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The destruction and assimilation of Campā (1832–35) as seen from Cam sources
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 January 2012
Abstract
This article proposes to study nineteenth-century Cam sources as valuable materials for the history of the disappearance of the kingdom of Campā — or more precisely its last independent principality of Pāṇḍuraṅga — and its integration into the Vietnamese realm during the first half of the nineteenth century. The end of Campā is recorded mainly in metrical works known as ‘ariya’. These sources offer unique and detailed accounts of the incorporation of Campā as a Vietnamese province and the new administrative, economic, religious and cultural policies implemented by the Vietnamese. They also highlight the sufferings of the Campā population witnessing the imposition of a new and foreign order.
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References
1 ‘Cam’ and ‘Campā’ are commonly written ‘Cham’ and ‘Champa’ although this spelling does not correspond to an accurate transcription of the Cam script. The transcription system adopted here was elaborated by the Campā Research Group — gathering the French scholars Pierre-B. Lafont, Po Dharma, Gérard Moussay and Pierre Labrousse — in 1997. See Akayet Inra Patra (Hikayat Inra Patra = Epopée Inra Patra), ed. Dharma, Po, Moussay, Gérard and Karim, Abdul (Kuala Lumpur: Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia & École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1997), p. 39Google Scholar.
2 Manuscript Cam Microfilm (hereafter CM) 37(38), p. 242. The Cam manuscripts kept in French libraries were inventoried in 1977 and 1981. Manuscripts bearing the class-mark ‘CAM’, ‘Cam Microfilm’ and CHCPI CAM are kept in the library of the École Française d‘Extrême-Orient, Paris. Manuscripts bearing the class-mark ‘CM’ are kept in the library of the Société Asiatique, Paris. It should be noted that a manuscript rarely contains only one single text: it is very common to find in the same manuscript multiple texts dealing with different subjects: ariya, religious hymns, magic treaties, genealogies, stories, etc. In order to differentiate the various texts contained in a particular manuscript, a number has been assigned to each text; see Lafont, Pierre-B., Dharma, Po and Vija, Nara, Catalogue des manuscrits cam des bibliothèques françaises (Paris: Publications de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1977)Google Scholar and Dharma, Po, Complément au catalogue des manuscrits cam des bibliothèques françaises (Paris: Publications de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1981)Google Scholar.
3 Quoted by Lafont, Pierre-B. in his ‘Pour une réhabilitation des chroniques rédigées en caṃ moderne’, Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient [hereafter BEFEO], 62 (1980): 107Google Scholar. Lafont's article provides a description of the chronicles and emphasises the need for their ‘rehabilitation’ for the knowledge and understanding of Campā's modern historiography. For the study of two Campā royal chronicles, see Po Dharma, ‘Chroniques du Pāṇḍuraṅga’ (Thèse, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, 1978). Aymonier (1844–1929) was a naval officer in Cochinchina, where in 1874 he was appointed to teach Cambodian at the Administrative Training College. As French Résident in Phnom Penh, he led the exploration of Angkor, as well as subsequent archaeological missions to Cambodia and Vietnam.
4 Dharma, Po, Le Pāṇḍuraṅga (Campā) 1802–1835. Ses rapports avec le Vietnam (Paris: Publications de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1987)Google Scholar. Such debate over the reliability of historical texts is widely found in other parts of Southeast Asia; see, for instance, Creese, Helen, ‘Balinese babad as historical sources: A reinterpretation of the fall of Gèlgèl’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 147 (1991): 236–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Kersten, Carool, ‘Cambodia’s Muslim king: Khmer and Dutch sources on the conversion of Reameathipadei I, 1642–1658’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 37, 1 (2006): 2–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
5 Po Dharma, Pāṇḍuraṅga; these texts are Cam Microfilm 17(1) and CM29(1), respectively.
6 ‘Ariya hatai paran’, in Po Dharma, Abd. Karim, Nicolas Weber and Majid Yunos, Reproduction des manuscrits cam n°1. Contes, Epopées, Textes versifiés (Kuala Lumpur: Department of Museums and Antiquities and École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 2003). The first two texts are CHCPI CAM1 and CM37(28), respectively.
