Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture : Thap Mam Gallery

Brahma is the Hindu God of Creation. Sometimes considered to be the God of Intelligence. Brahma is portrayed here with four heads (only three visible) and seated on his mount - the swan Hamsa. His right leg is bent horizontally while the left stretches downward with the foot pointed to the ground. Both hands are placed on his thighs, with the right holding a sword.

His headdress is the Kirita Mukuta. His neck, arms, wrists, and ankles are all adorned with jewelry. His garment is a three-layered and ornately decorated sampot, with side panels embroidered with flowers. This sculpture shows the influence of Khmer art from the 12th century.

This unique representation of a dragon squats on its front paws, which are folded under the body, while its rear paws are raised upward. Inside the mouth is a pearl, a theme possibly borrowed from Sino-Vietnamese art.

This dragon is a chimera, with the head being from Makara, the body and paws from a lion, and the tail and scales coming from a crocodile.

Gajasimha has an elephant’s head and lion’s body, thus it is also named elephant-lion. As door guardians, statues of Gajasimha were placed in front of temples. Gajasimha is a favorite figure in Champa sculpture but rarely seen in other Southeast Asian artistic traditions.

This sculpture shows Gajasimha with a raised trunk, neck adorned with a ring of bells, layers of fur stylized in parallel strips as seen commonly on sculptures of the Tháp Mẫm period.

This pedestal, like most sculptures in Tháp Mẫm gallery, was discovered in 1934.

The four sides feature a row of female breasts running between two symmetrical bands of a flame-shaped motif. The motif of female breasts, a symbol of fertility, is a popular theme of the Tháp Mẫm style.

Two lion telamons stand at two corners as support elements while the holy birds Garuda occupy the other ends.