There is no hill and no stone stairway leading up. Visitors follow a village lane in Long Mai hamlet, Bình Lâm village, past rice paddies and several houses, and the tower suddenly rises straight ahead, square-planned, dark red, nearly as tall as a six-story building across a precinct of about 1,600 square meters, with its base standing right beside the edge of the fields. Villagers can ride motorbikes right up to the foot of the tower. On its western brick wall, a relief of the divine bird Garuda with outstretched wings still remains.
This is Bình Lâm Cham Tower, a Champa Hindu sanctuary built around the late 10th to early 11th century and regarded as the oldest surviving Cham tower in the former Bình Định region. It stands at the threshold of a new architectural style, and beneath its feet archaeologists have uncovered the sacred water channel of a Shiva ablution rite that fell silent centuries ago.
IShiva worshipped in the form of a linga
Bình Lâm Tower is a sanctuary of Champa Hinduism dedicated to Shiva, worshipped not through an anthropomorphic statue inside the chamber today but through a linga. The material evidence lies not inside the empty inner chamber, where no sacred icon remains in situ, but in stone artifacts preserved at a neighboring ancient pagoda and in archaeological features excavated in front of the tower entrance in 2008.
In Shaivite Hindu doctrine, the linga is the primary emblem of Shiva, an upright stone pillar set upon a yoni pedestal grooved with a drainage spout. During worship, the officiating priest pours sacred water over the linga. The water flows down into the yoni basin, exits through the spout, and travels along a sacred conduit called a somasutra. That water is revered as imbued with the divine potency of the god.
A jatalinga is a rare variant of the linga carved on its upper shaft with braided locks of hair, called jata, representing Shiva in his ascetic aspect. Seeing that braided topknot alone confirms that the linga belongs specifically to Shiva and no other deity.
At Thiên Trúc Pagoda, an ancient Buddhist temple located near the tower, two sandstone artifacts associated with the Bình Lâm monument have long been preserved, namely a jatalinga carved with Shiva's braided locks at the top and a standing statue of the divine bird Garuda measuring 1.35 meters tall. According to the Ethnic and Development portal of VietNamNet, when French archaeologist Henri Parmentier surveyed this area in the early 20th century, he recorded the standing Garuda statue at Thiên Trúc Pagoda though he initially mistook it for a standing lion, an identification later corrected by art historians.
Subsequently, during the July 2008 archaeological excavation led by Dr. Bùi Chí Hoàng, researchers uncovered a sacred somasutra drainage channel running north-south across the courtyard about 8 meters in front of the main eastern doorway. In that same excavation, archaeologists recovered 91 stone sculptural fragments at a depth of 1.2 to 1.5 meters (including multi-headed Naga serpents and a relief of the goddess Durga), along with 127 flame-ear corner ornaments (119 in stone and 8 in terracotta) and numerous Champa and Đại Việt ceramic shards. The somasutra channel uncovered in 2008 and the jatalinga preserved at Thiên Trúc Pagoda together point directly to the ritual ablution of a linga in worship of Shiva.
Seeing the Garuda relief on the western wall of the tower and the 1.35-meter Garuda statue at nearby Thiên Trúc Pagoda, some observers assume that Bình Lâm was a temple dedicated to Vishnu, since Garuda is Vishnu's mount. That inference does not hold up. In Champa art, Garuda frequently appears as a guardian figure supporting and protecting temple structures, including sanctuaries dedicated to Shiva. At Bình Lâm, the ritual evidence points unmistakably to Shiva through the somasutra water channel and the jatalinga. The library records Shiva as the principal deity and notes Garuda as a guardian architectural motif of the temple.
IIThe starting point of the Bình Định tower group
The tower has no surviving foundation stele. Its late 10th to early 11th-century date is determined stylistically by comparing its architectural forms with dated Champa monuments. That period marks the era when the political center of Champa began shifting southward to the Vijaya plain, making Bình Lâm one of the earliest brick sanctuaries erected by the Cham in this region. Findings from the 2008 excavation further demonstrate that the monument underwent several major restorations extending into the 13th and 14th centuries.
- Late 10th to early 11th c.Construction of the towerDated stylistically to a transitional phase blending the Mỹ Sơn A1 style with emerging features that later crystallized into the Bình Định style. No foundation stele survives.
- 11th to 14th centuriesVijaya heartland and later restorationsThe surrounding plain became the political core of Champa. Three chronological groups among the 127 flame-ear ornaments excavated in 2008 show that the tower was restored across the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.
- Early 20th centuryFrench archaeological surveysFrench archaeologist Henri Parmentier surveyed Bình Lâm Tower and documented the stone sculptures preserved at nearby Thiên Trúc Pagoda.
- 1993National heritage siteThe tower was ranked as a National Architectural and Artistic Heritage Site under Decision No. 2015-QĐ/BT on December 16, 1993, of the Ministry of Culture and Information.
- 2008Archaeological excavationAn excavation team led by Dr. Bùi Chí Hoàng exposed the tower foundation and the sacred somasutra channel, recovering 91 stone sculpture fragments (Naga heads, Durga), 127 flame-ear ornaments, and ceramics.