7 Scholars usually identify three successive stages for Cam script: Ancient, Middle, and Modern. ‘Ancient Cam’ refers to the language and script used in the stone inscriptions. It was used from the 4th to the 15th century (Po Dharma, ‘The problem of Cham language and its script after 1975’, International Symposium, ‘Written Cultures in Mainland Southeast Asia’, Osaka, Japan, 3 and 4 Feb. 2006). It makes frequent use of subscript consonants, which have almost totally disappeared in Modern Cam (akhar thrah, literally ‘straight script’); the latter is considered to have appeared during the 16th century and is used in manuscripts. ‘Middle Cam’ was the script used between ‘Ancient’ and ‘Modern Cam’. A few other scripts (akhar yok, akhar atuel, and akhar rik) are still in use nowadays in Cam communities in Bình Thuận and Ninh Thuận provinces, but are reserved for religious or magical purposes. For samples of the different scripts, see Aymonier, Étienne and Cabaton, Antoine, Dictionnaire čam–français (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale/Ernest Leroux, 1906), pp. xii–xiiiGoogle Scholar.
8 Anthony Warder defines the Sanskrit āryā verse as ‘a musical “bar” metre’; Warder, Anthony K., Indian Kāvya literature I (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1972), p. 184Google Scholar.
9 Manuscript CAM 58(3), p. E11. This passage is translated as follow: ‘Here is [the story of Tuen Phaow] composed in ariya [form]/for our Cam country to think and remember well the Prince/Tuen Phaow [used to] say he was coming from Makah/Before his [final] defeat, he entered Bicam to wage war [against the Vietnamese]’.
10 For a detailed description of Cam poetry and ariya, see Mus, Paul, ‘Études indiennes et indochinoises. Vol. IV, Deux légendes chames’, BEFEO, 31 (1931): 39–102CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Moussay, Gérard, ‘Akayet devamano’ (Thèse, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, 1975)Google Scholar.
11 This problem is also commonly found in Old Javanese texts, especially kakawin; Zoetmulder, P.J., Kalangwan: A survey of Old Javanese literature (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1974), p. 62Google Scholar.
12 For Balinese and Javanese traditions, see, for instance, Worsley, P.J., Babad Buleleŋ: A dynastic genealogy (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1972), p. 116Google Scholar, and John Anthony Day, ‘Meanings of change in the poetry of nineteenth-century Java’ (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1981), pp. 40–6.
13 For a similar phenomenon, see Tol, Roger, ‘Fish food on a tree branch: Hidden meanings in Bugis poetry’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 148, 82–102 (1992): 83CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
14 For a translation and analysis of this ariya, see Weber, Nicolas, ‘Ariya Tuen Phaow: Le soulèvement anti-vietnamien d’un seigneur malais au Pāṇḍuraṅga (Campā) à la fin du XVIIIe siècle’, in Péninsule indochinoise et monde malais (Relations historiques et culturelles), ed. Dharma, Po and Phœun, Mak (Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism and École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 2003), pp. 127–66Google Scholar.
15 Manuscripts CAM58(2) and CM32(6), respectively.
16 Manuscript CM37(29). ‘Byang thang’ is the Cam transcription of the Sino-Vietnamese văn thân (scholars, literati). The insurrection that the text refers to is not clearly identifiable. It may have been the movement called by modern historians Khởi nghĩa Văn thân, ‘Uprising of the Literati’, which broke out in central Vietnam in 1874–75 under the leadership of Trần Tấn and Ðặng Như Mai. Alternatively, it may refer to the Cần Vương (Aid to the King) movement of 1884–89 which spread from the central region to the rest of the country. For the history of these two movements, see Marr, David G., Vietnamese anticolonialism, 1885–1925 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971)Google Scholar.
17 Until 1692, the name ‘Chiêm Thành’ was used for Campā, even when its territory was limited to Pāṇḍuraṅga. After this date, and until its final disappearance in 1832, it was called only ‘Thuận Thành’.
18 Ðại Nam thực lục [Veritable Records of Ðại Nam] (hereafter ÐNTL) (Hanoi: Giáo Dục, 2007), I, pp. 107–9Google Scholar. As noted in the official sources, Kế Bà Tử (Po Saktiraydaputih) was declared ‘tributary king’ (V. phiên vương) and was granted the authorisation to gather troops on his own. He had to send an annual tribute to the Vietnamese court in Phú Xuân (Huế): elephants, ivory, fish skin, white cloth, honey, wood, etc. (p. 109).
19 Ibid., p. 111.
20 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga I, p. 70; on the distribution of villages, see, for instance, ‘Ariya hatai paran’, p. 23.
