel, located in Nhon Hau commune (north of the Con River), there is another site called Cha Citadel, located in Nhon Loc commune (south of the Con River).
We believe that these two citadels were built and used during different periods in Champa history. Determining the specific time of use of each citadel requires more evidence; however, both citadels have been understood as "Cha Ban citadels," meaning citadels of the Cha Ban (Vijaya) region in general.
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/tim-hieu-danh-xung-do-ban-cha-ban-3143357.html
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