Nha Trang's Po Nagar Cham Towers

Located on a small hill at the mouth of the Cai River at Nha Trang, the Po Nagar temple is named after a local goddess of local origin who was believed to have created the earth, rice and eaglewood, a much prized. The temple was built during the Hindu period of the Kingdom of Champa. The image of the goddess takes the form of Uma, wife of Shiva, the third deity of the Hindu triad of great gods. Shiva is called the Destroyer, but is also the path 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 also popular with tourists, both Vietnamese and foreigners.

The first temple buildings were of wood, but were destroyed by Javanese corsairs during the eighth century. Ten years after its destruction, the temple was rebuilt in brick, but that building no longer exists.

The earliest surviving structure is the ‘mandapa’, the meditation hall where worshippers paused to pray before entering the sanctuary. The 23-meter high North tower, with its terraced pyramidal roof, vaulted interior masonry and vestibule, is a superb example of Cham architecture. It is believed they were built by the Cham Emperor King Harivarman I somewhat before the inscription dating it to 817. The small northwest tower was probably built in the tenth century, and the main tower a century later.

The complex probably consisted of six towers in two parallel rows of three, but the south-west and centre-west towers have vanished.