21 Scholars call ‘Tây Sơn’ the three brothers Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Huệ and Nguyễn Lữ who rose in rebellion against the Trịnh Lords (in northern Vietnam or Tonkin) and the Nguyễn Lords (southern Vietnam or Cochinchina), drawing a large number of followers among the masses. Tây Sơn is the name of the hamlet (An Khê in the Central Highlands) from which the three brothers originated. The Trịnh Lords were defeated in 1786 and subsequently the Tây Sơn extended their rule over the northern kingdom. They then defeated the Nguyễn Lords, killing almost their whole family and forcing Prince Nguyễn Ánh (or Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, the future Emperor Gia Long) to flee to the southernmost part of his territories. For a history of the movement and the war, see Hoàng Lê nhất thống chí [The unification record of the imperial Lê] (Hanoi: Khoa học Xã hội, 1970)Google Scholar; ÐNTL, vol. I; Maybon, Charles B., Histoire moderne du pays d'Annam (1592–1820). Étude sur les premiers rapports des Européens et des Annamites et sur l'établissement de la dynastie annamite des Nguyễn (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1919)Google Scholar; Tạ Chí Đại Trường, , Lịch sử nội chiến ở Việt Nam từ 1771 đến 1802 [History of the civil war in Vietnam from 1771 to 1802] (Saigon: Văn Sử Học, 1973)Google Scholar; Dutton, George, The Tây Sơn uprising: Society and rebellion in eighteenth-century Vietnam (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006)Google Scholar; and Durand, Maurice, Histoire des Tây Sơn (Paris: Les Indes Savantes, 2006)Google Scholar.
22 See Weber, ‘Ariya Tuen Phaow’.
23 See Ðại Nam nhất thống chí: Tỉnh Bình Thuận [Gazetteer of Ðại Nam: Bình Thuận province] (hereafter ÐNNTC) (Saigon: Nha Văn hóa Bộ Văn hóa Giáo dục, 1965), p. 41Google Scholar; Po, ‘Chroniques du Pāṇḍuraṅga’, p. 63.
24 Po Saong Nyung Ceng was one of Gia Long's faithful allies while he was fighting against the Tây Sơn. According to the Vietnamese official sources, he was appointed governor of Thuận Thành in 1795 (ÐNTL, I, p. 327). It seems that the tradition of giving the Vietnamese surname ‘Nguyễn’ to Pāṇḍuraṅga rulers dates back to this period. Thus Po Cei Brei (r. 1783–86), who was once allied to Nguyễn Ánh, was renamed Nguyễn Văn Chiêu and Po Ladhuandapaghuh (r. 1793–99), who was put in his place, Nguyễn Văn Hào. Official sources specify, however, that the original names of these two men were Môn Lai Phù Tử and Thôn Ba Hú, respectively (p. 264). This tradition was carried out until the end of Pāṇḍuraṅga as an entity.
25 In fact, according to the ÐNNTC (p. 41), Nguyễn Ánh ordered the men placed in charge of Pāṇḍuraṅga's to give up their royal titles as early as 1794. Further research needs to be done in the Pāṇḍuraṅga royal archives, however, and especially the correspondence between Cam rulers and the Nguyễn administration, to clarify which exact titles and terms of address were used.
26 The Ariya Po Ceng acknowledges that ‘the kingdom was not threatened to disappear as Po Cang [i.e. Po Saong Nyung Ceng] maintained with perseverance the Cam traditional customs’; Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 41.
27 ÐNTL, vol. III, p. 392.
28 Ibid., vol. IV, p. 164. Lê Văn Khôi was the adopted son of the powerful mandarin Lê Văn Duyệt. After the latter's death, Emperor Minh Mạng inflicted a symbolic punishment on Duyệt for having challenged his authority and had his tomb publicly whipped. Outraged, Lê Văn Khôi rose in rebellion in 1833, gathering around him many followers in southern Vietnam. Imperial forces quelled his revolt in 1835. For the official biography of Lê Văn Khôi, see Ðại Nam liệt truyện [Biographies of Ðại Nam] (Huế: Thuận Hóa, 1997), vol. IV, p. 475Google Scholar; for details of the Lê Văn Khôi movement, see, for instance, Quốc triều chánh biên [Primary compilation of the national dynasties] (hereafter QTCB) (Saigon: Nhóm Nghiên cứu Sử địa Việt Nam, 1972), pp. 158–70Google Scholar and Sylvestre, J., ‘L’insurrection de Gia Định. La révolte de Lê Văn Khôi (1832–1834)’, in La Revue Indochinoise, 24 (1915): 1–37Google Scholar.
