Why My Son Is Called a "Holy Land"

My Son is a valley in Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province — home to the most sacred religious site of the ancient kingdom of Champa. Deeply influenced by Hinduism, Champa's kings built temples honoring Shiva here from the kingdom's earliest days, praying for prosperity and peace, and over time these shrines grew into the My Son temple complex.

According to the Hindu Brihat Samhita, the gods favor secluded valleys, plains near great rivers, and hills by the sea. My Son sits enclosed within a quiet, isolated valley — meeting every condition of a sacred place. The Khe The stream, flowing down from Mount Dai Son (known locally as "Cat's Tooth Mountain") into the valley and joining the Thu Bon River, was seen as an earthly echo of the sacred Ganges, wife of Shiva, descending from the heavens.

The worship of sacred mountains was itself an indigenous Southeast Asian belief that merged with incoming Hindu tradition; at My Son, Mount Dai Son was also said to resemble a giant Garuda bird spreading its wings toward the sea — a guardian symbol of peace and prosperity for the kingdom. The valley's rugged, secluded terrain also made it an ideal defensive retreat, a place where Champa's kings could withdraw whenever their capital, Simhapura (present-day Tra Kieu), came under threat.

According to researcher Tran Ky Phuong, My Son formed part of the overall layout of the Amaravati principality (the historic Quang Nam region), organized around five sacred geomantic elements: a sacred mountain (Mahaparvata), a sacred river (the Thu Bon), a sacred sea gate (Dai Chiem/Hoi An), a sacred city (Tra Kieu), and sacred ground — the My Son sanctuary itself.

It was this convergence of sacred mountain and sacred river that made My Son a holy land — the foremost religious center of the Champa kingdom for centuries.