Mariamman Temple and the Kingdom of Champa

Before the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, there was a significant Indian population in Saigon. They had migrated during 19th century from the French territories of Pondicherry and Karaikal in South India. The Indians mainly belonged to the Tamil speaking “Chettiar” (Nagarathar) community. Most of them were involved in trading, money-lending and gold-loan business. They had become very powerful and had close links to the US supported government of South Vietnam.

They built a few Hindu temples in Vietnam.  The Mariamman Temple in Saigon was one of the most important places of worship for the Hindus. The Mariamman Temple in Ho Chi Minh City (new name of Saigon), dedicated to the South Indian Hindu deity Mariamman, was built in the late 19th century. The architectural style of the temple was exactly like the temples in Tamil Nadu.

After reunification and with the formation of communist government they had to flee the country leaving behind their riches. Only a tiny population of Tamils remained in Saigon. The Hindu temples were closed down.

The Saigon Mariamman temple was reopened in 1993 after the diplomatic negotiations between India and Vietnam. At present it is the only functioning Hindu temple in Ho Chi Minh City. The Mariamman Temple was very popular among various communities of Saigon. Even Vietnamese and Chinese come there to worship the Goddess. The presiding deity of the temple Mariamman is another aspect of Goddess Parvathy. I went to that temple with my friend Krishnan.

Inside the temple we could see the installed statues of deities including Goddess Paravati, Her sons Ganesha and Muruga, Siva, Lakshmi, Vishnu and various Devas.  Several colourful statues of Goddess Parvati could be seen on the surrounding outer wall in various incarnations such as Meenakshi Amman, Karumari Amman, Sivakami and Kamatchi etc. The temple also has a beautiful porcelain statue of Aandal, the only female Alvar who belong to the group of 8^th century Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu. The tower at the entrance stands more than 12 meters high.

It was really interesting to see a large number of Vietnamese and Chinese coming to the temple and praying with lighted incense sticks, like they do it in a Buddhist temple. There was a caretaker to look after the affairs of the temple. But there was no priest to conduct the religious ceremonies. 

                                                            (Mariamman Temple)

Like other South East Asian countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, Hinduism was nothing new to Vietnam. Archaeological expeditions during the last century discovered many monuments, sculptures and various religious artefacts in the Quang Nam region of Vietnam. This region was believed to be the land of ancient kingdom of Champa. The Cham people were civilized and had a highly evolved artistic tradition. The study of Champa arts revealed that they had a very distinct culture from other parts of Vietnam.

From further archaeological studies it was established that their religion was nothing but Hinduism. The language of Cham people was found to be a variation of ancient Sanskrit. The Hinduism had come to this region directly by the same route through which it had spread to Cambodia, Laos, Siam, Bali and other places during the fourth century AD.

The Cham people now live as an ethnic minority group with a population of only around 70,000. They still try to maintain their distinct cultural characteristics. A lot of research is going on regarding their roots and about their possible connection with ancient India. Now this entire archaeological area is included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO. My friend Dr.Vinod was one of the scholars doing UN funded research about the Cham people and their cultural links with ancient India.

Important thing that baffles my mind is that why in this entire region, Hinduism had ceased to exist as a functioning religion, in spite of a glorious past it had in all these countries.  Now what remains of those majestic and massive Hindu religious structures are hundreds of ruins protected as symbols of a historically important heritage. In some places we can see the temples were converted into Buddhist shrines, making them structurally and religiously incompatible hybrid monuments. Many other places the temples were simply ignored to deteriorate into ruins covered by vegetation. Only recently, importance of those structures was recognized by World bodies such as UNESCO and restoration works had started taking place. 

                                           (Buddha in a Temple in Angkor, Cambodia)
                                            

                                                     (Spirit worship house)

The question remains how Hinduism could attain glory as national religion in these countries ruled by Hindu Kings and suddenly how it had gone out of favour and Buddhism taking its place. How Hinduism was totally forgotten as a religion, even though an unmistakable cultural imprint of Hinduism could be seen even now in the life of people living in these countries. Even the mythological traditions such as Mahabharata and Ramayana are strongly embedded in their religious and cultural heritage and the symbols of the same could be seen in everyday life.

Hinduism had become the official religion for various South East Asian countries from the 5^th century AD. During this time, Mahayana Buddhism also had slowly spread in the region and existed in parallel with Hinduism. Hinduism was the most powerful religion and it gave rise to several religious and political centres of power in Champa kingdom (in Vietnam), Bali and Java (in Indonesia) and at Siem Riep in Cambodia and in various centres in Thailand.

Hinduism began to lose its influence in South East Asia and the period from 12^th to 14^th century saw its decline. In comparison, Buddhism gained popularity and by the end of 14th century, it replaced Hinduism as the religion of the State in most parts of the region.

One of the explanations for this transformation is the growth and increased acceptance of Buddhism in China, which could yield a strong influence on other countries of the region. This contributed significantly for this change. According to scholars and historians the most important reason was the elitist doctrine based on the caste system of Hinduism. There was no divisive concept of four castes in Buddhism or other later religions. The attractiveness of new philosophical concepts and teachings of the Buddhism, and its simplicity and identifiable humanistic ideologies made the rulers of the region to readily accept the new religion of Buddhism as the official religion of the state in place of Hinduism.  

Animism was also a widely followed religious alternative in South East Asia. People believed in spirit worship and had a tradition of ancestor worship. They could continue to follow their tribal tradition of animistic worship easily in compatible with Mahayana Buddhism. Even now we can see small “spirit houses” installed in front of most of the households in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

But Buddhism could never grow more than Hinduism in India, even though India is the birth place of Buddhism also. Hinduism is in many respects unique in comparison with other major organized religions of the world. Hinduism is more than a religion. It is a way of life. It had evolved over several millenniums with a broad space for inherent cultural diversity within an abstract concept of loosely knit unity. Hinduism is pluralistic in nature and broad enough to accept and adapt new ideas and new Gods.  That is the main strength of Hinduism and that is why Buddhism in India could not overshadow Hinduism.