Traveling along National Highway 1A through Chiên Đàn village, visitors see three brick structures standing in a row on raised ground west of the road. The central tower retains its body and one roof tier, while the two flanking towers preserve only their lower walls and bases. Yet for those who stop, what holds attention longest is not the three towers themselves but the exhibition house right beside them, filled with reliefs of dancers, musicians, elephants, lions, and a tympanum of a goddess slaying a buffalo demon.
This is Tháp Chiên Đàn (Chiên Đàn Cham Towers), a Cham Hindu temple group dedicated to the triad of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, built around the 11th century in the land of Amaravati. Compared with many other Cham towers, the three sanctuaries here are no longer complete. In compensation, three archaeological excavations brought to light a collection of stone sculpture matched by few temple groups, and fewer still keep their artifacts right on the site like this.
IThe Trimurti triad and the goddess Devi
Sources agree that the three towers of Chiên Đàn honor the Trimurti, the Hindu triad, with one deity for each tower, namely Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. What must be stated plainly is that no source establishes with certainty which tower worshiped which deity. For that reason this article does not assign individual deities to the three towers, even though it is tempting to place Shiva in the largest central sanctuary.
In Hindu doctrine, the three cosmic functions of creation, preservation, and dissolution correspond to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. In the kingdom of Champa, Shiva was usually revered above all, while the other two appeared as aspects associated with him. A fuller explanation of this triad is given in the article on Mỹ Sơn.
Chiên Đàn also features another notable figure, Mahishasuramardini, the goddess Devi (a manifestation of Uma) in her form as slayer of the buffalo demon Mahishasura. In Indian mythology, when none of the male gods could defeat the buffalo demon, their combined energies formed a multi-armed goddess bearing weapons, and she struck the demon down. That scene is carved on a sandstone tympanum found at Chiên Đàn in 1989, showing the six-armed goddess standing on the buffalo's back, her upper two hands joined above her head and the other four holding a bow, arrow, trident, and discus. Near the South Tower, archaeologists also found a pediment relief of the six-armed goddess Uma standing on a bull, flanked by two praying figures.
As for written records, Chiên Đàn yielded one primary text, a stone stele inscribed with eight lines of Sanskrit found in mid-1997 (some epigraphic studies link the Sanskrit fragment here to inscription C.64 from the 11th century). Published overviews have not yet provided a full translation of the inscription, so the library cannot rely on it to assign deities to individual towers. What is known about worship here comes mainly from stone sculpture, including deity statues, tympana, two round altars carved with double tiers of lotus petals, and the linga-yoni pedestals now displayed outdoors.
There is a common misunderstanding here. Seeing a multi-armed female figure above the doorway, many visitors guess that she is a local Cham goddess or a deified queen. She is not. She is Devi as Mahishasuramardini, a Hindu goddess worshiped widely across South and Southeast Asia. The Cham received this iconography along with the broader Indian pantheon and carved it in their own idiom.
IIThree excavations and a storehouse of stone
No legible inscription records the founding year of Chiên Đàn, so its date rests on artistic style. Thế giới Di sản magazine notes that, as at other three-tower groups such as Khương Mỹ, Dương Long, Hưng Thạnh, and Hòa Lai, the South Tower at Chiên Đàn was built first, followed by the Central Tower and finally the North Tower. The best-known part of its history is actually recent, when three excavations at the end of the 20th century turned this ruined monument into one of the richest repositories of Cham sculpture.
- 11th to early 12th centuryConstruction of the three towersDated by architectural and sculptural style rather than by inscription. Some sources place the group earlier, in the late 10th to early 11th century, while others cite the early 12th century under King Harivarman V (1113 to 1139).
- 1989National ranking and first excavationRanked as a national architectural and artistic heritage site under Decision No. 100-VH/QĐ on 21 January 1989. That same year, an excavation clearing the tower bases for restoration uncovered the carved sandstone base friezes, the Mahishasuramardini tympanum, and hundreds of sandstone sculptures.
- 1997Discovery of the Sanskrit steleIn mid-1997 archaeologists unearthed a large stone slab smoothed on one face and incised with eight lines of Sanskrit, a rare primary text from the complex.
- 2000Third excavation and mandapa foundationIn late 2000, during landscaping in front of the Central Tower, archaeologists uncovered the foundation of a long assembly hall (mandapa) about 1 meter below the tower base, traces of a gate tower (gopura) further east, and around 100 sandstone artifacts including gods, goddesses, Kinnara, Brahmin priests, dancers, and sacred animals.
- After the excavationsOn-site exhibition galleryThe excavated sculptures were placed in an exhibition house right beside the towers, with linga and yoni pedestals set outdoors.
Sources diverge on three points, and the library records all three.
Date. The portal of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese gives the late 10th to early 11th century. Thế giới Di sản magazine and many other studies give the 11th to early 12th century (with sculptures spanning roughly a century from the late 10th to early 12th century), while Văn Hóa newspaper cites the early 12th century under King Harivarman V. All of these are stylistic dates based on architectural and sculptural evolution.
