The Cham of Vietnam

Ky Phuong, Tran, Lockhart, Bruce

Published by NUS Press Pte Ltd

Ky Phuong, Tran. and Lockhart, Bruce.

The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art.
Singapore: NUS Press Pte Ltd, 2011.
Project MUSE. Web. 7 Jul. 2015. http://muse.jhu.edu/.

For additional information about this book

http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9789971695842

Access provided by University of Queensland (15 Nov 2015 02:26 GMT)

 c h a p t e r 13
A Study of the Almanac of the
Cham in South-Central Vietnam
Yoshimoto Yasuko

Anthropological research has in many cases abandoned the attempt to

represent an ethnic group or its culture as essentialized or homogeneous.
Numerous works on ethnic groups in Vietnam, however, still tend to adopt
such an approach. The Cham in south-central Vietnam, which I examine
in this paper, have also been monolithically described as an essentialized
group that still maintains the orthodox Champa culture.
People who are regarded as Cham also reside outside Vietnam
in countries such as Cambodia, Malaysia, France, the United States and
Japan, and their cultural features and way of life vary from place to place.
Even the Cham in Vietnam are divided into three main sub-groups on
the basis of region, each of which has different cultural features. Those
living around the old Panduranga area now known as Ninh Thun and
Bnh Thun provinces, referred to as South-Central Cham in this
paper, follow a mixture of beliefs comprising Brahmanistic, Islamic
and/or animistic elements, while those living around the Mekong Delta
(primarily in An Giang and Ty Ninh provinces and H Ch Minh City)
are predominantly Sunni Muslim. The third group, living around Bnh
nh and Ph Yn provinces are called Chm Hroi; under the Republic
of Vietnam they were considered as a separate Hroi ethnic group,
but with the ofcial list of ethnic groups promulgated by the Socialist

323

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 324 Yoshimoto Yasuko

Republic of Vietnam in 1979 they were reclassied as a sub-group of the

Cham. This group practices animism with no inuence from Hinduism
or Islam.
In general, the Cham are recognized as the descendants of the
inhabitants of Champa. However, it is a fallacy to suppose that all Cham
share this particular common identity. Cham vary not only in terms of
their dwelling places and cultural features, but also in terms of the basis of
their identity. According to Rie Nakamura, while the South-Central Cham
do associate their ancestry and culture with Champa, those in the Mekong
Delta dene their Chamness in terms of Islam.1
This paper will use the term the Cham to refer collectively to
all of the different sub-groups in Vietnam. I make a distinction, how-
ever, between the Cham as an ofcial category in Vietnam and those
Cham who are generally recognized as the descendants of Champa.
The Cham, no matter how they vary, have been substantialized in the
course of the integration of the modern nation-state in twentieth-century
Vietnam. Through research to determine the ofcial list of ethnic groups
(dn tc) in Vietnam, the Cham have been accorded the status of one
of the countrys 54 dn tc, classied as such on the basis of three
features: culture, language and ethnic identity.2 Various policies targeting
them have been initiated since the 1970s.
Non-Cham scholars and ofcials in Vietnam, and some Cham
intellectuals, describe the South-Central Cham as the group that still
maintains the orthodox culture of Champa, as mentioned earlier a
description which corresponds to narratives found among this particular
group. According to some Cham intellectuals, their almanac demonstrates
that their society has preserved this culture in its most orthodox form.
Such a perspective leads to a monolithic and essentializing description of
this group as having retained orthodox Champa culture. Colonial and
post-colonial scholarship has included several studies of the Cham calendar
and almanac.3 Although those studies provided systemic explanations
or symbolic classications, they did not substantially examine how the
almanac relates to Cham society. This chapter will examine the almanac
in its social and cultural context in order to provide an ethnographic
description and to explore the dynamism of this particular facet of Cham
culture at a local level.
As discussed below, a study of the almanac in its social context
will elucidate the diversity based on locality within South-Central Cham
society, as well as the processes by which local identity is connected to
ethnic identity and by which culture at the community level is related

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 Almanac of the Cham 325

to orthodox Cham culture within the framework of the state. In other

words, this study aims to examine the formation of the Cham cultural
identity as a consequence of interaction between people and the state.
In the following sections, I will rst describe the symbolic dualism used
by South-Central Cham intellectuals to explain the attributes of Cham
orthodoxy. Second, I will attempt to sketch the system and the symbolic
classications which appear in the almanac. Finally, I will explore the
calendar in its social and cultural context through a case study in Ninh
Thun and Bnh Thun provinces.

