Art of Champa
was an Southeast Asian civilization that flourished along the coasts of what is now central and southern Vietnam for roughly a one thousand-year period between 500 and 1700 AD. The original Cham and Proto-Chamic peoples were mainland Austronesian sailors, who adopted as their principal vocations those of trade, shipping, and piracy. Their cities were ports of call on important trade routes linking India, China and the Indonesian islands. The history of Champa was one of intermittent conflict and cooperation with the people of Java, the Khmer of Angkor in Cambodia and Đại Việt of the Vietnamese in what is now northern Vietnam. It was to Dai Viet that Champa finally lost its independence.
The architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples, particularly the sculptures, were perhaps widely influenced by or similar with South Indian, and Indianized architecture of neighboring Cambodian and Javanese temples. The artistic legacy of Champa consists primarily of sandstone sculptures - both sculpture in the round and relief sculpture - and brick buildings. Some metal statues and decorative items have also survived. Much of the remaining art expresses religious themes, and though some pieces would have been purely decorative, others would have served important functions in the religious life of the Chams, which synthesized elements of Hinduism, Buddhism and indigenous cults.
This artistic legacy has been decimated by neglect, war, and vandalism. Much of the damage has been done in the 20th century. Some French scholars such as Henri Parmentier and Jean Boisselier were able to take photographs, create drawings, and pen descriptions of works which have been destroyed in the meantime. Neglect continues to endanger the legacy of Champa to this day, especially the neglect of the inscribed stone steles, the source of much valuable information on the history of Champa. The participants in the Vietnam War wrought their share of devastation, wiping out for example the vestiges of the Buddhist monastery at Dong Duong. Willful vandalism and pilfering are an ongoing concern.
The largest collection of Cham art is on exhibit at the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang. Substantial collections are housed in the Guimet Museum in Paris, the Museum of Vietnamese History in Saigon, and the Museum of History in Hanoi. Smaller collections may be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Saigon and the Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi.
Forms of visual art
The remnants of classical Cham art extant today consist mainly in temples of brick, sandstone sculptures in the round, and sandstone sculptures in high and low relief. A few bronze sculptures and decorative items made of metal remain as well. There are no works of marble or other higher quality stone. Likewise there are no paintings or sketches. The people of Champa wrote, and perhaps also sketched, on leaves, which have not withstood the hot and humid climate of coastal Vietnam. Items made of perishable materials, such as wood, for the most part have not survived.Metal statues and jewelry
The remaining works of art made of metal include bronze statues of the Mahayanist deities Lokesvara and Tara dated approximately 900 AD and associated with the Buddhist art of Dong Duong. An even older bronze statue of the Buddha bears a strong resemblance to Indian Buddhist statues of the Amaravati style; scholars doubt that it was originally from Champa, surmising instead that it must have come into the country as part of the maritime trade that linked India with Southeast Asia and China.Image:Shiva Kosa from Champa.jpg|right|thumb|This Cham kosa, or metal sleeve to be fitted over a linga, is the face of shiva, as can be recognized from the third eye in the center of the forehead and the chignon hairstyle known as jatamukuta.
We have abundant textual evidence of much classical Cham art that once existed that has been lost to the ravages of time and the depredations of human vandals, looters, and conquerors. For example, the early 14th-century Chinese historian Ma Duanlin reported the existence of a large statue of the Buddha made of gold and silver; the current whereabouts of this statue are unknown. The Cham kings themselves have left us stone inscriptions describing the gifts of now lost precious objects they made to the shrines and sanctuaries of the realm. Especially noteworthy was the practice of donating decorated metallic sleeves and diadems to important lingas and the divinities with which they were affiliated. For example, an inscription on a stone stele dated approximately 1080 and found at Mỹ Sơn reports that King Harivarman IV donated a "large, resplendent golden kosa adorned with the most beautiful jewels, more brilliant than the sun, illuminated day and night by the rays of shining gems, decorated by four faces" to the deity Srisanabhadresvara, a local embodiment of Shiva. A few years later, around 1088, Harivarman may have been outdone by his successor Indravarman, who donated a golden kosa with six faces topped off by a nagaraja ornament, and decorated with precious gemstones including a ruby, a sapphire, a topaz, and a pearl. Neither of these treasures has survived.
