Nha Trang’s Po Nagar Cham Towers

Po Nagar temple

Po Nagar temple

Po Nagar temple

Positioned on a small hill on the mouth of the CAI River at Nha Trang, the Po Nagar temple is named after a local goddess of local origin who was once believed to have created the earth, rice and eaglewood, a miles prized. The temple was built during the Hindu period of the Kingdom of Champa. The image of the goddess takes the form of Uma, spouse of Shiva, the 3rd deity of the Hindu triad of great gods. Shiva is known as the Destroyer, but may be the trail to regeneration.

Po Nagar is now used as a Vietnamese place of worship, and the effigy of the Goddess has been decked in Buddhist robes. Its central position on a hill close to the mouth of the CAI River makes it additionally popular with tourists, each Vietnamese and foreigners.

The first temple buildings had been of wooden, but had been destroyed by way of Javanese corsairs’ right through the eighth century. Ten years after its destruction, the temple was once rebuilt in brick; however that building no longer exists.

The earliest surviving structure is the ‘mandapa’, the meditation hall the place worshippers paused to hope before coming into the sanctuary. The 23-meter top North tower, with its terraced pyramidal roof, vaulted internal masonry and vestibule, is a superb instance of Cham architecture. It is believed they were built via the Cham Emperor King Harivarman I quite ahead of the inscription relationship it to 817. The small northwest tower was probably constructed within the tenth century and the main tower a century later.

The advanced most likely consisted of six towers in two parallel rows of three; however the south-west and centre-west towers have vanished.