The road through Hậu Sanh village winds up a rocky hill of red earth, crowned by a brick tower standing alone. Its outer walls have few carvings, and its roof tiers step up cleanly toward the top. Yet once you cross the eastern threshold into the dim chamber inside, you meet a stone slab carved with a crowned figure spreading eight arms to either side, set upon a large stone pedestal.
This is Pô Rômê Cham Tower, a sanctuary of the Cham Balamon, the Hindu Cham community, on Bôn A Cho Hill in Phước Hữu commune. Built in the 17th century, it is regarded as the last major temple-tower erected by the Cham, bringing a thousand-year architectural tradition to a close. The stone relief inside the chamber depicts King Pô Rômê deified as a god, and every year the Cham still gather here to perform ceremonies before him.
IThe eight-armed king
The tower enshrines King Pô Rômê of Panduranga, deified in the tradition of a Shiva god-king. The principal object of worship is a stone relief in mukhalinga form, a linga bearing a face, which here expands into the king's full figure. Wearing a tiered crown, the king has eight arms, with two hands joined before his chest, three right hands holding a dagger, a lotus and a comb, and three left hands holding a trident, a sword and a cup. The figure stands 117 cm tall upon a linga yoni pedestal measuring 1.7 meters long and 1.25 meters wide.
To the right of the relief stands a 75 cm statue of Queen Bia Thanh Chanh, the second wife of King Pô Rômê, who was of Êđê origin. At the entrance to the sanctuary chamber sits a green stone statue of the sacred bull Nandin, the mount of Shiva.
Placed together inside a single chamber, those three sculptures sum up how the Cham understand this sanctuary, with the king at the center in divine form, the queen beside him, and the bull Nandin confirming that this is the house of Shiva. Anyone standing before the pedestal therefore stands both before a remembered monarch and before Shiva, the principal deity of Cham Hinduism.
Multiple arms are how Hindu art expresses divine power, with each handheld object representing an attribute. The trident is Shiva's most familiar emblem, the sword and dagger signify strength, the lotus purity and the cup bestowal. When Cham sculptors carved the king with eight arms holding those attributes, they stated that the monarch had merged into the form of the god rather than standing beside the deity as a mortal. Meanwhile, the linga yoni pedestal beneath confirms that this remains an orthodox Shiva sanctuary whose divine countenance takes the face of the king.
Regarding the reign dates of King Pô Rômê, sources disagree. Dân tộc và Phát triển newspaper and Đại Biểu Nhân Dân newspaper record 1627 to 1651. Văn Hóa newspaper records 1595 to 1615. The library records both without choosing between them. Where all sources converge is community memory, as both Dân tộc và Phát triển and Văn Hóa note that the Cham remember the king with gratitude for building dams to channel water into the fields and expanding agriculture. In arid Panduranga, that achievement was reason enough for a ruler to be revered as a deity.
This article covers only worship and architecture, without recounting the political history of the king's reign.
The first common misunderstanding is that many popular articles call Pô Rômê the last king of Champa. That phrasing does not match what more careful sources record, namely that Pô Rômê Tower is considered the last major temple-tower built by the Cham. The word last applies to the architectural monument, not to the royal lineage, and the library follows the architectural phrasing.
The second point is that the main image is often called a statue in the round, whereas it is a high relief carved against a stone slab backing onto the pedestal.
IIA sanctuary closing an architectural lineage
Văn Hóa newspaper and Đại Biểu Nhân Dân newspaper record that the tower was built in the 17th century. The original complex had three tower structures, of which only the main tower still stands. Pô Rômê belonged to the principality of Panduranga, in the same region as Po Klong Garai Cham Towers about 12.5 kilometers away and Hòa Lai Cham Towers about 27 kilometers away. Placed side by side, the three sites trace a full arc from Hòa Lai in the 8th to 9th centuries, through late 13th-century Po Klong Garai enshrining a king as a face-linga, to Pô Rômê as the latest tower enshrining a king as an eight-armed relief.
- 17th centuryConstruction of the sanctuaryBuilt on Bôn A Cho Hill to worship the deified King Pô Rômê. The original complex comprised a main tower, a gate tower and a fire tower.
- 1627 to 1651Reign dates in one group of sourcesAccording to Dân tộc và Phát triển and Đại Biểu Nhân Dân newspapers. Văn Hóa newspaper records 1595 to 1615.
- 1992National heritage ranking and first restorationRanked as a national architectural and artistic heritage site on August 31, 1992, and restored during the same year.
- 2010Second restorationRestoration of the tower body and site improvements, according to Văn Hóa newspaper.
