Sculpture in the Chien Dan tower

In 1989, at the Chaos tower group, during an excavation to reveal the tower's base to prepare for the restoration, archaeologists found a system of decorative motifs along with hundreds of sculptures. engraved valuable with sandstone, which are statues of gods, goddesses, musicians, Apsara, statues of animals, architectural ornaments, churches, tragedies .

The decoration of the wall is a large sandstone cutting board grafted around the base of the tower, carved with soldiers holding weapons dancing with dancers, musicians, but the head of Makara, Kala's face. On the north side of the tower is a picture of a pair of elephants facing each other, in the middle of a pair of elephants is a cluster of lotus flowers, pairs of elephants look lively and funny. Among the artifacts found in l989, there is a sandstone tympan with the theme of Mahisasuramardini (the goddess of the buffalo head), showing the goddess Devi (an incarnation of the goddess Uma) with 6 arms and upper arms clasped on top, the other four arms held bows, names, triangles, rings. The goddess stepped on the back of a buffalo, her right leg bent, her right leg stretched out in a very brave posture.

Animal statues in Chao Dan include Naga snakes, Hamsa god geese, Garuda gods, elephants, lions, deer, Gajasimha . Many architectural ornaments show the makara's head spewing people or other animals; decorative objects touch the stylized flowers .

The artifacts discovered in the year 989 made the researchers have a different view of the Chien Dan tower, because in the past the French scholars only found a small number of sculptures here. Therefore, they ranked the statues in Chien Dan into Chanh Lo art style (11th century). In terms of iconography, the sculptures in Chi Dan are very close to the Chief Justice's style, however J. Boisselier makes sense to assume that the reliefs in Chaos are less homogeneous than in Chanh. Lo (according to J. Boisselier - La Statuaireu Champa, Paris, 1963), it is quite understandable, because the three temples in Chien Dan were built sequentially for a long time, from the beginning to the end of the 11th century and possibly to the beginning of the 12th century.

Not only that, at the end of 2000, during the renovation of the garden landscape around the tower, in the area in front of the middle tower, we discovered the foundation of a ruin that could be a long house ( mandapa), the base of mandapa's foot is about 1 meter deep compared to the foundation of the middle tower, just like the foot of the tower, under the foot of the mandapa is lined with opaque white sandstone stones, from the feet up to the mandapa base. layers of bricks were rebuilt and carved into stylized lotus beds; Surrounding the rest of the mandapa body are a number of statues of people who sit cross-legged to touch the bricks directly. Next to the mandapa to the east is probably a gate tower (gopura); In the excavation pit, there are about 100 artifacts, including statues of gods, goddesses, Kinnnara, dancers and Brahmin monks, animal statues, architectural ornaments, and many fragments of relics with sandstone.

In Champa sculpture, in addition to clothing, jewelry, the character of the characters are characteristics to distinguish gods, monks, royal people, soldiers ., but also the statues in Chanh Lo style, the jewels of the Chaos statues are very simple when there are no jewels, so only have to recognize the characters through moves, hand-held objects, and above head of the character .

The types of teams in Chien Dan can be divided into two groups: the first group consists of a low-class type with a crown shape that does not cover the entire hair. The second group consists of tall pyramid-shaped teams, which are kirita-mukuta with three or four floors fitted with triangular flowers; or a crown combined with a bundle of hair bun into a pyramid, tightened like a spiral shell. Women's clothing is a knee-length skirt, a cloth belt hanging down in the middle into a large and long, curved and pointed skirt at the end that looks like a loincloth. Bracelets and necklaces are metal rings with heavy, less detailed drawings.

The statues in Chien Dan are shown quite monotonously and rusticly; They no longer draw gracefully and gracefully as Tra Kieu style, and are not too cumbersome, as detailed as the Thap Mam style . Stretching for about a century, the sculptures in Chien Dan have shown quite remarkable evolution; the early stage dancers still imitate the bending movements of dancers on the Tra Kieu church, however less soft; horizontal oval-shaped chignon, button-shaped eyes without pupils; Garuda's with their hands straight up on their heads; The elephants with a rotating head with big ears are the influence of the Tra Kieu style at the end of the Xth century. Some statues in the late period (the end of the early 11th century of the 12th century) appeared some characteristics close to Dark Tower style: Gajasimha are short and stout with detailed details on the mane; on the altars, altars, carved lotus petals with sharp curved ends up .

Some new sculptures were discovered at the end of 2000:

+ Relief shows two male gods , one big, one small; made of earthy yellow sandstone - a kind of soft sandstone; size 42cm x 40cm x l7cm. Big head character wearing a crown; hair is high, tied in the middle with a silk strip. The oval face, worn out, was no longer clear; I wear a pair of big, round earrings on long ears. On the god's neck was a rather thick metal ring without a pattern. The chest is blooming, the upper body is bare, the lower body is wearing a short sampot. The right hand holds a lotus, placed in the abdomen; the left hand lifted the lotus flower; legs spread out, right leg above, left leg below; full body in a position like flying or swimming.

