Phu Dong of The Dai Viet Power

Ha Huu Nga [dịch bừa]

Note by the Writer: All uses of this First Draft not allowed but comments and suggestions for correction.

Abstract

Phu Dong the Holy, whose symbol of the overwhelming power, Vietnamese people keep in mind in different images. Among those one that had been constructed based on Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism¹ from the Champa and other sources by the Dai Viet medival court thinkers was Phu Dong-Vaiśravaṇa - the Protector for the country. There also existed the image of Phu Dongs-Bijas belonging to the folk-festivals, who symbolized the fertility and productivity - the Protector for the villagers. Last but not least, I would like to raise the other ones that I call Phu Dongs of the Vochong, who were the grown-mutatedly-up childs thanks to the peace pacts - to become Husbands and Wifes, to become Home and Country, to become Peace and Harmony, to become Prosperity and Immortal – the Protector for all the country and people of Dai Viet.

Key words: Phu Dongs, Vo chong, Peace Pact, overwhelming power.  

The era of independence that came after 1,050 years under the Chinese domination (111 BC - 939 AD) had posed a big question to the thinkers of Dai Viet at that time: What intellectual resources could help them build symbols to gather disparate village communities into a powerful, unified nation?. Most of the thinkers were originally Buddhist monks of the Zen and Tantric sects who were abbots of village temples. And later, added to that team of thinkers were the Champa monks, who were the hostages and prisoners of wars between Dai Viet and Champa polities. They were knowledgeable about Hinduism. Thanks to that, Dai Viet thinkers could combine the endogenous force of the villagers’ solidarity with the exogenous power of Hinduism and Buddhism symbols to create a Phu Dong Thien Vuong, “who connected the cultures of India, China, Vietnam, Tibet…through just one symbol: Kubera/ Vaisravana/ Da Van Thien/ Píshāméntiān / Saint Giong.” (Dinh Hong Hai 2014, p.122)

I. Phu Dong of External Sources

One of the earliest records still related to the appearance of Phu Dong Thien Vuong [वैश्रवण Vaiśravaṇa, 毗沙門天 Ty Sa Mon Thien] is the book Thien Uyen Tap Anh - The Zen Garden of the Gathered Outstanding Figures, of that the article of Great Monk-Master Khuong Viet (933-1011 AD) puts it: The Great Master coming from Cat Li village, Thuong Lac district, belonging to Ngo family, named Chan Luu, was a descendant of Ngo Thuan De Emperor (Ngo Quyen), under the reign of Dinh Tien Hoang Emperor, he was ordained as Tăng thống - Saṅgharāja. In second year of the Thai Binh era (971), the monk was given the title Khuong Viet Great Master. During the reign of Le Dai Hanh Emperor, the monk was especially respected to the extent that to all the court affairs the Great Master was invited by Emperor to attend. The monk often went out to visit Mount Ve Linh, Binh Lo district... At night, he dreamed of seeing a god wearing a yellow dress, supporting a stupa with his right hand, followed by more than a dozen of servants with fierce appearances. The god told the master: “I am Vaiśravaṇa, my Guhyapāda-vajra servants, who follow me are all Yaksha demons [यक्ष yakṣa]. Heaven Emperor Viṣṇu has issued an edict of  sending me to this country to preserve the precepts so that the Buddhadharma could flourish. I have a karmic connection with you, so I came here to ask for help.” The monk woke up startledly, and heard a scream in mountain and was surprised. In next morning, the master entered mountain and saw an ancient tree about ten trượng [40 meters] high, with lush branches and leaves, and auspicious clouds above shaded it. Then the master hired a tree-cutter to use the wood of the tree for carving a statue of the Vaiśravaṇa exactly as he saw in his dream for worship. In the first year of Thien Phuc era (981 AD), the Song army invaded our country. The emperor had previously known about this, so he sent the master to the temple to pray to the Vaiśravaṇa and ask for the god’s support of fighting the Song army. In the battle, seeing the Vaiśravaṇa, the aggressors were frightened and retreated to defend Huu Ninh River. Coming here, they saw the storm loudly raged, the 蛟龍 giao long - legendary watery dragons -  furiously jumping on the water surface, the enemy army disbandedly fled in fear.” (Giao hoi Phat giao Viet Nam - Vietnam Buddhist Sangha 1990: 42-44).

Regarding the legend of Phu Dong Vaiśravaṇa, in addition to the book Thien Uyen Tap Anh [The Zen Garden of the Gathered Outstanding Figures], the book Viet Dien U Linh [Collected Records of the Departed Spirits from the Viet Realm] also puts: According to the book Bao Cuc Truyen [Collection of Buddhist Miracle Tales] Phu Dong Vaiśravaṇa used to be the earth god of Kien So temple, was reborn. In the past, Chi Thanh, a Zen master at Kien So temple, in Phu Dong village, built a shrine for the earth god just on the right side of the temple as a tranquil place for chant prayers. Over the years, all the old traces of that temple have disappeared. Some among the Bouddhist monks did not know where to turn for proof, and the native people preferred stories about ghosts, so they often came to burn incense, prayed, and abused the shrine as shrine for lewd-goddesses. Long after that Zen master Da Bao restored the temple, he thought that the old shrine was Dâm Từ² for lewd-goddesses, so he wanted to destroy it out. But one day, on the old tree next to the temple appeared a gāthā [verse] written on it, as the follows:  

佛法誰能護？
柱聽住祇園。
若非吾種子，
早隨別處遷。
不載金剛部，
密跡那羅延。
滿空塵數眾，
侍佛成冤愆。

(Ngọc Hồ - Nhất Tâm 1992: 158).

Who that could protect the Buddha Dharma?

please come and work as the Maṭhādhipati in Jetavana.

In case it were not my bija,

soon leave, then, for another place.

If the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra is not recorded,

how is Guhyapāda-vajra Nārāyaṇa?

And it will make the sentient beings as full up as the dust in space,

who worshiping Buddha become unjust.