- 2020National Treasure recognitionThe stone relief of King Pô Rômê was recognized as a National Treasure under Prime Minister Decision No. 2283/QĐ-TTg on December 31, 2020.
Regarding administrative location, the tower stands in Hậu Sanh village, Phước Hữu commune, formerly part of Ninh Phước district in the old Ninh Thuận province, and now part of Khánh Hòa province. Đại Biểu Nhân Dân newspaper notes that the tower lies about 15 kilometers from Phan Rang.
Regarding names, the Cham call the tower Bimong Po Ramé, while Vietnamese publications write Pô Rômê, Po Rome or Po Ro Me. These are simply different Latin transcriptions of the same Cham name referring to one king and one sanctuary. The library uses Pô Rômê in accordance with the monument's official heritage title.
According to Văn Hóa newspaper and Dân Việt, the original complex consisted of three towers, namely the main tower, the gate tower and the fire tower, of which the gate tower and fire tower collapsed over time, leaving only traces. To the left of the main tower stands a stone Linga about 1.3 meters high, and behind the main tower sits a small shrine dedicated to Queen Bia Thanh Chih, the first wife of King Pô Rômê, beside a Kút tomb marked by two stone slabs of unequal height. Two restoration campaigns in 1992 and 2010 consolidated and preserved the main tower as seen today.
IIIAn incomplete imitation in the late style
The main tower rises about 16.5 meters high across four tiers, with a square base measuring 7.30 meters on each side according to Văn Hóa newspaper, tapering upward to the apex. Đại Biểu Nhân Dân newspaper describes the structure as an incomplete imitation of Po Klong Garai with simpler lines. It represents the late style of Cham temple-tower architecture.
Three features point to this late style. First is the sparsely carved brick wall. Early towers such as Hòa Lai carved deep foliage directly into the brickwork, whereas here the brick wall planes are left plain, and ornament is concentrated on projecting flame-shaped stones at the column tops, false doors with praying figures, and terracotta or stone reliefs of dragon tails, scrolling leaves and sacred bulls on the upper tiers. Second is the reduced complex, as the gate tower and fire tower have collapsed, leaving only the main tower standing alongside the small rear shrine to Queen Bia Thanh Chih and the Kút tomb. Third is the object of worship, where instead of a face-linga, Cham sculptors created a multi-armed royal relief characteristic of the late period.
Fired brick on a square plan of 7.30 meters per side, with a spearhead-arched main doorway opening East in traditional kalan fashion and a narrow chamber sized for the altar and officiating priest.
The roof tiers repeat the shape of the main body on a diminishing scale, with false doors on all four sides bearing praying figures, stone flame corner pieces and reliefs of dragon tails and leaves.
Stone, figure 117 cm high with eight arms, set on a linga yoni pedestal 1.7 meters long by 1.25 meters wide. Recognized as a National Treasure in 2020.
A 75 cm statue of Queen Bia Thanh Chanh to the right of the relief, a green stone Nandin bull at the entrance, and a small shrine to Queen Bia Thanh Chih with a Kút tomb behind the tower.
Visitors accustomed to grander earlier towers may find Pô Rômê austere on its outer wall surfaces. Read historically, however, that simplification is itself a piece of evidence. It shows that in the 17th century the Cham still maintained the architectural canon of the kalan and could still raise a brick mass sixteen and a half meters high, even though the labor and resources devoted to exterior wall carving had changed. The greatest artistic care was concentrated inside the chamber, on the eight-armed relief where the sculptor's chisel remained attentive down to the comb and cup in the king's hands.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
First comes the rule followed by the builders themselves. Cham Hindu temple-towers open their main doorway to the East, where the sun rises, place the sanctuary atop a knoll or hill, and link the sacred precinct with a holy mountain and water source. Pô Rômê follows that rule, standing on the crest of Bôn A Cho Hill with its main doorway facing East. Hinduism does not have feng shui. What follows is a comparative reading by the library through the lens of traditional Vietnamese geomancy, offered for comparison rather than as a concept held by the Cham or recorded in any text about the sanctuary.
Anyone familiar with traditional Vietnamese site-reading will immediately notice a bare hill amid dry fields. Bôn A Cho Hill is rocky and sparse in trees, surrounded by the arid plains of the Phan Rang region. Vietnamese feng shui favors land with lush vegetation and nearby fresh water, and often faults dry, stony ground as having thin energy. By that yardstick, this would not be considered an ideal site.
Yet reading further reveals something striking. The figure worshiped inside the main tower is remembered precisely for channeling water into the fields. The Cham did not look for a spot already abundant in water to place their temple, but enshrined within the temple the ruler who brought water to the land. Water here does not lie in front of the tower like the bright hall (minh đường) of feng shui manuals, but lives in the community's memory of the king.