SYMBOLIC DUALISM IN SOUTH-CENTRAL

CHAM SOCIETY
At present, there are approximately 130,000 Cham living in Vietnam,
and the South-Central Cham constitute more than half of this population
(87,000). There are two main subgroups, usually called by Vietnamese
scholars and ofcials (Chm) Balamon and (Chm) Bani respectively.4
These two groups usually inhabit separate villages; intermarriage, although
not explicitly forbidden, is rare, and is in fact said to have been formerly
taboo. Both groups are matrilineal and conform to the practice of matrilocal
residence. Ever since the colonial period, French and Vietnamese researchers
on the Cham in this region have pointed out such religious complexities
as the co-existence of Brahmanism and Islam with ancestor worship and
spirit cults. Most scholars have described the Balamon form of worship
as indigenized Hinduism and that of Bani as indigenized Islam.5 This
perspective thus regards the Balamon and Bani as two distinct religious
groups, each with its own belief system.
By contrast, some recent studies have proposed that the Balamon and
Bani are not distinct religious groups, but rather two different categories
or subgroups belonging to the same religious system.6 This interpretation
appears to be shared by several local intellectuals and religious leaders
among the South-Central Cham. According to them, such an interpretation
is supported by the two opposing concepts of Awal and Ahier. These are
words of Arabic origin meaning beginning and last respectively, but
they are used with different meanings in Cham society. Awal and Ahier
indicate a relationship between Bani and Balamon respectively, and also
between female and male, mother and father, the moon and the sun, the
West and the East, and so on. In other words, the notion of Awal and
Ahier is what we refer to as symbolic dualism.7

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 326 Yoshimoto Yasuko

This notion is frequently invoked by Cham intellectuals to explain

not only their understanding of their own religious system but also the
reason why Cham society is so harmonious and unied despite the past
introduction of Islam subsequent to Hinduism.8 During my eldwork
in 1996 in Ninh Thun, some Cham intellectuals expressed their belief
that the notion of Awal and Ahier was perhaps created during the reign
of King Po Rome (162751). Po Rome is reputed to have attempted to
establish amicable relations between the Bani and Kar groups, which
were antagonistic to each other at the time. (The term Kar, derived from
the Arabic word meaning indel or unbeliever, is occasionally used
by the South-Central Cham to refer to the Balamon.) They also explain
that it is the notion of Awal/Ahier that makes possible the coexistence of
two different religious elements within one ethnic group and, in fact, that
this duality is the basis for orthodox Cham culture. The almanac, which is
used by both the Bani and Balamon communities, is just one example of
orthodox Cham culture; it is also described as the symbol of unication
between Bani and Balamon.

SYSTEM AND SYMBOLISM OF THE ALMANAC

It has been argued that a calendar based on the aka era (beginning in
the year 78 CE) was already in use among the Cham by around the sixth
century. This Champa calendar, called Saka Raja, is considered to have
been introduced from India.9 The almanac of the Cham discussed in
this paper is called Sakawi Cham or Sakawi; it is distinct from the
Saka Raja just mentioned. According to previous studies, Sakawi Cham
is a unique calendar that was amalgamated with the Islamic calendar
following the acceptance of Islam into Champa society. One Cham
intellectual inferred that the Sakawi Cham may have been created during
the reign of King Po Rome (162751) by merging the Indian-derived Saka
Raja with the Islamic calendar.10 However, the exact date of its invention
is unknown.
Sakawi Cham is more akin to a set of revolving cycles of days, weeks,
months and years, rather than a calendar that counts year by year. Sakawi
Cham is in fact a generic term for two different calendrical systems, one
a cycle based on lunisolar observation and the other a cycle based on lunar
observation. In local terminology, the rst is called Sakawi Awal and the
second Sakawi Ahier. Generally speaking, Sakawi Ahier is used by both
Bani and Balamon to determine the days for performing marriage rites

