Unearthing Cham links with Indonesia<\/p>\n
Dr. Pierre-Yves Manguin is a member of the Ecole francaise
\nd'Extreme Orient (EFEO) and teaches at the Ecole Pratique des
\nHautes Etudes in Paris. He has lived and worked in Indonesia for
\nextended periods, and his research focuses on the history and
\narchaeology of the coastal states and trade networks of Southeast
\nAsia, in Indonesia for example, about the Sriwijaya Kingdom in
\nSouth Sumatra and the Tarumanagara in West Java.<\/p>\n
Manguin spoke to contributor Kunang Helmi regarding the
\ncurrent exhibition on Champa sculpture in Paris and some of the
\nties this culture shared with ancient Indonesian civilizations.<\/p>\n
Question: It was most interesting to find out that many Cham
\nconverted to Islam. What do you know about the Muslim Cham in
\nconnection with ancient Indonesia?<\/p>\n
Answer: We know that links with Muslim Cham communities played
\nan important role in the Islamization of Java in the 15th
\ncentury. The Putri Campa tomb in Trowulan keeps alive the memory
\nof such links. Relations with insular Southeast Asia were,
\nhowever, not always peaceful, and historical sources have records
\nof 9th and 10th century expeditions by Malay or Javanese fleets
\nthat destroyed local temples and cult images.<\/p>\n
Can we still find Muslim Cham in other countries besides
\nVietnam today?<\/p>\n
The vast majority of Muslim Cham live in Cambodia, where they
\nemigrated starting with the progressive destruction of the Champa
\nkingdom at the hands of the Vietnamese. Many of these, in turn,
\nemigrated during the Khmer Rouge period to Peninsular Malaysia
\n(particularly to Kelantan), where they have formed a thriving and
\ndeeply religious community.<\/p>\n
What about the destruction of material relics of their
\ncivilization in 20th-century Vietnam?<\/p>\n
As you mentioned destruction by bombs, I would like to point
\nout that destruction by American bombs were actually most
\nprominent at My Son, as well as at Dong Duong.<\/p>\n
Another point that was puzzling in the catalog was the mention
\nthat red-brick constructions were primarily a Cham invention,
\nWhat do you know about this fact pertaining to Indonesia?<\/p>\n
Brick monuments are quite common in other parts of Southeast
\nAsia, the more so in regions where suitable stones are not as
\nreadily available as in Java or Cambodia.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, for example, all temples at the large 6th- to
\n10th-century sites of Batutjaya and Cibuaya in West Java -- both
\nBuddhist and Hindu monuments -- were made of bricks, as were most
\nof those built in Sriwijayan times in Sumatra. Even in Central
\nJava, many temples,-- most of them now vanished -- used bricks as
\nbuilding material.<\/p>",
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