Becoming famous as one of the most beautiful tourist cities in Vietnam, Nha Trang has many beautiful landscapes and impressive monuments. Referring to Nha Trang, visitors will think about beautiful beaches with the long coastline, smooth white sand and natural coral reefs. However, Nha Trang is also a city with a long history with a lot of historical relics. One of them is Ponagar Tower - an unforgettable destination for many visitors when traveling to Nha Trang with Viet Unique Tours.
1. A Legendary Story About Ponagar Tower:
The name “Ponagar” is named after the goddess Po Ina Nagar or Lady Black, the goddess was created by clouds and sponges. She was revered as the creator of the Earth. She has 97 husbands but only Po Yan Amo is the most respected person.
Ponagar has 38 daughters, all of whom turned into goddesses when they grown up. Nevertheless, three of them have been chosen by the Cham people to be the goddess with the aim of protecting the land and worshiping until this day. They are Po Nagar Dara - the goddess Kauthara, Po Rarai Anaih –the goddess Panduranga and Po Bia Tikuk - the goddess Manthit.
2. A Holy Architecture:
The architecture of Ponagar Tower consists of three floors.
In the lower floor, there was used to have a gate tower but up to now, it has been destroyed. From there, you can step up to the middle floor.
The middle flooreonly includes two lines of octagonal brick pillars. In each side, there are 5 pillars with the diameter is less than one meter and its height is over 3 meters. On both sides of the large columns are 12 small and lower columns, all on a brick platform which is higher than one meter. Based on this structure, it is said to be a large building with a tiled roof, where pilgrims take a break and make offerings before offering them for the goddess. From this middle floor, there is a steep staircase leading up to the top floor.
The top floor is the place where the towers were built, in front of the main tower. Upstairs, there are two tower which are surrounded by four stone walls but now only remain the west and south walls. The remaining four towers, Main Tower, Middle Tower, Southeast Tower and Northwest Tower were built accroding to the style of the Cham. The tower’s door was in the east. The outer surface of the tower has many edges, cylinders and battles. The top of the pillars was often decorated with decorative domes, looks like a small tower placed on a large tower.
The main shrine, also the largest tower, worships the goddess Ponagar. The Middle Tower worships Camburi - an incarnation of Shiva. The Southeast Tower worships Skanda, the son of Shiva (god of war). The Northwest Tower worships Ganesha, son of Shiva (god of wisdom, luck).
3. What We Can Play When Coming Ponagar Tower:
Visitors go to Nha Trang in the festive season will feel the atmosphere here is very interesting. More over, you will have a chance to understand the cultural characteristics of the Cham people, have the opportunity to explore the mystery of the Ponagar Tower, a symbol of an ancient kingdom. Ponagar Tower Festival is considered as one of the largest festivals in the South Central and Highlands region in Viet Nam.
In addition, visitors also experience a unique bathing method, mud bath. Mineral mud bathing service in the Ponagar Tower tourist spot is very popular and famous, especially hydrotherapy bathing method, zaccuzi bathing that attract almost visitors every year.
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