29 Pāṇḍuraṅga was not the only place where the population rose in rebellion against the administration of Emperor Minh Mạng. In the North, for instance, Nông Văn Vân led an insurrection from 1833 to 1834. The revolt started in Tuyên Quang but spread to the provinces of Thái Nguyên, Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn (ÐNTL, vol. III, pp. 643–5, 649–700, 704, 714–16, 729, 738–9, 746–8, 755, 761, 763, 775, 804, 881–2).
30 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga I, p. 142.
31 Ibid., p. 154; according to Cam sources, the name of the king was Po War Palei (p. 162). Vietnamese documents refer to him as La Bôn (ÐNTL, vol. IV, p. 551). Cam sources mention that both Katip Sumat and Ja Thak Wa had Cru and Raglai followers from Praoh (Xóm Trò), Korang (Vĩnh Hạnh) and Cape (Xóm Ðậu); see manuscripts CM24(5), p. 165 and 169; Cam Microfilm 66(2), p. 23.
32 Manuscript Cornell Reel 4, MS38, p. 38.
33 Minh Mệnh chính yếu [Abstract of the policies of Minh Mạng] (hereafter MMCY) (Saigon: Tủ Sách Cổ văn-Uỷ ban Dịch thuật, 1974), vol. VI, pp. 160–1Google Scholar; on Ta La Văn see the same source, vol. V, pp. 114–15. Sô Cố is mentioned in ÐNTL, vol. IV, p. 551 and pp. 602–3. According to Vietnamese sources (ÐNTL, vol. IV, p. 557), Thị Tiết and Thị Cân Oa were sisters of Nguyễn Văn Nguyên (C. Dhar Kaok) and thus of royal descent.
34 ÐNTL, vol. IV, pp. 519, 528. Although the participation of Cam nobility in the uprisings is attested by both Cam and Vietnamese sources, it is hard to establish the correspondence between the names found in Cam documents (Po Ling, Po Caing, Po Nyi Liang and so on) and those given by the Vietnamese sources.
35 Ibid., p. 527.
36 ÐNNTC, p. 22; the quotation is from MMCY, vol. VI, p. 161.
37 ÐNTL, vol. III, p. 392.
38 The cai tổng was in charge of the administration and the justice in his canton (V. tổng); he was elected by the communes. Traditionally the cai tổng were well-to-do and were very influential; see Schreiner, Alfred, Les institutions annamites en Basse-Cochinchine avant la conquête française (Saigon: Claude & Cie, 1900–01), vol. I, pp. 332–3Google Scholar. Each canton was divided into villages (V. thôn) and at the head of each different thôn were three notables: hương thân, hương hào and thôn trưởng (vol. II, p. 22 and 26–7). The lý trưởng was second to the thôn trưởng and helped him for the communal and public affairs (vol. II, p. 30). The trùm (trùm dịch or trùm việc) were responsible for transmitting the thôn trưởng's orders to the village's notables and inhabitants (vol. II, p. 31). The biện (or biện lại) were in charge of the accounts of the commune and were entitled to deliver receipts (vol. II, p. 33).
39 ÐNTL, vol. III, pp. 391–2; manuscript Ðại Nam nhất thống chí quyển thập nhị: Bình Thuận đạo [Gazetteer of Ðại Nam, volume 12: đạo of Bình Thuận], p. 22. The cải thổ quy lưu [改土歸流] system is of Chinese origin. It was first applied in Yunnan in the Ming dynasty and then implemented during the Qing dynasty for ethnic minorities such as the Miao of Guizhou province. There are numerous valuable academic works discussing the use of this policy in southern China; see, for instance, Wiens, Herold J., Han Chinese expansion in South China (Hamden, CT: Shoe String Press, 1967 reprint), pp. 214–40Google Scholar, and Geoff Wade, ‘Ming China and Southeast Asia in the 15th century: A reappraisal’ (Singapore: Asia Research Institute Working Paper Series no. 28, 2004. PDF version), p. 24; C. Giersch, Patterson, The transformation of Qing China's Yunnan frontier (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2006)Google Scholar. For the Vietnamese context, see Woodside, Alexander B., Vietnam and the Chinese model: A comparative study of the Nguyễn and Ch'ing civil government in the first half of the nineteenth century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), p. 247CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
40 Manuscript CHCPI CAM1, p. 3.
41 MMCY, vol. VI, p. 131.
42 Manuscript CM35(2), pp. 30–1 (quotation from p. 30).
43 Ibid., pp. 31–2.
44 ÐNTL, vol. IV, p. 521.
