Художественное оформление "Кала" в Чампе (Решения по привлечению посетителей к объектам древнего искусства Вьетнама)

1. Research results

3.1. Brief history and background

The changes of history, economy and society that the Champa state endured during migrations many times in each different North - South `region`, associated with the political centre is always the basis of culture. Champa based their cultural and political mechanism on three basic elements: the capital, the sanctuary, and the port town. For example, the Tra Kieu - My Son - Chiem port axis. In particular, Tra Kieu is a political and cultural centre, My Son Sanctuary a religious center, the port city plays an important role in economic and military defense. With this solid stance, Champa residents in addition to farming, mining agarwood and gold, they also developed maritime trade, commerce, and taxation, at the same time establishing fleets of ships and a defense system, all facing the sea. According to `author` Pham Duc Duong with the research work “Vietnamese culture in the face of Southeast Asia”, Champa residents were familiar with “the marine environment, enjoy to view the boundless sea, enjoy the white color of the sand. When somebody dies, there is a `custom` of making a funeral on the sand, and when getting married, there is a `custom` of eating fish for a day, worshiping ancestors according to the sea current “Atâu Tathich” next to the mountain “Atâu Chơk”…”. It can be seen that the Champa religious culture originates from the ancient Southeast Asian culture founded on the characteristics of a wet-rice agricultural civilization. But with the origin of the Austronesia, Champa culture has its own characteristics influenced by maritime factors. Cua Dai - Hoi An estuary became the most flourishing seaport; merchant 

ships from India, Indonesia, and China flocked in large numbers. Since then, the maritime trade relationships took place continuously and persisted, upholding the apex of the Champa dynasty. Most of the Champa architectures that have survived to this day are the Kalan temples and shrines to worship the gods, kings, and mothers of the country.

Throughout the history of Champa, every dynasty when coming to power always built or restored religious works to prove the existence of that dynasty, and to flaunt national strength, but most importantly, to thank to the gods by offering sacrifices to the temples for supporting the power and victory of the dynasty. Like other countries in Southeast Asia, along with the architectural works are the decorative arts and sculptures influenced by Indian civilization combined with indigenous culture, traditional `images` that always contain interesting tales about gods, natural forces, the universe... And Kala is also considered as a decorative symbol representing legendary characters in the development history of India presented in the kingdom of Champa. However, the `image` of Kala is not as popular and is not used as commonly as `images` of other Buddha gods, dancing-girls, protectors... Kala is shown in some of the decorations on the buildings, temples or in sculptures as Kala-Makara...