Small character sitting on the right leg of the big character; This goddess outfit is very simple, almost nude, on the head of a kirita-mukuta, the left hand is raised as if waving.

Both characters are surrounded by stylized clouds or waves. This is a embossed touch with quite unique content; The long stalked lotus seems to grow out of the large character's belly button, making us think of the "Birth of Brahma" scene . The touches depicting the scene of Born Brahma often show Vishnu lying on the back of the snake, Sésa, who has seven heads, floating in the cosmic sea of ​​Ananta; from the navel of Vishnu grows a lotus flower, on the lotus is Brahma, sitting cross-legged. In this sculpture, the big character is probably Vishnu swimming on the sea of ​​Ananta, the small character, Brahma, after he descended from the lotus.

+ Sandstone Tympan in yellow soil, size : 41cm x 32cm x 11cm, representing a goddess sitting cross-legged. The pyramid-shaped goddess is like a lotus bud, an oval face, eyes looking straight, thick lips, slightly smiling mouth, heavy round earrings that make the gods ears grow longer. On the neck of a metal-wearing goddess without a pattern. Body on the naked goddess with bustling breasts, slim waist; underneath wearing a dress with unknown lines. Two goddess hands holding two lotus flowers leaning on their knees, this is the familiar posture of the goddesses Laskmi.

+ The male god statue is made of sandstone in yellow soil , size: 45.5cm x 34cm x 15cm. Statue sitting folded. His hair is plaited into a large, slightly pointed bun at the top; oval face, eyes looking straight, irises without pupils. God has long ears, round earrings; upper body bare, chest blooming; The right hand holds a snail shell in front of the chest, the left hand holds a lotus flower on the left shoulder. The body under the god wore a short sampot. Based on the handheld, we think this is the statue of Vishnu.

+ Statue of a male god sitting cross-legged, made of yellow earth sandstone; Size: 44.5cm x 34cm x14.5cm. Godhead wears a crown; plaited hair into a bunch of curls, clumped on top into 4 bunched lotus petals, the bun is tied with a ruban strip. God has two thin eyebrows; The eye-shaped eyes and irises have no pupils, this feature is a conservative element of the Tra Kieu style. The nose is wide, the lips are thick, slightly smiling. The right hand holds a lotus flower; The left hand held an unidentified object, there was a strip of silk hanging down. On the wrists, the wrists were wearing double bracelets, on the two arms that were wearing double rings with four-pointed flowers attached. Body on the god bare, lower body wearing a short sampot.

+ Floating leaf shape, made of yellow sandstone; size 45.5cm x 25cm x l5cm. The carved figure represents a Kinnara (first heavenly music with a human head); Kinnara's hair was plaited into small curls, high bun, tied in the middle with a ruban, the frontal hairline floated like a border. Kinnara's face was slightly tilted to the left, her face was delicate, her lips were slightly smiling. Buttoned eyes and two thin eyebrows; ears with shoulder-length corolla earrings, which are characteristics of Tra Kieu style. Kinnara's neck was wearing a ring, the pattern was not clear. The upper body is bare, leaning to the left. The right hand holds the lotus flower and brings it up to the left shoulder. The lower body is shown only to the hips. Behind Kinnara's back were wings that were as wide as flying; surrounded by stylized clouds .

+ Ba-la-monk is made of sandstone; Size: 36cm x 24cm x 08cm. On the head of the monk, he wore a lotus flower-shaped crown, and his hair was braided into many small, tufts like a hat; gentle face, slightly closed eyes, wide nose, smiling mouth; Long-wearing arms recommend in round and big. Upper body bare, the bottom wearing a short sampot. The left hand holds a pyramid shape, the left hand is bare; 2 wrist bands on the wrist. The monk in his posture bent on his knees, his feet stretched backwards, the soles of the feet facing up, the buttocks placed on two feet.

+ Musicians are made of yellow sandstone. Size: 59cm x 29cm x 16cm. The statue sits with knees bent, the knees bent to the left and the buttocks are placed on two heels. The musician's hand held a long-handled instrument in front of his chest, his head needs to be put on his left shoulder, his left hand was squirming into the string, his right hand clicked on the fretboard. The musician's outfit is simple, the upper body is bare, the bottom is wearing a short sampot.

+ Makara head decoration gushes people, size: 38.5cm x 22cm x13cm. Showing a makara head with his mouth wide open, from one of makara's mouth protruding one hand, this character wears a crown, a bun with hair into a pyramid, a smiling mouth with round and heavy earrings.

Until now (June 2001), Chien Dan is home to the largest number of sandstone sculptures known in groups of 3 towers, most of the sculptures here can be classified. In Chanh Lo style, however, there are still works that follow the style of Tra Kieu, and have the touches that show the transition from the Chief Highway style to Thap Mam.