Vietnam Travel Haiku - Danang Cham Museum Poem by john tiong chunghoo

Holding Vietnam dearly
to my memory
Danang's Cham's bulbous deities

(at the Cham museum)

Danang Cham Museum
bits and pieces of deities
of a scattered people

Danang Cham Museum
bits and pieces of the deities
of a people in diaspora

Danang Cham Museum
bits and pieces of old hindu gods
held together by a new nation

The Chams used to have their own land in Vietnam but had since been assimilated into the Vietnamese civilisation. They used to be Hindus but are now muslims and Chams can be found in Thailand, Cambodia besides Vietnam. At Danang Cham Museum, one can see bits and pieces of exquisite works of sculpture of the Cham people. They were mainly culled from temples that had been destroyed by wars or just ravaged by time. There are sculptures of the Aspara or celestial dancers, shiva, brahma among others. Statues on lentils, doors, and walls are fixed onto new walls to make the exhibits more real and interesting. Cham statues of Hindu gods and goddesses are really exquisite.