មីសឺន: បុរាណវិទ្យា និង ស្ថាបត្យកម្ម

បុរាណវិទ្យា និង ស្ថាបត្យកម្ម 

 ប្រភេទសំណង់អគារ 
All of the remaining buildings at Mỹ Sơn are believed to be religious buildings. They are of the following types:Tran Ky Phuong, Vestiges of Champa Civilization.
 A kalan is a brick sanctuary, typically in the form of a tower, used to house a deity.
 A mandapa is an entry hallway contiguous with a sanctuary.
 A kosagrha or "fire-house" is a construction, typically with a saddle-shaped roof, used to house the valuables belonging to the deity or to cook for the deity.
 A gopura is a gate-tower leading into a walled temple complex.

right|thumb|This map shows the relative locations of the temple groups.

 ប្រព័ន្ធនៃការធ្វើគ្រឹហសញ្ញាណកម្មសំណង់ 
When he began his studies of Mỹ Sơn in 1899, Henri Parmentier found the remnants of 71 temples. He classified them into 14 groups, including 10 principal groups each consisting of multiple temples.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.5. For purposes of identification, he assigned a letter to each of these principal groups: A, A', B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K. Within each group, he assigned numbers to the edifices comprising it. Thus "My Son E1" refers to the edifice at My Son belonging to group "E" that has been assigned the number "1."Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.5-6.

 រចនាបថស្ថាបត្យកម្ម 
Art historians have classified the architectural and artistic legacy of Champa into seven artistic styles or phases of development.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.9. Six of the styles are represented at Mỹ Sơn, and two are believed to have originated from there. They are known as the Mỹ Sơn E1 Style and the Mỹ Sơn A1 Style. In particular the temple known as "A1" is often referred to as the architectural masterpiece of the Cham. The six styles of Cham architecture represented at Mỹ Sơn are the following:
 The style of Mỹ Sơn E1 and F1 dates to the 8th century AD. The temple known as "E1" is now ruined. The style which it established is represented today by two works of art that formerly belonged to the temple but today are housed in the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang: a pedestal and a tympanum.
 The style exemplified by My Son A2, C7 and F3 is similar to the style of Hòa Lai from the turn of the 9th century.
 The Đồng Dương style of the late 9th century is reflected in Mỹ Sơn A10, A11-13, B4, and B12. This style is named after the Vietnamese town that occupies the site of the 9th century city and Buddhist monastery of Indrapura. The archeological site of the monastery has been largely destroyed; French scholars of the early 20th century were able to create diagrams of its layout and the disposition of its buildings. Numerous striking works of sculpture belonging to this style survive in Vietnamese museums.
right|thumb|This pedestal and the outline of a wall are all that remain of the once magnificent temple called "A1."
right|thumb|The storehouse known as "B5" (background) is the outstanding surviving exemplar of the My Son A1 style.
 The Mỹ Sơn A1 style of the 10th century is exemplified by Mỹ Sơn B5, B6, B7, B9, C1, C2, C5, D1, D2, and D4. It is the most heavily represented style at My Son, and is known for its elegance and grace. The style's namesake and most important architectural exemplar, the once magnificent tower known as "A1," is largely ruined. It is a mound of earth, surrounded by rubble and the outline of a wall, at the center of which stands a whitish pedestal. A scale model of the former temple created by Japanese researchers as well as a schematic frontal view are exhibited in the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang. The most striking of the remaining buildings belonging to the style may be the storehouse B5, which exemplifies the saddle-shaped roof peculiar to Cham artchitecture. The My Son A1 style is sometimes also known as the Tra Kieu Style, after the nearby town of Trà Kiệu which may be the site of the historical Cham city of Simhapura.M. L. Finot, "Les inscriptions de Mi-Son," p.915. Many architectural ornaments from this style survive and are displayed in the Museum of Cham Sculpture.
 A transitional style of the early 11th century to the middle of the 12th century is exhibited in Mỹ Sơn E4, F2, and the K group of sites.
 The style of Bình Định that prevailed in Cham architecture from the end of the 11th century, when the center of the Cham polity was displaced southward from the area around My Son to Vijaya in Bình Định Province, to the start of the 14th is represented by Mỹ Sơn B1 and groups G and H.

 បច្ចេកទេសសំណង់ 
Most of the temples at Mỹ Sơn were made of red brick, and only one (the temple labelled "B1") was made of stone.M.L. Finot, "Les inscriptions de Mi-Son," p.912. Even the decorative carvings on the Cham temples were cut directly onto the bricks themselves, rather than onto sandstone slabs inserted into brick walls as is observable for example in the 9th century Cambodian temple of Bakong.

To this day, the construction techniques used by the Cham builders are not completely understood. Myson map Index Issues that have not been completely resolved include issues about the firing of the bricks, the mortar between the bricks, and decorative carvings found on the bricks.
right|thumb|The temples at Mỹ Sơn are made of a reddish brick. Decorative carvings have been cut directly into the bricks.
 At what point in the building process were the bricks hardened by fire? Were the bricks hardened first, and then arranged in order to build the structures, or were the structures built out of partially hardened bricks, after which the entire structures were heated by fire to finish the hardening of the bricks? The hypothesis that the entire structures were reheated following assembly is supported by evidence that the mortar between the bricks was at some point subjected to high temperatures. The contrary hypothesis is supported by the observation that the structures bear no signs of scarring from large intense fires such as would be needed in order to reheat them as whole.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.29-30.
 How were the bricks stuck together? One hypothesis is that the builders at Mỹ Sơn developed a way to glue bricks together using tree resin native to central Vietnam. Another hypothesis is that the builders used a sticky mortar made from the same clay as the bricks themselves. The latter hypothesis is supported by chemical tests that have found no trace of any organic substance between the bricks, but instead have found mineral substances similar to those present in the core of the bricks. Today the mortar that once held the bricks together has largely decayed, and even a strong wind can knock loose bricks from the structures.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.27-29.
 At what point in the process were the decorative carvings made? Were the walls constructed and then carved, or were the bricks carved first and then assembled so as to create the walls? An examination of the carvings reveals no broken lines as would be expected if the bricks were carved first and then assembled; and as a result scholars have concluded that the Cham craftsmen made their carvings directly onto finished brick walls.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.30-31.

 សិលាចារឹក 
The people of Champa maintained written records in both Sanskrit and old Cham. They wrote on perishable materials, such as large leaves, and also created inscriptions in stone. They used scripts borrowed from India. None of the writings on perishable materials have survived. However, numerous stone inscriptions have been preserved, transcribed, and translated into modern languages.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, pp.182-185.

Many of Champa's most important inscriptions are on steles, that is to say on slabs or pillars of stone erected precisely for the purpose of hosting inscriptions. Scholars have found approximately 32 steles at Mỹ Sơn, dated between the 5th and the 12th century AD.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.182.

The subject-matter of Cham inscriptions is mostly political and religious. They are written from the perspective of kings or very high potentates seeking to affirm their legitimacy and their relationship to the divine. Many of the inscriptions document a gift to a god, such as a gift of land, of people, or of treasure, or a foundation dedicated to a god, such as the foundation of a temple, an altar, or a pedestal. The inscriptions also provide us with important information such as the name of the country (typically Campadesa in the Sanskrit inscriptions, nagara Campa in the Cham inscriptions), and the names of some of its most important cities: Simhapura ("Lion City"), Virapura ("Knight City"), Rajapura ("King City"), Vijaya ("District"). Finally, a number of the inscriptions allude to or describe interesting historical events, such as the ongoing wars between Champa and Cambodia in the 12th century.Ngô Văn Doanh, My Son Relics, p.185-187.