Number of artifacts. Thế giới Di sản records that the 1989 dig alone yielded hundreds of sandstone carvings and the late 2000 dig added around one hundred more items plus numerous fragments. Several general overviews condense the three campaigns into a figure of over one hundred artifacts in total.
Administrative location. Older articles place the towers in Tam An commune, Tam Kỳ town (before Phú Ninh district was separated in 2005). Under the 2025 administrative reorganization, former Tam An commune merged with Tam Thành, Tam Phước, and Tam Lộc to form Tây Hồ commune of Đà Nẵng city, while the historic name Chiên Đàn was given to the neighboring commune to the south (formed from Phú Thịnh town, Tam Đàn, and Tam Thái).
IIICarved stone bases and plain brick walls
All three towers share the same layout, with square bases and stepped roof tiers narrowing toward the top, aligned parallel along a north-south axis with their main doorways facing East. Each tower has one real entrance and three false doors. The Central Tower is the largest and preserves its body and one roof tier (its sandstone finial of two octagonal blocks carved with Kala faces fell just behind the tower), while the medium-sized South Tower and smallest North Tower have lost their roofs.
The unmistakable trait of Chiên Đàn is the contrast between its two levels. The sandstone base is densely carved, whereas the brick body is left almost plain, articulated only by pilasters and narrow vertical recesses. The viewer's eye is thus drawn down near the ground, where human figures and animals run in a continuous band around the foot of the towers.
Large sandstone slabs fitted around the foot of the towers, carved with dancing warriors holding weapons, apsara dancers, musicians, Makara sea monsters, and Kala faces. On the north face of the Central Tower, a relief shows two elephants turning their heads toward each other across a cluster of lotus leaves and blossoms.
Left without surface floral carving on the brick walls, in sharp contrast to earlier towers such as Khương Mỹ. Along the sandstone cornice molding runs a row of Kala masks.
Each tower has three false doors and one entrance doorway, whose arches contract and taper upward like a spearhead, a hallmark of architecture moving toward the late period.
A sandstone overdoor relief of the six-armed goddess Devi standing on a buffalo to slay the demon Mahishasura, unearthed in 1989.
A large stone block smoothed on one face and engraved with eight lines of Sanskrit script, found in mid-1997.
Two round sandstone altars carved with double tiers of eight lotus petals in the gallery, along with linga and yoni pedestals displayed outdoors.
Two stylistic scales for one temple group
Readers consulting books on Chiên Đàn often encounter two different style names and find them confusing. The excavated sculptures are classified under the Chánh Lộ style of the 11th to early 12th century (early pieces from the late 10th century still echo Trà Kiệu, while late pieces from the late 11th to early 12th century anticipate the Tháp Mẫm style with stocky Gajasimha figures and pointed lotus petals). The architecture, meanwhile, is regarded as transitional between the Mỹ Sơn A1 style and the Bình Định style. The two labels do not conflict, because scholars classify Cham architecture and Cham sculpture on two separate scales. To see the Mỹ Sơn A1 style at its source, readers may consult the article on Mỹ Sơn.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
The Cham builders sited Chiên Đàn according to the rules of Hindu temple architecture, raising three kalan sanctuaries on a high mound with their main doors facing the rising sun, conceiving the temple complex as a sacred mountain set amid water-fed land. That rule has nothing to do with geomancy. This section presents the library's reading of the site through traditional Vietnamese geomancy, placed alongside the Cham rule for comparison, and is not something recorded on any stele or document of the towers.
First is the raised mound on the plain. The three towers stand on a rise higher than the surrounding fields in the southern plain of the Quảng region. In traditional Vietnamese geomancy, this is a flatland siting (bình dương), where level ground uses a natural mound as its support in place of a mountain. The Cham builders did not need an external mountain behind them, because each tower body was itself a cosmic mountain (Mount Meru).
Second is the north-south axis and eastern front. The three towers line up along a north-south axis and all open toward the East, where an assembly hall (mandapa) and gate tower (gopura) once extended forward in front of the Central Tower. In traditional geomancy, the open ground before a structure is the bright hall (minh đường), which is best kept wide and clear. In Hindu practice, the eastern axis allows the first light of day to pass through the gate and hall to reach the sacred image inside. One tradition speaks of qi and the other of sunlight, and the two should not be conflated.
Third is the position beside the main highway. The towers stand just west of National Highway 1A, which runs along the same north-south axis as the three sanctuaries. That parallel alignment is a coincidence of central Vietnam's narrow coastal terrain, not something planned by the temple builders. Yet it makes Chiên Đàn one of the easiest Cham tower groups for travelers to encounter.
Finally, there is the uneven height of the three towers. In traditional reading, a triad with a tall central peak forms a master-and-attendants configuration. At Chiên Đàn, the North Tower is smaller than the South Tower, so the row is not strictly symmetrical. The library notes this physical form without inferring any hierarchy among the three deities, since it remains unknown which tower belonged to which god.