45 The decree was issued after an agreement reached between Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu and Pāṇḍuraṅga's king, Kế Bà Tử (C., Po Saktiraydapatih) (ÐNTL, vol. I, p. 128).
46 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 62.
47 Manuscript Cam Microfilm 65(4), p. 31.
48 Manuscripts CM35(2), pp. 23–4 and Cam Microfilm 66(3), p. 46.
49 One should notice that the author of this ariya created the new verb ‘pa-ndéw’, which is the combination of the Cam prefix ‘pa-’, depicting an action, and ‘ndéw’, the Cam transcription of the Vietnamese đều, ‘equal’.
50 Manuscript CM35(2), pp. 23–4. ‘Muw’ is the Cam transcription of ‘mẫu’, the Vietnamese acre; one mẫu is approximately equivalent to 4.910 m2. It should be noted that the introduction of land measurement in the former Pāṇḍuraṅga was one of the steps towards the homogenisation of land measurement and taxation throughout southern Vietnam. The mẫu was previously unknown in that region as until 1833 the southern provinces were using the thằng and sở (Choi, Southern Vietnam, p. 175). Jia (also spelt jiâ) originally meant ‘tribute’; it seems that for the Cam, there was little difference between tribute and tax.
51 Manuscript Cam Microfilm 65(5).
52 Manuscript CM35(2), p. 26; Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 78.
53 Ibid., I, p. 127; Manuscript CM35(2), p. 24.
54 Ibid., p. 23.
55 Manuscript CHCPI CAM1, p. 1; the origins of the term ulik, which is also found in the text Ariya Hatai Paran, are obscure.
56 Ibid., p. 1. Panrang, Kraong, Parik and Pajai, the four regions composing Pāṇḍuraṅga. Panrang region stretched from Cam Ranh (south of Nha Trang) to Cà Ná on Cape Prandaran. Its centre was present-day Phan Rang city. Kraong (V. Long Hương) region stretched from Cà Ná to the village of Duồng. Parik region ranged from Duồng to the north of present-day Phan Thiết and had its centre in Phan Rí city. The Pajai region stretched from Phan Thiết to the former province of Bà Rịa. Its centre was Phố Hài village. See Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 44.
57 ÐNTL, vol. III, p. 392.
58 Ibid., vol. IV, p. 521.
59 See, for instance, manuscripts CM29(1), pp. 9–10, 23, 39; CM35(2), p. 23.
60 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 198; Panrang and Parik refer not just to the modern cities of Phan Rang and Phan Rí but to the two Cam regions and administrative circumscriptions.
61 ‘Ariya hatai paran’, p. 33.
62 Weber, Nicolas, ‘The Vietnamese annexation of Panduranga (Champa) and the end of a maritime kingdom’, in Memory and knowledge of the sea in Southeast Asia, ed. Tze-Ken, Danny Wong (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences Monograph No. 3, 2008), pp. 69–70Google Scholar.
63 Manuscript CM29(1), pp. 79–81; Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 203.
64 Manuscript CM35(2), pp. 28–9.
65 ÐNTL, vol. IV, pp. 245–6 and 398.
66 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, pp. 199–200.
67 ÐNTL, vol. III, p. 447.
68 Manuscript CM30(14), pp. 101–2.
69 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, pp. 181–2, 38.
70 Manuscript Cam Microfilm 66(3), p. 46.
71 This expression is truncated; it should be ‘Kraong, Panrang, Parik and Pajai’ — a common expression comprising the four regions designating the whole territory of Pāṇḍuraṅga.
72 Manuscript CM35(2), pp. 27–8.
73 On the revolt of Kê, see, for instance, David P. Chandler, ‘Cambodia before the French: Politics in a tributary kingdom, 1794–1848’ (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1973), pp. 104–6. For the official Vietnamese accounts of the uprising, see QTCB, pp. 111 and 114, and MMCY, vol. VI, p. 211.