Related to the story of Phu Dong Vaiśravaṇa [also called Soc Vaiśravaṇa after the name of Mount Soc where Phu Dong Vaiśravaṇa flew back to the Heaven after the enemy army disbandedly fled], a version of the book Viet Dien U Linh [Collected Records of the Departed Spirits from the Viet Realm] is also considered to be written by Ly Te Xuyen during the Tran Dynasty. It puts: “No one remembers clearly when the Vaiśravaṇa [Phu Dong Thien vuong] was born in that village. While he was still infant, the enemy invaded our country. The king sent messengers carrying loudspeakers to different places to find out talented people for supporting the country. The Vaiśravaṇa-child heard that then got up and asked his mother about the news. The Vaiśravaṇa immediately said: “Mother, please bring me a lot of rice to eat right away”, and then ate very well. In no time, he finished several pecks of rice, and in a short time he grew to be over ten trượng [over 40 meters] tall, responded to engage in and accompanied the messenger to the capital. The king was very happy and asked if what he wanted? The Vaiśravaṇa only asked for a sword and an iron horse, then mounted the horse and shouted loudly, rushing into battle, the defeated enemy army disbandedly fled in fear. Everywhere became peaceful, the Vaiśravaṇa immediately rode his horse to Mount Ve Linh, took off his armor, climbed to the top of banyan tree and then flew into the sky. Now the place where the Vaiśravaṇa left his armor still remains, the villagers called the banyan “the amor-taking-off-tree”. People were surprised, they built a temple for the Vaiśravaṇa, offered vegetarian foods, cakes and fruits in rememberance of him, and prayed for everything to be fulfilled. (Ly Te Xuyen 2001, pp. 127-129).

Later, the book Linh Nam Chich Quai [The Arrayed Tales of Selected Oddities from Linh Nam Land] by Vu Quynh (1453-1516) focusing on historical logic of the story, writes that: Our country at that time, the Northwest bordered Shì Luó Guǐ [Thi La Quy] country (now part of Guizhou province, China); the king of that country named Xǐ Bèi Qì [Hy Bac Kich] took opportunity to have the wicked intention of annexing surrounding countries. He then proclaimed himself Ân vương [King Yīn] and mobilized 300,000 soldiers to invade the south. Our country’s king sent messengers to find talented people, when the messenger arrived at Phu Dong village in Vu Ninh district, there was a three-year-old child, who told his mother to invite the messenger to come. The child said: “Messenger! Come and tell the king to cast an iron horse with full of viscera, in eighteen feet tall, also a pointed tip sword, on both sides carved with the imagines of the sun and moon, tigers and dragons rolling clouds, an iron rod in seven and three feet long with round head, square grip symbolizing of the heaven and the earth, also an iron hat in one and five thước (about 80cm) wide, with a pointed tip, a wide brim, as a shield, all the things must be so solid that they can be used to fight the enemy.” The king met all the reqirements from the child and appointed that miraculous child as the Bắc bình Phá lỗ General [北平破虜將軍 North-Pacifier and Forayers-destroyer General], Tổng đốc Binh mã Đô Nguyên súy [總督兵馬都元帥 Great Marshal of all the Army].

On his side, Hung King sent his Lạc hầu marquises to guard Văn Lang citadel, and his Lạc tướng generals sent their troops to support the Great Marshal. The Hung King troops of about 60,000 marched to Vu Ninh district, while the Yīn troops was stationed around Mount Trau Son. Being originally a child, then a general, the Great Marshal in over twenty feet tall, rode his horse to destroy the enemy, the Yīn troops died wildly, the rest begged for surrender and called the Great Marshal the Heavenly God. The Great Marshal rode his horse to Mount Ve Linh, took off his amor and flew back to heaven on the eighth of April. The king mourned and posthumously awarded him the title Dong Thien Than [Heavenly God Phu Dong] and ordered to build a temple for the God in his old village. And in fact, the Shì Luó Guǐ [Thi La Quy] troops is not the real Yīn, but the fake Yīn ones. During the Ly Dynasty, Heavenly God Phu Dong was ordained as Xung thien Than vuong [沖天神王 Flew-back-to-Heaven God]. (Vu Quynh 1993: 80-88). 

Therefore, from Thien Uyen Tap Anh [The Zen Garden of the Gathered Outstanding Figures] to Linh Nam Chich Quai [The Arrayed Tales of Selected Oddities from Linh Nam Land], it is very clearly that the building of the hero of Phu Dong Thien Vuong is a process of internalizing the power of Phu Dong. According to the book Thien Uyen Tap Anh, he was originally Vaisravana (वैस्रवण) Ty Sa Mon, whose Hinduism origin is Kuvera (कुबेर), having practiced asceticism for thousands of years, and was given Immortal by Brahma to preserve the treasures of the world. When introduced into Tibetan Tantra, Kuvera became Vaisravana, Ty Sa Mon, which Chinese Buddhism calls 多聞天王 Da Van Thien vuong, the protector of the Bodhgaya, who often listened to Buddha's teachings and thoroughly sympathized the sentient beings. He was also Lokapāla/ Dharmapāla - the Protector of the Buddhadharma. This Lokapāla protects the north of 閻浮提 Jambudvipa, the fourth tier of Mount Meru, governed two gods Yakṣas and Rakshasas and was also guardian for both the dvipas. The commonly-seen image of the God was the Heveanly King Vaisravana, who’s left hand holding a stupa, and the right hand holding a vajra - the treasured mace, his feet stepping on two demons. He was the god of punishing evil and promoting goodness, and he was also considered a bless-god. He was considered by Indians and Tibetans the God of Victory. In China, at the 敎王護國寺 Country-Protector Dharmarāja Temple under the Tang Dynasty, he was posited as a god-guardian of the capital, in the form of a god-statue wearing a durable armor and multi-cornered hat. During the time of Xuanzong of Tang (712-756 AD), that belief was very popular, especially in the Dun Hoang cave region (宋高僧傳 Biographies of Eminent Monks Compiled during the Song Period, Book 1). According to The Homa Ritual Procedures of the Vajra Pinnacle Yoga (剛頂瑜伽護摩儀軌) the seed (बीज bija) of Vaisravana (वैस्रवण/多聞天王 Da Van Thien vuong) is वै (vai), and the samaiya-gyō (三昧耶形) – the pratimā (प्रतिमा) symbol-image of him is vajra (वज्र)- the diamond mace. In Buddhist Tantrism, बीज bija is a Sanskrit word that represents Buddha, Bodhisattvas and the great disciples who taught the Tantras, which are words for tantric yogins to achieve the samadhi when practicing the Aksara-cakra, in which the बीज bija means that from one word many words can be born, and many words can be reduced into one word (大日經疏 Commentary on the Vairocana Sutra recorded by Yi Xing under the Tang in 20 scrolls, Volumes 1, 6, 10, 14). In our country, from the 10th to 12th centuries, Tantrism was very popular, therefore it wa understandable that the Dinh, Early Le, and Ly dynasties used Buddhism as an ideology, and Tantrism as an ideological tool to build the nation-state. And it is possible to bear witness to the internalized line from Kuvera - Vaisravana -多聞天王 Da Van Thien vuong and finally became Phu Dong Thien Vuong with a vajra - the diamond mace, whether made of iron or ivory bamboo during this period as recorded by Thien uyen Tap anh - The Zen Garden of the Gathered Outstanding Figures.