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 Almanac of the Cham 327

and agricultural rites and by the latter for their own religious ceremonies
such as Kate. (The most important ceremony of the year for Balamon,
Kate is held in the seventh month of Sakawi Ahier. Its main function is
the worship of ancestors, including former rulers like Po Klong Girai and
Po Rome.) Sakawi Awal, on the other hand, is used primarily by Bani to
determine the days for their own religious ceremonies, such as Suk Yang
and Suk Ramuwan.

Table 1 Ritual Cycle in a Bani Village in Bnh Thun

(August 2002September 2003)

Months
Western Sakawi
Climate months Awal Ahier Ritual practices
8 6 3 Suk Yang/Ndam likhah
rainy (Marriage)
7 4 Suk Yang (in other villages)
8 5 Mak hreh (Visiting graves)
11 9 6 Ramuwan/ Bang muk kei
(serving ancestors)
10 7
2 11
dry 8
12 9 Suk Waha/Ngak karek
(Puberty rite)
5 1 10 Suk Amuran
2 11
3 12
Rainy 4 1 Rija Nagar
5 1
6 2 Suk Yang/ndam likhah
(Marriage)
7 3 Suk Yang

Lunisolar Calendar (Sakawi Ahier)

The lunisolar calendar is called Sakawi Ahier. A normal year consists of
354 days with 12 months; the length of each month is either 29 or 30 days,

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 328 Yoshimoto Yasuko

with an extra day added at the end of a leap year. Sakawi Ahier also
appears to be utilized as an agricultural almanac: people traditionally
ascertain the correct time at which cultivation should commence by
observing the movement of the stars. The days in a month are counted
not from the 1st to the 30th but from the 1st to the 15th for the rst half
of the month (from new moon to full moon), and again from the 1st to
the 15th for the second half (from full moon to new moon). The period
of the rst half is locally referred to as Bingun and that of the second half
is called Kanam. Bingun and Kanam are symbolically classied as Ahier
and Awal respectively. Additionally, each day of the seven-day week is
also classied as Awal or Ahier, as listed in Table 2. This structure has
enabled the people to decide on Wednesday as the most suitable day for
the marriage ritual or the act of building a new house, both of which are
related to the aspect of creation.
Sakawi Ahier also has a 12-year cycle called Nthak, which is a
concept similar to that of the 12 animal zodiac signs found in many Asian
cultures (Table 3).

Table 2 A Seven-day Week

Chamic name English name Awal/Ahier classication
Adit Sunday Ahier
Thom Monday Ahier
Angar Tuesday Ahier/most important for Ahier
But Wednesday Amalgamation of Ahier/Awal
Jip Thursday Awal
Suk Friday Awal/most important for Awal
Thanchar Saturday Awal

Table 3 Nthak (12-year cycle)

1st month Tikuh Rat 7th month Athaih Horse
2nd month Kubao Buffalo 8th month Pabaiy Goat
3rd month Rimaong Tiger 9th month Kra Monkey
4th month Tapay Rabbit 10th month Manuk Cock
5th month Inagirai Dragon 11th month Athau Dog
6th month Ulanaih Snake 12th month Papwiy Boar

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 Almanac of the Cham 329

The Lunar Calendar (Sakawi Awal)

