In recent days, news regarding the discovery of a Shiva Linga in Vietnam has been widely circulated on various social media platforms. According to reports, this sacred object was unearthed during excavation activities at Cat Tien, an archaeological site situated approximately 150 kilometres away from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
Upon investigating the origins of this news, it is found that the Cat Tien archaeological site was discovered accidentally in 1985. Over the years, the site has been extensively explored through various excavations, revealing traces of a Hindu civilization that existed from the 4th to the 9th century C.E.
The Shiva Linga is quite tall, standing at 2.27 meters. In 2020, a Vietnamese news source mentioned that big excavations started on March 12, 2020, at the Cat Tien site in the Cat Tien district of Lam Dong province, situated in the Central Highlands.
These excavations, carried out in partnership with the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Southern Institute of Social Sciences archaeology centre, were scheduled to continue for one year. The site, revered as the Holy Land of the Brahmin religion, dates back to the 4th to 8th centuries AD. Stretching across hundreds of hectares and approximately 15 kilometres along the Dong Nai River, it was initially excavated in 1999 and later declared a special national relic in 2014.
The report also mentioned that the site showcased temple towers dating back to the 7th or 8th century AD. However, archaeologists observed significant damage to the surface architecture. Nonetheless, the site has yielded hundreds of thousands of artifacts, ranging from artworks and statues to weapons crafted from diverse materials like gold, silver, bronze, steel, gemstones, crystal, ceramics, and sandstone. This discovery was actually made a few years ago.
This suggests that the Shiva Linga discovery was reported as early as 2012. This finding indicates that the tradition of Shaivism has a longer history than previously thought. It also emphasizes the widespread prevalence of Hinduism and its religious customs across different regions globally. The historical evidence of Hinduism’s reach, as demonstrated by such archaeological findings, underscores its significant impact on various cultures and regions throughout history.
The widespread news regarding the discovery of the Shiva Linga at the Cat Tien archaeological site in Vietnam highlights not only the historical importance of the site but also sheds light on the far-reaching influence and lasting impact of Hinduism and Shaivism worldwide.
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