- 2025New administrative boundaryFormer Phước Hòa commune merged with Phước Sơn and Phước Thắng to form Tuy Phước Đông commune under Resolution No. 1664/NQ-UBTVQH15 on June 16, 2025, in Gia Lai province.
Several details vary across published sources and should be noted candidly. Regarding dating, the Ethnic and Development portal and Cần Thơ Newspaper give the late 10th to early 11th century (around the year 1000), while Gia Lai Newspaper states more briefly from the late 10th century. Regarding base dimensions, Gia Lai Newspaper and the Ethnic and Development portal record each exterior side at about 11.5 meters, whereas Cần Thơ Newspaper and the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese portal give 10 meters per side (with a square inner chamber measuring 4.3 meters per side and walls 2.4 meters thick). Regarding the number of stories, Gia Lai Newspaper writes that the tower has four tiers, whereas the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese portal counts three tiers. This difference likely stems from whether the main ground body is counted alongside the upper roof tiers.
Gia Lai Newspaper and Cần Thơ Newspaper also write that before the royal capital moved permanently to Đồ Bàn Citadel, a Bình Lâm Citadel served as the first capital or temporary center of the Vijaya dynasty. The Ethnic and Development portal, by contrast, simply notes that the tower lies near the ancient Thị Nại citadel area. Because archaeological traces of a distinct Bình Lâm citadel wall remain a subject of ongoing historical verification, the library records this detail strictly as reported in press accounts.
IIIA single sanctuary standing amid the plain
Bình Lâm today preserves only a single sanctuary tower within a 1,600-square-meter precinct, without any accompanying gate tower or fire tower. The brick structure has a square plan measuring about 11.5 meters on each exterior side according to Gia Lai Newspaper (or 10 meters according to Cần Thơ Newspaper, with an interior chamber of 4.3 meters per side and brick walls 2.4 meters thick), rising nearly 20 meters high. Rather than displaying dense surface carving, the monument is notable for showing two architectural sensibilities intersecting on a single structure.
The main doorway opens to the East, while the western, southern, and northern facades feature projecting false doors. This follows the standard canon of Champa sanctuaries, providing a single eastern entrance to receive the morning sun.
The false doorway arches rise tall and taper to a sharp spearhead point. This represents a departure from the Mỹ Sơn A1 style that later became a hallmark of the Bình Định style.
Five vertical pilasters run up each facade to frame four recessed vertical panels left largely plain without intricate carving, according to the Ethnic and Development portal. This simplified wall treatment foreshadows later Bình Định towers.
Gia Lai Newspaper notes that the tower retains bands of beaded ornament, stylized lotus petals, and reliefs of dancers and mythical animals, preserving the softer touch of earlier Champa art.
A relief of the divine bird Garuda adorns the western wall of the tower body, serving as a protective guardian emblem of the sanctuary.
Art historians place Bình Lâm at the intersection between the Mỹ Sơn A1 style and emerging architectural forms, viewing it as the starting point of the Bình Định style. The defining features of that style are examined in detail in the entry on Bánh Ít Cham Towers, a transitional complex about 5.9 km away. Placing the two monuments side by side reveals roughly a century of evolution, with Bình Lâm marking the first appearance of spear-pointed arches and plain vertical pilasters and Bánh Ít showing those elements fully formed.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
According to the Hindu architectural canons followed by the Cham, a sanctuary tower opens its main entrance toward the East to greet the rising sun and is typically set upon a mound or hill, because the tower itself embodies the sacred cosmic mountain while temple precincts are linked with hills and water. Bình Lâm is distinctive because it stands on flat lowland ground rather than a hill. The religion of the temple builders did not teach East Asian geomancy (feng shui). The reading below is the library's observation through the lens of traditional East Asian geomancy, offered solely as a comparative perspective for readers familiar with Vietnamese spatial traditions rather than anything recorded in historical Cham texts.
To a traditional East Asian geomancer, a religious structure standing in an open plain without shielding hills or a supporting mound would often be viewed as an exposed site (thế lộ) swept by winds from all four sides, where qi struggles to gather (tụ khí). Applied to Bình Lâm, however, that reading misses the foundational premise. The Cham did not require an external hill because the brick sanctuary itself is the sacred mountain. Where no hill existed to elevate the temple, they raised the cosmic mountain directly from the level rice plain, making the nearly twenty-meter brick mass the sole vertical focal point across the horizon.
Where the two traditions converge is water. The alluvial plain surrounding the tower lies in the lower river basin near Thị Nại lagoon. Traditional geomancy prizes a site near water gathering (thủy tụ). Champa ritual, meanwhile, required water in a very concrete liturgical sense, pouring water over the linga so that it flowed outward along the somasutra conduit. Vietnamese geomancy values water because water retains qi, whereas Cham ritual used water because water carried the sacred blessing of the deity outward to worshippers. The element is the same, though the underlying reasons differ.