74 Sok, Khin, L'annexion par les Viêtnamiens au XIX° siècle d'après les deux poèmes du Vénérable Bâtum Baramey Pich (Paris: Editions YOU-FENG, 2002), pp. 228–9Google Scholar.
75 Manuscript Ðại Nam nhất thống chí quyển thập nhị: Ninh Thuận đạo [Gazetteer of Ðại Nam, vol. 12 đạo of Ninh Thuận], p. 13.
76 ÐNTL, vol. III, pp. 963–4.
77 Manuscript CAM29(2), p. 37; see also manuscript CM35(2), pp. 33–4.
78 Manuscript Cam Microfilm 66(3), p. 51; I believe that these turtles were a very rare species of yellow sea turtle, commonly called in Vietnamese ‘rùa vàng’ or ‘golden turtle’, which only inhabits the coast of present-day Ninh Thuận province.
79 Manuscript ÐNNTC Ninh Thuận đạo, p. 13.
80 Woodside, Vietnam and the Chinese model, p. 252.
81 ÐNTL, vol. III, pp. 391–2.
82 Manuscript CM35(2), p. 22; see also manuscripts CM23(3), p. 20 and CAM60(3), p. R5.
83 Manuscript Cornell Reel 4, MS38, pp. 215–16.
84 ÐNTL, vol. V, p. 284.
85 Manuscript Cornell Reel 4, MS38, p. 215.
86 Manuscript CM35(2), p. 20; manuscript CAM29(2), pp. 37–8. On traditional Cam dress, see Baudesson, Cdt., Au pays des superstitions et des rites: Chez les Mois et les Chams (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1932), p. 177Google Scholar.
87 ÐNTL, I, p. 107.
88 Ahier and Bani communities still exist nowadays in Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận provinces. See Nakamura, Rie, ‘Awar-Ahier: Two keys to understanding the cosmology and ethnicity of the Cham people (Ninh Thuận Province, Vietnam)’, in Champa and the archaeology of Mỹ Sơn (Vietnam), ed. Hardy, Andrew, Cucarzi, Mauro and Zolese, Patrizia (Singapore: NUS Press, 2009), pp. 78–106Google Scholar.
89 Manuscript CM35(2), pp. 21–5 (quotation from pp. 24–5). The kut are stelae, whether ornate or rough, and are considered to represent the matrilineal ancestors; they are placed in the centre of each family's sacred rice field. As Paul Mus pointed out: ‘the stela is the deceased, just as a sacred stone is a spirit’; Mus, Paul, India seen from the East: Indian and indigenous cults in Champa, trans. Mabbett, Ian and Chandler, David (Melbourne: Monash Papers on Southeast Asia No. 3, 1975), p. 39Google Scholar. For a study of the kut, see Phần, Thành, ‘Kut (Cemeteries) of the Cham in Ninh Thuận province’, in The Cham of Vietnam: History, society and art, ed. Phương, Trần Kỳ and Lockhart, Bruce M. (Singapore: NUS Press, 2011), pp. 337–47Google Scholar.
90 The term ‘acar’ is of Sanskrit origin but now refers exclusively to Bani priests who are masters or professors in their communities; Durand, R. P., ‘Les Chams Bani’, BEFEO, III (1903): 54–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Unlike their Ahier counterparts, the Bani priests used to shave their hair.
91 ‘Bulan aek’, literally ‘the month for fasting’, refers to the Muslim season of Ramadan, also known as ‘Ramâwan’ in the Bani community.
92 It is possible that the author means that the fasting should have taken place in the seventh month of the year of the Buffalo; due to the Vietnamese restrictions, the ceremonies could not be performed for the following years.
93 The priests could only wear clothes sewn by their own wives.
94 The adhia is an Ahier dignitary, chief of the basaih (also spelled baséh), a generic term for the Ahier priests. They were divided into three castes: royal (which disappeared along with Cam royalty), popular and semi-secular. The baséh start their religious training from the age of 10 years and are ordained when they reach the age of 25 or 30 years (Aymonier and Cabaton, Dictionnaire čam–français, p. 332). They cannot eat beef and must be married. See Durand, E.-M., ‘Notes sur les Chams VI. Les Basêh’, BEFEO, VII (1907): 313–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The baganrac is a sacred object that can be touched only by the basaih; it is a small plate held by a small cage made of thirty-two sticks and woven leaves. See Aymonier, Etienne, Les Tchames et leurs religions (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1891), p. 51Google Scholar.