The third point is a single tower standing alone. The original complex had three towers, and now the two auxiliary towers have collapsed, leaving one standing mass. Traditional geomancy prefers to read a sanctuary as a balanced ensemble with left and right wings, front and back. A lone tower on an exposed hilltop stands in solitary relief without flanking screens. For a Cham kalan, however, that is no defect, because the tower mass itself is already the image of the sacred cosmic mountain and needs no physical mountain behind it for support.
VFour annual festivals of the Cham Balamon
Unlike many Cham towers that have become archaeological ruins, Pô Rômê remains in active worship. According to Dân tộc và Phát triển newspaper, Văn Hóa newspaper and Dân Việt, the Cham Balamon community performs four annual ceremonies at the tower according to the Cham calendar, namely the tower-opening ceremony in the first month, the rain-praying ceremony in the fourth month, the Katê festival in the seventh month and the Chabun ceremony in the ninth month.
| Festival | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tower-opening ceremony (Pơh băng yang) | Early waxing moon of the 1st month, Cham calendar | The main tower door remains closed all year and opens only for ceremonies, making the New Year opening a distinct ritual. |
| Rain-praying ceremony (Yơr yang) | Early 4th month, Cham calendar | Community ritual praying for rain and peace, closely tied to farming life in an arid region. |
| Katê festival | 7th month, Cham calendar | The largest annual festival of the Cham Balamon, honoring deities and deified kings. |
| Chabun ceremony (Chabul) | 9th month, Cham calendar | Ceremony honoring the Mother Goddess of the Land and guardian deities in the Cham Balamon tradition at the tower. |
The sequence of stages in the Katê festival, from the procession of royal vestments and the opening of the tower door to the bathing and robing of the sacred image, has already been described by the library in the article on Po Klong Garai Cham Towers and is not repeated here. It should simply be noted that Katê is the festival of the Cham Balamon, whereas the Cham Bani follow their own ritual calendar as a distinct religious community.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- đồi Bôn A Cho, thôn Hậu Sanh, xã Phước Hữu, tỉnh Khánh Hòa
- Getting there
- Bôn A Cho Hill, Hậu Sanh village, Phước Hữu commune, Khánh Hòa province, formerly part of Ninh Phước district in the old Ninh Thuận province, about 15 kilometers from Phan Rang.
- Coordinates
- 11.5012, 108.8658
This is an active sanctuary, and Cham custom must be respected. Dress modestly, remove shoes and hats before entering the tower chamber, and do not touch the relief of the king, the statue of the queen or the Nandin bull. The main tower door is usually kept closed and opens only on festival days. During ceremonies, rituals inside the sanctuary are conducted by Cham religious dignitaries, and visitors from outside the community observe from outside as guided by the caretakers.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshiped at Pô Rômê Cham Tower
It enshrines King Pô Rômê of Panduranga, deified as a Shiva god-king. The principal object of worship is an eight-armed crowned stone relief in mukhalinga form set upon a linga yoni pedestal. To its right stands a statue of Queen Bia Thanh Chanh, at the entrance sits a stone Nandin bull, and behind the tower stands a small shrine to Queen Bia Thanh Chih.
When was Pô Rômê Cham Tower built
The tower was built in the 17th century and is considered the last major temple-tower erected by the Cham. Sources differ on the reign dates of King Pô Rômê, recording either 1627 to 1651 in Dân tộc và Phát triển newspaper or 1595 to 1615 in Văn Hóa newspaper.
What is the National Treasure inside Pô Rômê Cham Tower
It is the eight-armed stone relief of King Pô Rômê, measuring 117 cm high on a linga yoni pedestal 1.7 meters long by 1.25 meters wide. The relief was recognized as a National Treasure under Prime Minister Decision No. 2283/QĐ-TTg on December 31, 2020.
Is the Katê festival celebrated at Pô Rômê Cham Tower
Yes. The Cham Balamon hold four annual ceremonies at the tower according to the Cham calendar, namely the tower-opening ceremony in the early 1st month, the rain-praying ceremony in the early 4th month, the Katê festival in the 7th month and the Chabun ceremony in the 9th month.
How does Pô Rômê Tower differ from Po Klong Garai Towers
Po Klong Garai was built in the late 13th century, retains three intact towers and worships a king in the form of a face-linga. Pô Rômê was built in the 17th century, has only its main tower still standing after two auxiliary towers collapsed, features simpler brickwork and worships the king through an eight-armed stone relief. The two sites lie about 12.5 kilometers apart in former Panduranga.