The Cham adopted the Arabic system of 12 lunar months. The name given
to each month is derived from Arabic, but the Chamnized pronunciation is
generally used. The length of the months is either 29 or 30 days. Although
a normal year consists of 354 days, one day is added at the end of the
leap year in order to compensate for the actual length of time taken for
one rotation of the moon. The Islamic lunar calendar normally sets up
11 leap years for every 30 years; on the other hand, the lunar calendar of
the Cham sets three leap years for every eight years, which is similar to
a type of lunar year adopted in Java and Aceh.11 The eight-year cycle is
called Ikessarak in Cham; the name given to each year is derived from
a system of Arabic letters used in counting (Table 4). Ikessarak repeats
its eight-year cycle in combination with a seven-day week and a 29- or
30-day month.
Those responsible for developing the Sakawi have prepared diagrams
that show the combination of a seven-day week, a month and each year
of Ikessarak; a translated version of this is presented in Table 5. This
diagram is used to determine the days suitable for the performance of
Bani rituals such as Suk Ahram, organized every year on the rst Friday
of Amu haram (the rst month); Suk Ramuwan, organized every year for
one month from the rst of Ramuwan (the ninth month); and Suk Waha,
organized every year, 100 days after Ramuwan, which is around the 10th
of Kaleh Waha (the 12th month). Related to those rituals, there are certain
taboo periods during which people are forbidden from killing animals,
eating esh, having sexual intercourse, etc.

Table 4 Ikessarak (eight-year cycle)

Year Name Pattern 1 Pattern 2

1 Lieh Normal Leap
2 Hak Leap Normal
3 Jim Normal Leap
4 Jay Normal Normal
5 Dal Leap Normal
6 Bak Normal Leap
7 Wao Normal Normal
8 Jim Luic Leap Normal

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 330 Yoshimoto Yasuko

It can be said that Sakawi Awal is more relevant for the Bani; however,
the Balamon also acknowledge it because it relates to the leap year of
Sakawi Ahier. It is also related to Balamon customs to the extent that while
the taboo period is in effect for the Bani, the Balamon must also desist
from killing animals during their rituals or ceremonies. However, this
custom is not always followed by every Cham community. Some religious
leaders complain about this situation, stating that Bani and Balamon are
not as respectful of each other as they were before.
Table 5 shows the rst day of each month as well as the leap years.
The year Lieh starts from Suk, which is the rst day of the rst month of
the rst year of Ikessarak, or Friday. This table also shows three leap years
Hak, Dal and Jim Luic which represent the second, fth and eighth
years respectively of the Ikessarak. While the rule stating that Ikessarak
commences from Friday appears to be common knowledge among the
Cham leaders, the matter of setting the leap year in Ikessarak has proven to
be problematic. To the best of my knowledge, at least two different patterns
are used to interpret the leap year (Table 4) within Bani communities. An
interpretation like Pattern 1 corresponds to Table 5. However, there are
other interpretations, like Pattern 2, in which leap years are set on the
rst, third and sixth years of Ikessarak. One explanation of the method of
setting leap years like in Pattern 2 is as follows:
There is a principle that each religious leader has to calculate the leap
year from the 20th midnight of Ramuwan. That is, if the 20th midnight
of Ramuwan does not correspond to the rst day of the rst month
of the following year, otherwise the year is considered to be a leap
year. For example, the 20th midnight of Ramuwan of the year Lieh
is a Tuesday, which corresponds to the rst day of the rst month of
the year of Hak, hence the year of Hak is considered to be a normal
year. On the other hand, the 20th midnight of Ramuwan in the year of
Hak is a Saturday, which does not correspond to the rst day of the
rst month of the year Jim, Sunday, hence the year Jim is considered
to be a leap year.12

Naming of Years
As mentioned above, the Sakawi era does not have a system of continuous
dating for years. Therefore, people generally use the Western dating system
to represent a year on the printed Sakawi calendar owned by the Cham
intellectuals and religious leaders. Furthermore, people also represent the
Sakawi year with a set of appellations of Ikessarak of Sakawi Awal and

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13 ChamViet.indd 331
Table 5 Diagram of Sakawi Awal

Month

Added day
12 (Kaleh Waha)
11
10
9 (Ramuwan)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1 (Amu haram)

Ikessarak

Tho Tha Suk But Ang Dit Tha Jip But Tho Dit Suk Lieh
Tha Suk But Ang Dit Tha Jip But Tho Dit Suk Jip Ang Hak
But Tho Dit Suk Jip Ang Tho Tha Suk But Ang Dit Jim
Dit Suk Jip Ang Tho Tha Suk But Ang Dit Tha Jip Jay
Suk Jip Ang Tho Tha Suk But Ang Dit Tha Jip But Tho Dal
Ang Dit Tha Jip But Tho Dit Suk Jip Ang Tho Tha Bak
Tha Jip But Tho Dit Suk Jip Ang Tho Tha Suk But Wao
Jip But Tho Dit Suk Jip Ang Tho Tha Suk But Ang Dit Jim Luic
Notes: Dit (Adit) = Sunday; Tho (Thom) = Monday; Ang (Angar) = Tuesday; But = Wednesday; Jip = Thursday; Suk = Friday; Tha
(Thanchar) = Saturday.