95 Manuscript CM35(2), p. 21.
96 The Cam consider that the origin of this ceremony is ‘Jawa’, i.e. the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago (Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 54).
97 Ibid., pp. 67–8. The Cam texts refer to the plays as ‘hat mbuai’, the transcription of the Vietnamese hát bội (also known as hát bộ or hát tuồng), a form of theatre said to have been introduced to Vietnam from China during the 13th century. It makes extensive use of elaborated painted faces and costumes, with stylised acting movements adapted from the Chinese tradition. Despite its codified and refined language (Sino-Vietnamese), it has long been enjoyed among popular audiences, especially in central and southern Vietnam. For an introduction to hát tuồng and other forms of Vietnamese traditional and modern theatre, see Mackerras, Colin, ‘Theatre in Vietnam’, Asian Theatre Journal, 4, 1 (1987): 1–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
98 Katé is one of the most spectacular ceremonies of the Ahier community. Celebrated during the seventh month of the Cam calendar (Sept.–Oct.), it is performed in honour of the ancestors. It is nowadays called by the Vietnamese ‘Cam New Year’ and has become a tourist attraction. The Ca-mbur is celebrated in the ninth month of the Cam calendar.
99 ‘Ariya hatai paran’, p. 27. Yuer Yang, another important ceremony of the Ahier community, is celebrated during the fourth month of the Cam calendar (June–July). This ceremony is also performed in the honour of the ancestors. Strictly speaking, a bamong (also spelt bimong) is a house built of brick, wood or a combination of the two, which shelters a linga or the statue of a deity. A kalan is a brick temple built during ancient times, when Hinduism was the main religion in Campā.
100 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, pp. 65–6. To show the profound respect of the Cam population towards their religious men, the titles of the priests (acar, basaih, etc.) are always preceded by the words ‘po’ (Lord) or ganuer (lord, master).
101 Ibid., p. 78.
102 Manuscript CM35(2), p. 25.
103 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, pp. 66–8. Tết Trung Thu is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month; families traditionally bake ‘mooncakes’ during this festival. The Tết Đoan Ngọ is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month. This festival was originally performed to ward off evil influences and epidemics; votive offerings and mannequins are burnt and amulets are prepared. See Huard, Pierre and Durand, Maurice, Connaissance du Việt-Nam (Paris: Réimpressions École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 2002), p. 79Google Scholar.
104 Po, Pāṇḍuraṅga, vol. II, p. 68. The tablet (V. thần chủ) in traditional Vietnam could represent either deities or clan ancestors. As Edouard Chavannes put it, ‘this tablet is taken to be the material abode where the divinity takes up residence’ (quoted in Mus, ‘India seen from the East’, p. 17). For tablet and ancestor worship in traditional Vietnam, see Huard and Durand, Connaissance du Việt-Nam, p. 98.
105 Manuscript CHCPI CAM1, p. 3. The word translated as ‘put the hands together in obeisance’ is ‘ba-ndang’; terms for this gesture are widely found in Southeast Asian languages. For the meaning of ‘débata’, see Aymonier and Cabaton, Dictionnaire čam–français, p. 227.
106 Huard and Durand, Connaissance du Việt-Nam, p. 214.
107 MMCY VI, p. 111. The translators of this text into Vietnamese indicate that the ritual for boys on entering the adult age (quan or gia quan 加冠) was actually a Chinese tradition not practised in Vietnam; ‘quan’ refers to a kind of hat bestowed on adult men. It was rather an idiom, part of the expression quan hôn tang tế [冠婚喪祭] used to describe the ceremonies and rites performed for marriage, funeral and worship.
108 Manuscript CAM29(2), p. 35.
109 Tạ Quang Phát and Bửu Cầm, Nhu viễn trong Khâm định Ðại Nam hội điển sự lệ [The ‘Harmonious management of distant peoples’ in the Official Compendium of institutions and usages of Ðại-Nam] (Saigon: Tổng bộ Văn hóa Xã hội, 1966), vol. I, p. 121.
110 Manuscript CM35(2), pp. 19–20 (verse quoted from p. 20).
111 Manuscript CM37(28), p. 243.
112 Manuscript CHCPI CAM1, pp. 2–3.
113 ‘Ariya hatai paran’, p. 34.
114 Ibid., pp. 27–8.
115 See Marr, Vietnamese anticolonialism, p. 108.
116 Aymonier, Tchames et leurs religions, p. 111.
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