The written sources, including the Chinese books of history and the Cham inscriptions, also report on some of the catastrophic events, primarily acts of war, that led to the loss of Cham art. In the second quarter of the 5th century AD, according to the historian Ma Duanlin, a Chinese general named Yuen Kan sacked the capital of Champa, making off with many "rare and precious objects", including "tens of thousands of pounds of gold in ingots coming from statues which he had smelted." Similarly, at the beginning of the 7th century a marauding Chinese general named Liu Fang made off with "eighteen massive tablets of gold" commemorating the 18 previous kings of Champa. It is to be assumed that in the centuries that followed, frequent raids and conquests by Khmer and Vietnamese armies, which led to the eventual destruction of Champa as an independent political entity, likewise resulted in the removal of any portable works of art, including of course any works made of precious metals.
Temples
Unlike the Khmer of Angkor, who for the most part employed a grey sandstone to construct their religious buildings, the Cham built their temples from reddish bricks. Some of these brick structures can be still be visited in the Vietnamese countryside. The most important remaining sites include Mỹ Sơn near Da Nang, Đồ Bàn near Quy Nhơn, Po Nagar near Nha Trang, and Po Klong Garai near Phan Rang.Buildings constituting a temple
Typically, a Cham temple complex consisted of several different kinds of buildings.- The kalan was the brick sanctuary, typically in the form of a tower, used to house the deity.
- The mandapa was an entry hallway contiguous with a sanctuary.
- The kosagrha or "fire-house" was the construction, typically with a saddle-shaped roof, used to house the valuables belonging to the deity or to cook for the deity.
- The gopura was a gate-tower leading into a walled temple complex.
Most significant temples
The culturally most important temples of historical Champa were the temple of Bhadresvara located at Mỹ Sơn near modern Da Nang, and the temple of the goddess known as Bhagavati or Yan Po Nagar located just outside modern Nha Trang.- The temple of Bhadresvara was the principle religious foundations of northern Champa. Scholars have identified the temple of Bhadresvara, a local incarnation of the universal deity Shiva, with the edifice "A1" at Mỹ Sơn. Though today A1 is in the process of devolving into a pile of rubble, it still existed as a magnificent tower when French scholars described it at the beginning of the 20th century.
- The temple of Yan Po Nagar was the principal religious foundation of southern Champa Its buildings date from between the 8th and 13th centuries. The temple remains standing to this day across the Cai River from Nha Trang, and is in relatively good condition.
Sandstone sculptures
The subject-matter of Cham sculpture is drawn mostly from the legends and religion of Indian civilization. Many of the sculptures are representations of particular Hindu and Buddhist deities, most prominently Shiva, but also Lokesvara, Visnu, Brahma, Devi, and Shakti. Such sculptures may have served a religious purpose rather than being purely decorative. Any sculpture in the round of an important deity that is completely forward-oriented, not engaged in any particular action, and equipped with symbolic paraphernalia, would have been a candidate for ritual or devotional use. Cham sculptors also created numerous lingas, phallic posts linked symbolically with Shiva or with the trimurti. The ritual uses of the linga are familiar from modern Hinduism.
Image:Elephant on bas relief.jpg|right|thumb|This carving of an elephant is found on a pedestal belonging to the Mỹ Sơn A1 style.
A few of the sculptures in the art of Champa depart from the Indian subject-matter to reveal something of the life of the historical Cham people. An example are the especially well-executed representations of elephants that serve as decorative details in some pieces: from written sources we know that the Cham relied on elephants for military and other purposes, since they lacked a steady supply of horses. Other sculptures reflect the cultural legacy of Greater India and express legendary themes more typical of Javanese or Cambodian art than the art of India. An example of such a theme is the motif of the makara sea-monster, which came to Champa from Java, where it is prominent in the art of the Borobudur and other temples of the same period.