II. Phu Dong of Internal Sources

Up to the Tran Dynasty, Zen Buddhism increasingly developed and gradually replaced Tantrism, then the majesty, the pratimā and especially the power of Phu Dong could not be maintained in the way of the time when Tantrism was still prosperous under the Dinh (968-980 AD), Early Le (980-1009 AD), and Ly (1009-1225) dynasties. Therefore, the fathers of the Tran Dynasty ideology needed to find a way for interpretation of the power of Phu Dong from a refreshing and more sustainable perspective. Especially in the war against the Mongolian-Yuan aggressors, Tran Dynasty was very aware of the role of ordinary people. That was clearly shown in the historical record of Grand Prince – The Great General Commander of all the Army Tran Hung Dao's advice when King Tran Anh Tong came to the Van Kiep palace for visiting and making a consultation with him about the strategies against the Mongolian-Yuan invaders. The Great General said:

“Under the Dinh and Le Dinasties, the talented people were used, the uppers and the grassroots were in concensus of fighting invaders, people were not separated, and we built together strongly Binh Lo citadel and defeated the Song invaders... Just now, the enemy generals Sügetü (?–1285) and Omar had besieged the citadel on all four sides, but thanks to the concensus of the uppers and the grassroots, to the agreements of all the uppers and to the contributions of all the country, then the enemy have been captured... Besides, the way of treating people well in toleration for building the deep and sustainable roots in relationship with the grassroots must be considered the best strategy to preserve the country.” (Vietnam Social Science Committee 1985: 76-77).

Buddha-Emperor Tran Nhan Tong himself was also very close to the grassroots: “Emperor went out, met the mean servants to the royal families, always called at them for thoughtfully talking. He often reminded his bodyguards not to shout at those people, and not to forget the wartime in the dangerous situations, where by him only the servants stood, the Emperor appreciated their efforts, protected them, and gave that favor. (Ngo Thoi Sy, 1960: 212). That's why, the Great Historian Ngo Thoi Sy admires the Emperor and argues for: “When the water recedes, the new shore appears; when faced with bad luck, the kindness becomes clear; What a contrast! When ones are unscathed and when they are in dangers, people's temperament often changes in the situations... Twice the Emperor and his troops fought the Mongolian-Yuan aggressors off, he himself and his troops climbed mountains and waded the seas, he himself and his troops were resting their heads on the spears for short-sleeping in the mist. To those subordinates, the Emperor expressed his great love, of which a part he shared also to their mean servants. The Emperor is so gracious!.” (Ngo Thoi Sy, 1960: 212).

Especially, during the Later Le dynasty, going through the fighting against the Ming invaders with the soul of the resistance, hero Nguyen Trai, the grassroot-people's power was identified as the first and also the ultimate factor of victory: “People are identical to water: the people-water carries the power-boat and also the people-water capsizes the power-boat.” That is clearly shown through the 心攻 tâm công strategy - the psychological warfare in the Bình Ngô sách [Strategy against the Ming aggressors] that Nguyen Trai presented to his leader Le Loi, and was summarized into the motto of action in the Binh Ngo Dai Cao [The Emperor's Manifesto on the Great Victory to the Ming aggressors]: “That the great career of the King is to keep the peace for people… Promoting the great patriotism and resilience of all people for the victory to the Ming violent aggressors.” (Nguyen Trai 1976: 77, 79). Because it was written in the context where the role of the grassroots was more increasingly recognized as decisive for the direction of historical development, the book Linh Nam Chich Quai [The Arrayed Tales of Selected Oddities from Linh Nam Land] traced the source of the power of - Phu Dong Thien Vuong is more clearly in terms of the story, tracing deeper into the roots of the the grassroots, and further into the past, untill to the time of the sixth legendary Hung King.

But why is god Phu Dong a three-year-old child? This is a question that is not easy to answer if one that looks for the answer does not go beyond the normal biological conceptual framework of human life. Taking a symbolic approach, we can see that the child's mutative growth is a kind of latent power of the seed, or in Buddhist language, it is the power of a bija. For Buddhism, a bija is identical to grains that are born from seeds, and all physical phenomena known as sắc pháp [色法, रूपधर्म Rūpa-dharma] and tâm pháp [心法, चित्तधर्म Citta-dharma] are also produced by a nucleus, that is bija, the seed. Seeds of different types of cereals are called 外種子 wài zhǒng zǐ outer seeds; in contrast to the outer seeds, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra [The Discourse on the Theory of Consciousness-only] combines the seed into the Ālayavijñāna (阿賴耶識 Ālayavijñāna, Storehouse consciousness) to call it 內種子 nèi zhǒng zǐ the inner bīja or inner seed. The inner seed manifests the function of producing fruit to form present phenomena, just like seeds of plants that have the productivity of phenomena. In the Ālayavijñāna, the seed is the cause, the effect, and the ālaya is the result, the being (解深密經 Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra, Book 2; 成唯識論述記 Notes on the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra, Book 7). Thus, in terms of Buddhism, it is completely understandable that as a seed, the three-year-old child who could turn into the Vaiśravaṇa when he has had hetu-pratyaya the right conditions - that is, when all the necessary conditions were met. But it is common sense that the Yogācāra theory of bīja in the case of becoming extraordinary of a mutated child is really difficult to conceive. Therefore, the potential of Phu Dong should be, and could absolutely be related to the real experiences of ordinary people in observing the seeds incubated in the soil, after three months of cold winter, when spring comes, it will quickly grow into a sprout, a tree, then blossom and bear fruits. In that sense, Vaiśravaṇa Phu Dong is the result of dormancy phenomenon of the seed-child who did not speak or smile before meeting the hetu-pratyaya of the king's messenger for finding talented people to fight the enemy. And behind that process philosophy, the Giong/ Phu Dong festival seems to be an agricultural festival. In this regard, professor Tran Quoc Vuong made an important discovery. For him, the Giong Festival is really a fertility festival, an agricultural festival:

"The Soc [other nam of Phu Dong] Temple Festival is the Spring Festival, a type of Vietnamese agricultural festival. The philosophy of the Spring Festival is basically the philosophy of fertility: Meeting, lovemaking, and mating between girls and boys. At the Soc temple festival, there is a widespread performance of a symbolic artifact that the folk of that region call Hoa tre the bamboo flower or the pig's “legs” and belatedly explained as the horse-whip of Vaiśravaṇa Giong/Phu Dong... In fact, in the eyes of an ethnographer looking at the chopsticks stuck on the rice bowl placed on the coffin to worship the dead, professor Tu Chi and I immediately found out that it was a symbol of the penis as well as the no [penis] in the nõ-nường³ [linga-yoni] couple in the Di Nau Spring Festival (Vinh Phu province) and in many other places… The Giong Festival in April, the ninth of the lunar calendar is the ending festival of the Spring festivals, the leisure season, to enter the farming season, the April crop, is the beginning of the rainy season in Vietnam, the beginning of the agro-business season in the Northern Delta in the past… The Giong festival is the agricultural ritual performance…That is the activity of praying for rain. In Laos it is the Boun Pi Mai splashing water that takes place annually from the 13^th to the 15^th of April, and  in the Giong festival is the ritual of drawing water and carrying it to the temple for worshiping the God Vaiśravaṇa Giong/Phu Dong in April, the eight of the lunar calendar."  (Tran Quoc Vuong 1987).

III. Phu Dongs of the Vietnamese Power

The discovery by professor Tran Quoc Vuong seems to have reached an ontology of the Phu Dong festival, which is the internal development of the philosophy of fertility and the philosophy of seasonal festivals. But looking profoundly at some details of the festival, or rather at the very important heroes as the Phu Dongs of the festival, it can help us better interpret the source of strength of Phu Dongs in the story. They are still clearly present on the performance stage like those Daseins (Heidegger 1949) - even though the festival ended, they still refused to leave, still stand there, to have their identity and position in the Pantheon of the Four Vietnamese Immortals clearly interpreted. For these heroes, the interpretation of the philosophies of fertility and of agro-festivities reveals the reproductive ability of all things to meet the community's desire for prosperity, but still leaves the question about the overwhelming power of the Phu Dongs, who the festival truly perform. Because of a Phu Dong [singular] bija was turned to Phu Dongs [pluaral], then instead of calling the “hero of Dong village” by Professor Cao Huy Dinh (1969), I want to call them the heroes of Phu Dong village”. To me, those are not one person, they are many; the Phu Dong village’s festival is not a festival for one village, but the festival for many villages, they do not perform it for themselves but for the whole nation. It is truly the way based on that “Vietnam’s folk festivals became organized events celebrating patriotic heroism.” (Dinh Hong Hai 2019, p.38)

It is fortunate for those who observe the Phu Dong festival to have very detailed records by professor Nguyen Van Huyen. First of all, he makes us get along with him in thinking of his paper’s title Phu Dong Festival (A Miraculous Battle in Vietnamese Legend). The battle was performed not only by soldiers and generals, but firstly by cac ong Hieu (misters signalers), including flag-signaler, gong-signaler, big-drum-signaler, small-drum-signaler, main-force- signaler; all are covered with two parasols; in particular, the flag-signaler was covered with four parasols, because he symbolized the Heavenly General in the battle. Following to the parasols, warriors were going into battle in the hats to those attached mirrors and in their hands held on fans and whips. Another equally important thing is the flag with the word lenh [令 chinese word means command, officer, beauty, and kindness] rolled up and placed in a bag with 100 white paper-sheets, a thousand pieces of colored paper cut into butterfly shapes and 60 small pieces of Santalum album wood; and that flag bag was called mieu. It's a pity that Professor Huyen didn't tell us what mieu means? But in the traditional sense, mieu [媌] is referred to female beauty.

Related to the mieu, another set of heroes were played by beautiful girls, those stood in the generals of the Yin aggressors from the North. They were the virgins from 10 to 13 years old, there were 28 girls in total, among them were two marshals, a chief and a deputy, who had to be the most beautiful girls and should be choosen from Giap Ban – the powerful and rich quarter of Phu Dong village-community. Instead of wearing military uniforms, the “enemy generals” wore richly colored ao dai [traditional Vietnamese dress] and hats embroidered with flowers; along with swords and buntings, they also wore precious jewelry made of gold, silver and gems. The most interesting thing is that on the main-event ceremony day, 28 “enemy generals” were brought to gather at Dong Dam (the place of negotiations); they sat willowy on palanquins, under parasols, surrounded by relatives and female friends who continued to decorate those “enemy generals”. Along with the virgin “enemy generals” were another important things, those were three white mats with a bowl turning upsise down on a white piece of paper, which was explained as: the mat symbolizes the plain, the bowl represents the hills, and white paper is cloud. Not far from the three mats is an altar. The procession arrived with decorative palanquins on those were wooden white horses, weapons, banners and flags. The signalers gathered around the mat. After a 30-minute rest, at around 2.30 p.m., the symbolical battle began when the flag-signaler was entering the first mat nearby the altar. His wide sleeves were rolled up and tied them behind his back. The reputable patriarch of Phu Dong village under the assistance of the temple-watcher opened up the flag from the embroidered bag. Colored paper-butterflies and pieces of Santalum album wood flew out and the crowd rushed to scramble those amulets for good luck. After having flag-wavings in the symbolic graph of the word lenh [令], the flag-signaler walked backwards away from the mat and the crowd jumped upon again to fight for that mat, because just a piece of the mat, no matter how it was small, was enough powerful to cure one of the disease, especially infertile women could give birth if they snatched out a piece of that mat. A second battle was also performed on three other mats near the Mother-Temple and then the drastic fight for the mats took place again. In the end, two most beautiful “enemy generals” were symbolically executed, while the other generals surrendered and were spared their lives. The next day all those generals made offerings to the gods and were happy to partake a feast with our troops. “And so, all the world is at peace.” (Nguyen Van Huyen 1938, reprinted 1996a, pp. 9-25). In the end, professor Nguyen Van Huyen made very subtle, accurate and important comments: “This festival hides both moral and philosophical ideologies, in performing a harmony in both family and country. The festival also expresses a wish for the peace of the world by the Madhyamāpratipad ‘the Middle Way’. This is truly a festival of Peace and Happiness. The festival is full of symbols…” (Nguyen Van Huyen, 1938, reprinted 1996a, p. 26).

