DI SẢN VĂN HÓA MỸ SƠN VIỆT NAM

An excavation at the temple A-10 in My Son Sanctuary, Indian and Vietnamese experts found the set of stone altar intact condition, with size of 2,24m * 1,68m. According to Mr Jalihal Ranganath – The head of Indian team said: “This is not only the biggest-ever set of monolithic Linga-Yoni altar in My Son but also of Champa sculpture. We have the complete altar of temple A-10 in the exploration we found and restored the altar and four stone pillars to bring out the function of temple A-10, where worshiped the God Shiva under the symbol of Linga-yoni. According to Mr Phan Ho - The director of My Son Cultural Heritage management Board said “Excavations at A-10 temple for restoration work have brought about great results. Many objects, especially the altar and four stone pillars belonging to this temple were found in My Son. The altar of A-10 has been arranged from over 20 fragments into the most completed altar in My Son. With the big monolithic Linga-yoni and a carved pedestal and decorated monk images belonging to Dong Duong style of the nine century, the altar has a high value not only culture and art sculpture.”

The temple A-10 dating back the nine century was built under the reign of King Indravarman II, who built Dong Duong Buddhist Sanctuary around 875 CE. A-10 and B-4 are the only two typical temples built in the Dong Duong style in My Son valley. The excavating in 1903 and 1904 showed that A-10’s southern wall opposite A-1 was still high; however, due to the ravages of time and war (during the years 1969 – 1972) in Vietnam, this construction was severely affected. Based on the 1903 and 1904 excavation results of French experts (EFEO) in My Son, most of the temples were disturbed due to the treasure hunting before they approached this valley. This disturbance affected the A10 temple, causing its big Linga-yoni altar to collapse into the bottom of the sacred hole. With the limited technique of the 1903 excavation period, during the process of cleaning and excavating the sacred hole, the stone fragments covered most of the entire Linga-yoni altar, so it was impossible to lift such a large Linga-yoni altar and the blocks of stone remaining out of the sacred hole.

According to researcher Tran Ky Phuong, the altars of A-10 and A-1 temples are influenced by My Son E-1 temple but with simpler carvings, due to the process of changing architecture of temple in period from the 8th century to the end of the 9th century.

This is the fourth year of the conservation cooperation program between Vietnam and India in My Son Site. From the beginning of 2020 until now, after 5 months of hard working, Indian and Vietnamese experts, and 100 skilled workers, have completed restoration of the A-10, A-11, A-8 and their surrounding walls. The remaining temples of Group A will be restored in 2021.