| Abstract: |
The majority of archaeology in Champa consists of Hindu arts and architecture. Buddhism co-existed with Hinduism, but it was not the dominant religion. In 875 CE, Indravarman II was the first Cham ruler to actively support Buddhism with the construction of the Đồng Dương temple located in present-day Bình Định, Vietnam. An analysis of Sanskrit Buddhist inscriptions helps shed light on the role of Cham elite women. The inscriptions revealed that royal women and the king shared an interest in Buddhism. A rare seated Buddha statue with the legs pendant a posture associated with female goddesses also intensified the importance of female power. In the 9th century, the female role in art and Buddhism was extraordinary in the Buddhist context. The seated Buddha with the legs pendant and narrative relief panels were a part of a larger corpus of Cham Buddhist visual arts that emphasized the female realm.
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