Looking back upon the performance based on the detailed notes by professor Nguyen Van Huyen, and on our limited knowledge, we believe that:

i) Among others, the Phu Dong festival re-presented a very significant event that happened since prehistoric times on both banks of Duong river, or more broadly, on two halves of the ancient Northern Delta of Vietnam – the northeast half and the southwest half; during the times, Duong river was the main flow of Red River, which the book Shuǐ Jìng Zhù [水經注] called Truong Giang (酈道元 Lì Dào Yuán 2005, p. 433), from the top Viet Tri of the Delta straight to the region of Luc Dau river where is the confluence of Red River, Thuong river, Cau river and Duong river, of those the names echo the Malay language of the Malayo-Polynesian language family, and of those the origins derived from the sea archaeological cultures of Soi Nhu, Cai Beo and Ha Long in Ha Long Bay Region (Ha Huu Nga 1999, 2004).

ii) The Phu Dong Festival certainly has elements of harvest festivity and fertility, but the main subject of the festival is not just harvest festivity and fertility. The heroes, props, rituals, and contents of ceremonies and festivities seem to be to remember and re-present certain historical events, involving at least two large communities that were under the process of being challenged, after conflicts, even long-standing wars, in order to find a common voice, a consensus, a process of peaceful coexistence, even though there were still small contradictions and conflicts.

iii) This type of event must have had a large scale, it could have been a memory recording the historical events of negotiations (shown through the details of Dong Dam - the place of negotiations) unifying two Mountain-Sea halves of the different cultures belonging to the civilization of Hung Kings Dynasties; or two halves of a tribal alliance to establish a unified pre-state form during the early Dong Son civilization; it could also be the event of seaborne Austronesian-speaking groups of moving deep into the land of ancient Mon-Khmer-speaking groups in the midlands and along the Northern Delta, which was gradually forming after the mid-Holocene sea-transgression around 5,000 – 4,500 years ago.

iv) The success of the negotiations to reach that consensus was depended on the great contributions and sacrifices of women: they could be hostages, gifts exchanged for property, land, and mainly in exchange for peace of the conflicting communities. They were the binding factor, and could become the most durable bridge for forms of alliance between tribes, inter-tribes to gradually form a unified ancient Vietnamese state. Therefore, it was very possible that their sacrifice or self-sacrifice (two virgin-generals were executed) compared to the survival rate to strengthen solidarity, build peace, and harmonize their ethnic group could have been compensated deservedly by the Phu Dongs’ overwhelming power for Vietnamese people.

v) In terms of historical phonetics, the words Phu Dong sound very familiar to Vietnamese people in particular and to Southeast Asian communities, and/or the Bach Viets [Baiyue, Hundred tribes of the Yue] in general. Although Phu Dong [夫董 fū dǒng] were Sino-Vietnamese characters, but those were Chinese characters transcripted from the ancient Vietnamese. Phu could be transcripted to, either the result of transcription of pù (breast), bù (breast), bu (breast, mother), bú (breast), vú (breast), VỢ (WIFE) etc. Dong could be transcripted to, either the result of transcription of đống (mount), trọng (weight), đùng (giant), khổng (erection), CHỒNG (HUSBAND), etc. It was very possible that the original meanings of Phu-Dong is the combination of VỢ-CHỒNG (WIFE-HUSBAND), a type of agreement, or more accurately, it was a type of social institution that created the overwhelming strength of two dual halves of tribe, and then it was recrystallized in the nuclear family with a wife and a husband.

IV. Phu Dongs and the Brothers-Sisters in the Philippines

The Philippines is home to 91 million people living on the archipelagoes of 7,100 islands divided into barangays nearby rivers or riparian communities. Tagalog, the basis of the Filipino national language, has the etymology “taga-ilog” which means people come “from the river”, synonymous with “dumagat” “from the sea” or “subanen” “belongs to the river”.

In prehistoric times, during the last phase of the Pleistocene and first phase of the Holocene, the global sea level was more than 120 m lower than it is today, people from the Philippines archipelagoes certainly had an close relationship with the inhabitants from the archaeological cultures of Soi Nhu, Cai Beo and Ha Long in Ha Long Bay Region of Vietnam. Currently, in some Austronesian-speaking communities in the Cordillera Administrative Region, the Philippines still exists the institution of Vochong [Pudong, Podong, Bodong, those name echo very the sound of Phu Dong], which is an institution committed to peaceful coexistence, forming an alliance between two human communities that have had contradictions, rivalries, conflicts, and wars with each other. The typologies of commitment varied widely across time and space, but of which the most notable were commitments to marriage in the form of that the members of two hostile tribes became husband and wife of each other to ensure the sustainability of the alliance and the lasting peace between two sides. That institution has already helped them bind with each other by a peace treaty, created the immediate and mutative strength of two communities previously inherently being suspicious and hostile to each others, and made them unite to gain the legendary power of Vaiśravaṇa Phu Dong. I believe it is possible that the Phu Dong festival is such a historical memory of our nation, and it has become a source of national strength.

Administrative Region Cordillera consists mainly of mountain ranges in the northern part of Luzon islands, including several provinces of Benguet, Abra, Kalinga, Apayao, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Baguio. The total area of the region is 18,300 km2. The people of this region are mainly mountain tribes, with a traditional lifestyle loosely tied to the federation. The official languages are English and Tagalog, but at home and in the community people only use their mother tongue. Like most Filipinos, the Cordillerans also believe that they are of mainland origin, possibly somewhere in South China and North Vietnam. (Bellwood, P. 1984, 1985; Blust R. 1984, 1985; Coedès G. 1968; Gaillard J.Ch. and Joel P. Mallari 2004; Ha Huu Nga 1999; Ma Guerrero Leon 1961; Solheim II, Wilhelm G. 2006; Spoehr, A . 1973; Vitales T. 2005).