VRituals reconstructed from stone reliefs
At Chiên Đàn today there is no longer a Cham community performing rituals. The temples where Cham Balamon adherents still open the doors for the annual Katê festival lie further south in central Vietnam, such as Po Klong Garai Cham Towers. The table below is not a current festival calendar, but a summary of the rituals that can be read directly from Chiên Đàn's own stone sculptures.
| Ritual | Meaning and practice | Physical trace at Chiên Đàn |
|---|---|---|
| Bathing the linga | The officiating priest poured water, milk, or scented oil over the linga, which drained out through the yoni spout. | Linga and yoni pedestals displayed outdoors at the site. |
| Music and dance for the gods | Music and sacred dance were integral parts of temple offerings performed by temple attendants. | Sandstone base reliefs of apsara dancers, dancing warriors, and musicians. |
| Veneration of the goddess Devi | Honoring the combined power of the gods manifested in a female deity. | The 1989 Mahishasuramardini tympanum and the Uma pediment at the South Tower. |
| Reciting epics in stone | Scenes from sacred epics were carved so worshippers walking around the temple could follow the narrative. | Ramayana-inspired carvings on the tower bases and among excavated sculptures. |
| Gathering before entering the sanctuary | Worshippers prepared offerings and waited in a long hall before approaching the main shrine. | Foundation of the mandapa hall in front of the Central Tower unearthed in late 2000. |
| Dedication and stele inscription | The founding and endowment of the temple were recorded in stone script. | The eight-line Sanskrit stele discovered in 1997. |
To see a three-tower group roughly two centuries older that still retains floral carvings on its brick walls, visitors may read the article on Khương Mỹ Cham Towers, about 10 kilometers to the southeast. About 4.8 kilometers from Chiên Đàn stands Tam Kỳ Temple of Literature, a Vietnamese Confucian shrine with its own ceremonial calendar. Though close on the map, the two sites belong to entirely different religious traditions and are best explored on their own terms.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Làng Chiên Đàn, xã Tây Hồ (xã Tam An cũ, huyện Phú Ninh cũ, tỉnh Quảng Nam cũ), thành phố Đà Nẵng, phía tây quốc lộ 1A. Nghị quyết sắp xếp năm 2025 gộp Tam An, Tam Thành, Tam Phước và Tam Lộc thành xã Tây Hồ, nhưng trang của thành phố về xã Chiên Đàn mới lại liệt tháp vào thắng cảnh của xã Chiên Đàn
- Getting there
- Chiên Đàn village, Tây Hồ commune, Đà Nẵng city (formerly Tam An commune, Phú Ninh district, Quảng Nam province), just west of National Highway 1A. About 4.8 km from Tam Kỳ Temple of Literature, 10 km from Khương Mỹ Cham Towers, and 17 km from Đồng Dương Buddhist Monastery.
- Coordinates
- 15.6158, 108.4425
This is an architectural and archaeological monument, so the rule of the site is to protect the stone. Visitors are expected not to touch the reliefs on the tower bases or inside the exhibition gallery, as the sandstone surface is fragile and weathering. Do not climb onto the bases of the two flanking towers or place objects on the outdoor linga and yoni pedestals. Photography inside the exhibition house depends on the attendant's guidance at the time of visit, so please ask beforehand.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshiped at Chiên Đàn Cham Towers
The three towers were dedicated to the Hindu Trimurti of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, one deity per tower, though no source confirms which tower belonged to which god. In addition, the 1989 tympanum of the goddess Devi slaying the buffalo demon and a pediment of Uma at the South Tower show that the goddess also held a place in worship here.
When were the Chiên Đàn Cham Towers built
No surviving inscription gives an exact founding year, so the date is estimated by style and sources vary. The State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese portal gives the late 10th to early 11th century, Thế giới Di sản magazine gives the 11th to early 12th century, and Văn Hóa newspaper cites the early 12th century under King Harivarman V.
What makes Chiên Đàn Cham Towers special
Its greatest value lies in the stone sculpture collection uncovered during three excavations in 1989, 1997, and 2000, including the Mahishasuramardini tympanum, an eight-line Sanskrit stele, two round lotus altars, a mandapa foundation, and hundreds of sandstone reliefs displayed in an on-site gallery beside the towers.
What artistic style do the Chiên Đàn Cham Towers belong to
The excavated sculptures are classified under the Chánh Lộ style of the 11th to early 12th century. The architecture is considered transitional between the Mỹ Sơn A1 style and the Bình Định style, recognizable by its densely carved sandstone base, plain brick walls, and spearhead-shaped false door arches.
How do Chiên Đàn Cham Towers differ from Khương Mỹ Cham Towers
Both are groups of three Cham towers in the southern Quảng region, about 10 kilometers apart. Khương Mỹ is roughly two centuries older and is famed for the S-scroll floral carvings on its brick walls. Chiên Đàn is later, leaves its brick walls plain, and is celebrated for the sandstone sculptures excavated around its bases.