Mysterious Champa scripts in Phong Nha Cave

VietNamNet Bridge – It has been 116 years since French missionary Léopold Cadiere discovered ancient Champa letters on a cliff deep inside the cave of Phong Nha in Quang Binh Province.

These letters are still a mystery to Vietnamese and international scientists.

In July 2015, a group of linguistic experts from the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme – Orient in France visited Phong Nha Cave to study the Champa scripts on the stalactites in the cave of Bi Ky, discovered 116 years ago by the French.

A Champa cathedral?

Photo: Tuoi tre.

According to Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park’s documents, at the end of 1899, priest L. Cadiere came to Quang Binh to carry on missionary work. This priest was also keen on adventure, so he entered Phong Nha Cave for research purposes.

Using a boat of the indigenous people, he entered deeply into Phong Nha. At the end of the cave he visited, he discovered scripts and ancient items such as an altar, baked bricks, pieces of pottery and terracotta.

In December 1899, L. Cadiere wrote to the Director of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme – Orient, Louis Finot, to inform him about his valuable finding in Phong Nha Cave. After that, the area where the Cham scripts were discovered in Phong Nha Cave was named Bi Ky, as it is known today.

In the early 20th century, many British and French explorers and scholars explored Phong Nha, such as Barton (1924), Antonie (1928), M. Bouffie (1929), PAVI, Goloubew, Finot … These groups discovered more Champa relics like stone statues, Buddhist statues, Champa stones and bricks, ancestral tablets, pottery pieces …

As for the 97 Champa letters written on the cliff in Phong Nha cave, from the first survey in the early 20th century, French scholar Pavi said that they were difficult to read and to write accurately.

He understood only one word, “capimala”. Later, Vietnamese Professor Tran Quoc Vuong said that if it is true, the word “capimala” is the name of Arhat, the 13th of ancestor of Buddhism.

In July 1995, after studies and surveys of Phong Nha Cave, Professor Tran Quoc Vuong and experts from the Hanoi Institute of Archaeology said that Phong Nha is a significant archaeological relic. The traces in the cave of Bi Ky show that it might have been a Champa cathedral in the 9th – 11th centuries.

Time for decoding

Photo: Tuoi tre.

In March 2008, a group of Vietnamese and Japanese experts discovered that the scripts in Phong Nha are in the form of Sanskrit texts combined with ancient Champa scripts.

Some historians said that decoding the handwriting of the Champa people in Phong Nha Cave was problematic and that the language might be dead or it may have changed. Or it was deified and lost in the mystery of religion.

Experts of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme – Orient said that they could not find the meanings of these scripts. They only confirmed that these are ancient Champa scripts and they were written in the early 11th century (about 1,000 years ago).

This is the first time the date of the ancient scripts in the Phong Nha cave was specific. Earlier, it was said to belong to the 9th – 10th centuries or the 10th – 11th centuries.

French experts took photos of the mysterious scripts for further research. They promised to transfer the research to the Phong Nha – Ke Bang Tourism Center to introduce to visitors.

Thanh Van

Mysterious Champa scripts in Phong Nha Cave

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