The population of Administrative Region Cordillera on July the first, 2021 is 1,822,719 people, accounting for about 2% of the Philippines population. The Cordillerans belonged to an indigenous group, with their own customary laws being maintained in parallel with national laws, especially the blood laws related to killing. They considered the land sacred and the source of life, so there could be no such thing so-called as private ownership of land or sale of land. For them, losing land or land transfer was just like losing human life, because they believed that their ancestors have shed blood to protect their land against the colonialists. That's why the tribes here have built an alliance to oppose “development” projects in this region. The power of the Kalinga and Bontok people was most clearly demonstrated when they resolutely stopped the Chico River Dam project, potentially forcing thousands of people to relocate. Then the power of the Tinggian people was the key factor that forced the government to suspend the activities of Cellophil Resources Corporation, in the project of 200,000 hectares for timber exploitation and pulp raw material making, that was given to the President Marcos's crony, Mr. Herminio Disini in 1973. (Alipio A. J. Paul. 2006; Boyce, James K., 2002, p.113-114).

Indigenous groups used their traditional structures and socio-political processes, especially the commitment to peace pact, which the Kalinga called Podong/Bodong/Vochong. It is a social institution implemented among villages to ally with each other to reach peaceful solutions to economic, social and tribal conflicts. The peace pact could be broken due to a number of different factors, such as theft, killing, abuse of resources in other territories; peace would be restored when adequate compensation has been paid for complaints. For these areas there were the conflict management mechanisms mainly operated by relevant villages. The peace pact regime was a bilateral and multilateral agreement between two or more communities widespread developed in the indigenous communities of Kalinga, Mountain Province and Abra. (Castro Nestor T. 2015, pp. 59-86). During the resistance movement against the Chico and Cellophil projects, traditional multilateral peace pacts have been organized to build an inter-tribal consensus to unify many villages affected by those megaprojects. From the first Vochong Conference held in St. Bridgets in Quezon City in May 1975, after which Vochong conferences were periodically convened to expand and strengthen the movement opposing megaprojects for the Chico Dam construction. The incident reached its peak on April 24, 1980, when dictator Marcos’ army shot and killed the Kalinga tribe leader Macliing Dulag during a mass demonstration against the project, aiming to intimidate the people. From that day on, each year the Macliing’s death has been commemorated more and more widely in memory of the martyrs who gave their lives for the Cordilleran struggle and as an occasion to consolidate the Cordilleran mass movements. Since 1985, April 24 has been observed as the People’s Cordillera Day and every year the mass actions of the people have been led by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA). (Alipio A. J. Paul. 2006; Benedito, Roberto Medina 1994).  

In the epic of the Ifugaos, who built the world-famous terraced rice system, the Vochong institution was considered a miracle of survival that appeared after the battle between the armies of Aliguyon of Hananga region, and Pumbakhayon of Daligdigan region. The Vochong had left both warring sides without a loser. Aliguyon challenged to fight to Pumbakhayon with the lives of his family and everyone knew about the legendary strength of his enemy Pumbakhayon, but surprisingly he won. On his part, Pumbakhayon ran the risk of losing his divine power during the battle, but he himself emerged victorious and maintained his legendary reputation. That double victory happened precisely thanks to the help of the women, mothers, sisters, and younger sisters of Aliguyon and Pumbakhayon. (Santiago, L. Quindoza 2009). Between the battles, when the tribe's boys returned home to rest for regaining the strength, their mothers and sisters had the opportunity to persuade them to give up killing and return to the fields and crops. Both warring tribes also had desired every member of the tribe to be endowed with the reproductiveness, to maintain the breed and the tribe’s existence through marriage ceremonies between two warring sides by the Vochong institution. As a result, Aliguyon married Pumbakhayon’s older sister Bugan; and Pumbakhayon married Aliguyon’s younger sister Aginaya. The peace pact was consolidated and that was the inspiration for the Podong/ Vochong institution that Filipinos still maintain to this day. In the epic, the peace pact between Aliguyon and Pumbakhayon led to lasting peace among the Hannanga and Daligdigan communities in the mountainous region. They lived in harmony under the leadership of their legendary fathers, Aliguyon and Pumbakhayon. (Santiago, L. Quindoza 2009).

V. Phu Dongs and the Vochong Institution

First of all, to further clarify this issue, I would like to reiterate a research hypothesis that we have long built and pursued: Prehistorical communities belonging to the archaeological cultures of Soi Nhu (about 25,000 - 6,000 years ago), Cai Beo (about 6,000 - 4,000 years ago), and Ha Long (about 4,000-3,000 years ago) in the Ha Long Bay area and the surrounding coastal areas were the communities that lived by boat-buiding, raft-making, seafaring, sea exploitation; they had exchanged with the hunting - gathering - farming communities on the shore and connected ancient Vietnamese civilization with communities on remote islands. Those communities, who contributed to the creation of the Proto-Austronesian language family, were also ones among the ancestors of modern Austronesian communities; and those, who contributed to building the Austronesian-foundation in the proto-Vietic language, meant the Vietic of the Hung King era, of the Dong Son civilization. For me, the similarities of  vocabulary, phonetic elements, semantic elements and word order typology between the proto-Vietic and the Austronesian language family could be traced back to the mutual origins of those prehistorical communities.

It could be said that, the Vietic language of the Hung King era, the Vietic language of the Dong Son civilization, or in other words, the Vietic language before contact with Han culture, was basically Vietic with a vocabulary system imbued with strong elements of Austronesian language. And the mid-Holocene sea-transgression around 5000 - 4500 years ago was one of the causes of mass migration of coastal communities and tribes under the direct impact of that sea-elevation. It was those immigrants who contributed to the creation of the Austronesian cultures throughout the Central, Central Highlands and Southern Vietnam. And they also had transported cultural and linguistic elements of the Dong Son civilization to the Malaysian peninsula, the Indonesian archipelago and the Philippine archipelago. Of course, those processes were taken place throughout the history of two-way and multi-way cultural interactions and relations between mainland Southeast Asia, East Asia and Island Southeast Asia and beyond. During those historical processes, many ancient Vietnamese cultural and linguistic elements of the Dong Son civilization were preserved in the ethnic groups deriving from the Dong Son civilization, or having a deep relationship with the Dong Son civilization in island Southeast Asia, especially in remote mountainous areas which were less affected by foreign cultural elements during the process of Indianization and Western colonization in Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.