As for the Eastern orientation, traditional East Asian cosmology associates the East with the Wood element and the nascent vital breath of morning. For the builders of the tower, it was the path by which the first rays of sunrise shone straight through the single doorway onto the linga. The library sets both understandings side by side without using one to explain away the other.
VMaterial traces of the linga ablution rite
Bình Lâm Tower is today an archaeological site where Cham religious rituals are no longer performed. No source records Cham communities holding ceremonies here today. The liturgy once enacted at the sanctuary has been reconstructed in part by archaeologists through the artifacts preserved at Thiên Trúc Pagoda and the material remains unearthed during the 2008 excavation. The table below arranges those artifacts according to their ritual roles rather than presenting an active festival schedule.
| Artifact | Role in worship | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Somasutra channel | Carried water poured over the linga outside the sanctuary as consecrated water | Runs north-south about 8 meters in front of the main doorway, uncovered in the 2008 excavation |
| Jatalinga | Emblem of Shiva carved with the god's braided hair at the top | Long preserved at nearby Thiên Trúc Pagoda, per the Ethnic and Development portal |
| Garuda statue | Guardian figure of the temple and mount of Vishnu in Hindu mythology | Standing sandstone statue 1.35 meters tall preserved at Thiên Trúc Pagoda, surveyed by H. Parmentier in the early 20th century |
| Durga relief | Goddess associated with Shiva, frequently worshipped alongside Shiva in Shaivite temples | Part of the 91 stone sculptural fragments excavated in 2008 |
| Naga serpent heads | Sacred water guardians carved as protective architectural ornaments around the temple | Multiple fragments unearthed at a depth of 1.2 to 1.5 meters in 2008 |
| Flame-ear ornaments | Flame-shaped stone and terracotta corner roof ornaments | 127 specimens (119 stone, 8 terracotta) spanning three periods from the 10th to the 14th century, excavated in 2008 |
To picture that ancient liturgy in living practice, visitors can look to the statue-bathing ceremony during the annual Katê festival at Po Klong Garai Tower, where Cham Brahmin priests still open the sanctuary doors for worship each year. Water poured over the sacred emblem and channeled out through the pedestal spout there expresses the exact same liturgical principle as the somasutra conduit at Bình Lâm, separated by a thousand years and several hundred kilometers.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Thôn Bình Lâm, xã Tuy Phước Đông (xã Phước Hòa cũ, huyện Tuy Phước cũ, tỉnh Bình Định cũ), tỉnh Gia Lai. Nghị quyết 1664/NQ-UBTVQH15 gộp Phước Sơn, Phước Hòa, Phước Thắng thành xã Tuy Phước Đông
- Getting there
- The tower is located in Long Mai hamlet, Bình Lâm village, Tuy Phước Đông commune, Gia Lai province (formerly Phước Hòa commune, Tuy Phước district, Bình Định province). Village lanes allow motorbikes to reach the foot of the tower.
- Coordinates
- 13.8904, 109.1854
Because the tower stands in the middle of a village right beside rice paddies and family homes, visitors should first respect the quiet rhythm of a rural neighborhood. Walk softly, park neatly without encroaching on rice fields, and avoid making noise in the courtyards around the monument. Do not climb onto the tower body, do not touch the Garuda relief on the western wall, and do not step onto the exposed foundation trenches. On site there is an informational QR code board that visitors can scan for additional background.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at Bình Lâm Cham Tower?
The sanctuary was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva worshipped in the form of a linga. Material evidence includes the sacred somasutra water channel uncovered in front of the doorway in 2008 and a jatalinga (a linga carved with Shiva's braided locks) preserved at nearby Thiên Trúc Pagoda. The Garuda relief on the tower wall and the Garuda statue at Thiên Trúc Pagoda served as temple guardians rather than proof of Vishnu worship.
Is Bình Lâm the oldest Cham tower in the former Bình Định region?
Yes, published archaeological and heritage sources regard Bình Lâm as the oldest surviving Cham tower in the former Bình Định region, built around the late 10th to early 11th century based on stylistic dating. Gia Lai Newspaper states more briefly from the late 10th century. It is considered the starting point of the Bình Định architectural style.
What is the jatalinga associated with Bình Lâm Tower?
It is a rare form of linga, the sacred emblem of Shiva, carved on its upper section with the braided locks (jata) of Shiva as an ascetic. This jatalinga, along with a 1.35-meter standing sandstone statue of Garuda, has long been preserved at Thiên Trúc Pagoda near Bình Lâm Tower.
How does Bình Lâm Tower differ from Bánh Ít Towers?
Bình Lâm is a single sanctuary standing on flat ground amid a village, built around the late 10th to early 11th century as the earliest monument of the Bình Định style. Bánh Ít is a four-building complex atop a hill, built around the late 11th to early 12th century as a fully formed transitional ensemble. The two sites lie about 5.9 km apart.
Do Cham communities still hold rituals at Bình Lâm Tower?
No source records Cham communities performing religious ceremonies here today. The tower is an archaeological monument where active Cham liturgy has ceased. The annual Katê festival of Cham Brahmin communities is currently held at living temple towers in former Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận provinces.