Indrapura (Champa)

Indrapura was the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Champa from 875 CE,[1]:122 for several decades,[2][3]:72,93 under the reign of Indravarman I (877-890) and some of his followers belonging to the 6th dynasty in Dong Duong.[3]:53 The word Indrapura means "City of Indra" in Sanskrit, Indra being the Hindu God of Storm and War, and King of the Gods in the Rig Veda.

Đồng Dương before its destruction during the Vietnam War
The ruins of Đồng Dương

The site is near the present-day village of Đồng Dương, Bình Định Bắc commune, Thăng Bình District of Quảng Nam province. Unlike his predecessors, Indravarman II was a Mahayana Buddhist, so he built a great Buddhist monastery. The ruins was mostly destroyed by Vietnam War bombings and nowadays even by looting of bricks.[4]

The Museum of Cham Sculpture ("Bao Tang Cham") at Da Nang, founded in 1915 by the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), has a valuable collection of Cham sculptures, which were retrieved from Đông Dương as well as from other archeological sites, such as Mỹ Sơn and Tra Kieu.

Notes
  1. Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella (ed.). The Indianized States of south-east Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0368-1.
  2. O'Reilly, 2006 p.139
  3. Maspero, G., 2002, The Champa Kingdom, Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., ISBN 9747534991
  4. The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

References
  • O'Reilly, Dougald J.W. (2006). Early Civilizations of south-east Asia. Altamira Press. ISBN 978-0-7591-0279-8.
  • Ngô Văn Doanh (2006). Chămpa ancient towers: reality & legend. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers.

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