In that context, it could be assumed that the Vochong [Podong / Bodong] was also the institution that built peace pacts between many different communities during the Hung Kings’ era, which have had deep roots from the archaeological Hoa Binh, Bac Son, Soi Nhu cultures in the mountainous and sea regions of the Southwest, Northwest, Viet Bac, and Northeast of Vietnam converging to the ancient plain regions of Phu Tho, Son Tay, Vinh Phuc provinces, creating the first foundation of the Hung Vuong kings’ proto-states during the times of sea-elevation. Then, along with the retreat of the sea-level, they also gradually moved to the sea, exploiting the fertile central regions of the Northern Delta that was forming and creating the Dong Son civilization with the  Vochong [Podong / Bodong] regime there. And it was also this institution that contributed to uniting communities of different origins into the ancient Vietnamese proto-state of Hung Vuong, firstly in the Red River Delta, then it continued to spread to the Ma River Delta, Lam River Delta to the south and further regions to North Vietnam and the beyond. This institution made a turn in prehistoric nomadic polygamous societies, in which children were born to the mother and raised by all community, unsure of who their fathers were. Settled villages and wet-rice agriculture had gradually created an ancient Vietnamese civilization with stable family institutions, of which from the beginning probably were large families of partible paternity with mothers and partible fathers of the tribe or dual community through the Vochong institution, later large families gradually were splited into matriarchal families with one wife and one or more husbands; finally, there was the institution under that the monogamous family was appeared. 

In terms of historical linguistics, it is completely possible to identify the phonetic transcription from Podong to Phu Dong, from Vochong to Phu Dong, and vice versa from Phu Dong to Podong/Vochong (in Vietnamese Vochong = Wife-Husband). The Vochong/Phu Dong (Wife-Husband) institution was, therefore, originally a kind of peace pact, committing to an alliance for building a long-term peaceful life between two or more human communities in many forms, among those the form of collective marriage was taken advantage for creating the consensus between two and more communities. It might be that it was the profound semantic content of the Vietnamese popular idiom: Thuận vợ thuận chồng Bể Đông tát cạn (In consensus, a couple of wife-husband could make the sea dried-up.) In its original meaning, this idiom refers to the legendary power of the institution Vochong/Phu Dong/ Wife-Husband from prehistorical times, where scattered, contradictory, conflicting and even hostile human communities had committed to the Vochong institution to becoming a large, consensus and united community, and thanks to that, they have an unparalleled source of power to do even the extraordinary enterprise like that had been done by Vaiśravaṇa Phu Dong.

Certainly during the Hung King and later times, the Vochong institutions had been practiced and left their traces in the legendary stories related to the system of the waters (ponds, swamps, lakes were in fact parts of ancient rivers) supposedly as the footprints of God Phu Dong and his horse in different localities near by the home village of God Phu Dong in Bac Ninh province. Those were Binh Tan village (Thi Cau commune, Que Vo district), Mount Dam (Nam Son commune, Que Vo district), mount Dam (Thi Cau commune, Que Vo district), Mount Kham (Viet Doan commune, Tien Son district), Buoi Noi village (An Binh commune, Gia Luong district). The God’s footprints were also found around the suburbs of Ha Noi city: Mount Soc (Soc Son district); Ha Lo and Ha Phong villages (Lien Ha commune, Dong Anh district); Dong Do village (Nam Hong commune, Dong Anh district); Hoi Xa village (Gia Lam district), Trung Mau village (Gia Lam district), et cetera. (Cao Huy Dinh, 1969).

Besides localities related to the legend of god Phu Dong, it seems that the prehistorical Vochong institutions in the forms of Kết chạ, Kết nước nghĩa, Quan họ (the inter-village solidarity agreement, that in fact is other type of peace pact) also have left their traces in many places in the Northern Delta and midland provinces of Vietnam. In essence, the purpose of ancient customs of Kết chạ, Kết nước nghĩa were to form an alliance that binds two communities for generation by generation. Furthermore, the space of these customs almost completely coincided with the space where the stories of god Phu Dong took place, most popularly in provinces of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hanoi, and Vinh Phuc. Such typical inter-villages included: Cao Thuong-Lien Chung villages (Tan Yen district, Bac Giang province); Xuan Bieu-Cam Hoang villages; Nga Trai-Dong Lam villages (Hiep Hoa district, Bac Giang province); Phu Coc-Soi Coc villages (Pho Yen district, Thai Nguyen province). (Nguyen Khai Hoan 2011).

The above examples produce clear evidence of the prehistorical alliance-building institutions, that have existed for thousands of years in the Red river Delta of Vietnam. Over time, those institutions have the forms and contents changed a lot. There were the elements that have been exploited and developed into the strategies, or the arts of political alliances between communities and between countries, such as the royal marriages of Đai Viet - Champa, Đai Viet - Cambodia, Đai Viet – Laos. And throughout history of Vietnam, it was also popularly that kings had married their daughters off to the chiefs for alliance-building with different chiefdoms along the frontier regions. However, what is still preserved is its profound sense of power-building through peaceful alliances. And as time went on, the alliance-through-marriage strategy became less frequent, or transformed into hardly understandable forms. Instead, the regulations have been becoming more and more strictly ritualistic under the influence of Confucian ideology. That is most clearly shown through the unwritten rules of how two communities of Kết chạ, Kết nước nghĩa, or two young male-female groups of the Quan họ folk villagers-singers have considered each other as blood brothers-sisters. The rules were so adhered to that no cases of marriage had been taken place between the members of both sides. With this new strategy, the huge source of love-marriage impulse has been oriented towards mutual obligations and responsibilities between members of the alliance. Along with that process, the source of Phu Dongs’ powers was also hidden under many layers of disguise, and it could only be revealed through the Λόγος Αποφαντικός Logos Apophantikos – explicit semantic interpretation - the phrase used by Heidegger (Sheehan T. 1988, pp. 67-80).

Words for the End

It is accurately said that things are many but words are few. Therefore, the homonyms have been widely found in all languages, especially in ancient languages where were limited numbers of vocabulary, with which people use to express countless moving, proliferating things around and related to themselves. Surely the words Phu Dong are no exception to that rule. Therefore, with this small paper, I would like to search for and piece together very fragile clues of some ancient language fragments left somewhere in the Malayo-Polynesian language groups in order to slowly step towards the edge of profound and innermost abyss of the Viet soul, that is the eternal mystery of one among the most transcendent images of Four Immortals of the nation - God Phu Dong. I would venture to think that the reason why he is immortal because he is the symbol of the source of power that unites all disparate, even hostile human communities into one nation; he is also the invisible substance that creates couples, families, husbands and wives and the everlasting descendants of this nation. He is the only god that blends family and community, home and country, love and peace, the happiness of everyday life and the immortality of the magnificent enterprises of nation- defense and people-protection. He is the only god that is constantly creating, proliferating and flourishing with Vietnamese people, because he is the source of sacred power that is nourished by the milk of the Viet mothers whose whole lifes were intended for growing eggplants, cultivating rice, weaving cloth, raising children to have him, to take care of him, to be embodied into him to become Phu Dongs, to become Husbands and Wifes, to become Home, to become Country, to become Peace, to become Harmony, to become Prosperity, and to become Immortal.

_________________________________________

Nguồn: Hà Hữu Nga (2012). Phù Đổng - cội nguồn sức mạnh Việt. Tiếng vọng Kattigara, thứ Ba, 22 tháng 5, 2012.

Notes

1. For 864 years (968 - 1832) of the official relationship and wars between Dai Viet and the different polities of Champa, tens of thoudsands of prisoners of wars, surrendered soldiers, and civilians, including a number of Champa aristocrats, scholars, and monks had been brought to live in different regions in and around the capital Thang Long. Those people made significant contributions to the Dai Viet's royal and folk cultures, including various so-called Dam tu (shrines worshiping lewd-goddesses) and No Nuong (linga-yoni) folk performance festivals.    

2. Dâm từ: Shrines worshiping lewd-goddesses have found a number in the capital Thang Long and surronding areas, among those there were the system of Ba Banh temples, in fact worshing the lotus-headed Hindu goddess Lajja Gauri. (Đinh Hồng Hải 2021, p.229-244)

3. Nõ-nường couple: the linga-yoni couples were popularly perfomed in folk-festivals of Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Son Tay provinces, north and north-west to the capital Thang Long.

List of terminologies

1. Bắc bình Phá lỗ Tướng quân: 北平破虜將軍 Běipíng pòlǔ Jiāngjūn, North-Pacifier and Forayers-destroyer General

2. Bija: Chủng tử बीज 種子 Zhŏngzí, Used as a metaphor for the origin or cause of things.

3. Dâm Từ: Lewd-goddesses Shrine, Shrine worshiping lewd-goddesses

4. Dharma: Phật pháp धर्म 佛法 Fófǎ, Buddha’s Teachings

5. Dharmapāla: Thần Hộ pháp धर्मपाल 護法神 (Hù fǎ shén), Protector of Buddha’s Teachings

6. Đa văn Thiên vương: 多聞天王 (Duō wén Tiānwàng), Heavenly King

7. Giáo vương Hộ quốc tự: 敎王護國寺 Jiàowàng Hùguósì, Country-Protector Dharmarāja Temple under the Tang Dynasty in China

8. Guhyapāda-vajra: Môn Thần गुह्यपदवज्र, 門神 (Ménshén) Gate Protector of Buddha’s Teachings

9. Hội Gióng:  Giong Festival, Festival of Phu Dong village

10. Jambudvipa: जम्बुद्वीप, 閻浮提 (Yán fú dī), Name of Greater India in Ancient Indian sources.

11. Jetavana: Kỳ viên जेतवन, 祇园 (Qí yuán), Name of the grove near Śrāvastī, where Buddha promulgated his doctrines.

12. Kết chạ: Peace Pact between two small villages

13. Kết nước nghĩa: Peace Pact between two large villages

14. Kim cương đính Du già Hộ ma Nghi quỹ: 金剛頂瑜伽護摩儀軌 Jingang Ding Yujia Hu Mo Yi Gui, Homa Ritual Procedures of the Vajra Pinnacle Yoga

15. Kubera/ Kuvera: कुबेर, God of wealth, and god-king of the Yakshas in Hinduism.

16. Lokapāla: लोकपाल, Four Heavenly Kings, Guardians of the directions

17. Madhyamāpratipad: माध्यम प्रतिपद्, 中道 (Zhōngdào), The Middle Way

18. Maṭhādhipati: मठाधिपति, Abbot

19. Nārāyaṇa: नारायण, One of the forms and epithet of Vishnu.

20. Nõ – nường: Linga-yoni couple, Folk-Festival for Linga-yoni couple performance

21. Phù Đổng: Name of Phu Dong The Heavenly King; Name of Phu Dong village

22. Phù Đổng Thiên Vương: Name of God Phu Dong The Heavenly King

23. Pudong/Podong/Vochong (The Kalinga words): Peace Pact through marriage (ancient meaning)

24. Pratimā: प्रतिमा, Samaiya-gyō 三昧耶形 (Sānmèi Yéxíng), Symbolic image

25. Quan họ: Folk-festival with the face-to-face male-female groups of villagers performed affectionate folk-songs

26. Sóc Thiên vương: Soc Heavenly King, (Other name of Phu Dong The Heavenly King)

27. Tăng thống: Saṅgharāja सङ्घराजा

28. Thánh Gióng: Saint Giong, Other name of Phu Dong The Heavenly King

29. Tổng đốc Binh mã Đô Nguyên súy, 總督兵馬都元帥 (Zǒngdū Bīngmǎ Dū yuán shuài) Great Marshal of all the Army of Dai Viet in medival times.

30. Tỳ Sa Môn Thiên: Vaiśravaṇa वैश्रवण, 毗沙門天 (Píshāméntiān), Heavenly King

31. Vajra: वज्र, Kim cương chử, the diamond mace, or thunderbolt, the most powerful weapon in Tantric Buddhism.

32. Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Kinh Kim cương, वज्रच्छेदिका प्रज्ञापारमिता- सूत्र 金剛般若波羅密多經 (Jīngāng Bānruò Bōluó mìduō jīng), Vajra Cutter Sutra, Diamond Sutra

33. Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra विज्ञप्तिमात्रतासिद्धि,  Thành Duy thức luận, 成唯識論 (Cheng weishi lun), The Discourse on the Theory of Consciousness-only

34. Xung thiên Thần vương: 沖天神王 (Chōngtiān Shénwàng), The Flew-back-to-Heaven God

35. Yakshas: यक्ष Quỷ Dạ-xoa, Guardian deities in Hinduism, Jain and Buddhism.

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