1/17/11 11:35:23 AM
 332 Yoshimoto Yasuko

Nathak of Sakawi Ahier, such as Thun (year) Kra (Monkey) Jay

for the year 2004, or Thun Manuk (Chicken) Dal for the year 2005
(Table 6).

Table 6 Names Given to Years

2000 Inagrai Jim Luic 2004 Kra Jay

2001 Ulanaih Lieh 2005 Manuk Dal
2002 Athaih Hak 2006 Atau Bak
2003 Pabaiy Jim 2007 Papawiy Wao

MULTIPLE EXPERTS ON SAKAWI IN CHAM SOCIETY

Most ordinary people are aware of the wedding season or the seasons
for particular rituals based on their own experience. In their daily life,
however, they are not concerned with what day it is according to the Cham
calendar and generally use the Western or Vietnamese lunar calendars
instead. During my eld research in the south-central region, I observed
intellectuals making copies of handwritten or printed Sakawi, but I never
saw the printed Sakawi hung up on a wall for regular use in the way
we would display a calendar. Sakawi Cham is a tool mainly used by the
intellectuals and religious leaders; it provides information and guidance
for organising cultural events.
There is no single unit or person authorised to resolve issues
concerning the Sakawi. Several experts can be found in each area or
religious community. In the case of Bani, the villages highest-ranking
priest, called Po Gru, has a say in such matters. Therefore, whenever
people intend to organize a marriage or puberty ritual or build a new
house, they seek the advice of the Po Gru or someone else in his place
to determine the proper time for the event. Thus a village functions as a
ritual unit under the Po Gru. There are at least ten Po Gru in Bnh Thun
and seven in Ninh Thun, corresponding to the number of villages. In
exceptional cases, such as when the former Po Gru is too old to conduct
all the rituals, a village can have more than one Po Gru.
Among the Bani communities in Bnh Thun, a person known as the
On Yew is chosen as the most prominent Po Gru. The On Yew has the
power to decide on every matter related to Bani religious practices and
customs, as well as Sakawi, within the entire province. In recent years, this

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 Almanac of the Cham 333

power has been vested in him by the provincial ofce of the Fatherland
Front (Mt trn T quc, the State organization which oversees religious
activities), and he is a member of that organization. As a representative
of the Bani communities, he plays an active role on occasions such as
ofcial meetings for improving or preserving traditional culture. Therefore,
it is the On Yew who makes the nal decisions on Sakawi within the Bani
community in Bnh Thun, even though each Po Gru exercises authority in
his own village. In Ninh Thun, by contrast, there is no On Yew or anyone
equivalent in prominence among the Bani community. Another difference
is that while the Bani in Bnh Thun hold an annual ceremony called Suk
Yang, those in Ninh Thun celebrate it only during leap years. So far no
explanation can be found for these differences.
In the case of the Balamon, the highest-ranking religious expert, Po
Dhia, is authorized to decide matters relating to religious rituals as well
as Sakawi. Unlike the Bani Po Gru, a Po Dhia does not exist in each
village; there is only one for all of Bnh Thun province. In Ninh Thun,
three people have equal authority to decide on matters concerning Sakawi;
however, I am uncertain whether they are all Po Dhia.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE ALMANAC WITHIN

CHAM SOCIETY
The existence of several different people empowered to make decisions
regarding the Sakawi Cham has given rise to controversy. As mentioned
earlier, it is often represented as a symbol of unity in Cham society;
however, in practice, there is no unied method of calculation for this
calendar. I will rst present an example of the controversy between
Balamon and Bani in Bnh Thun. There is a one- or two-month gap in
the representation of the Sakawi Ahier between the two groups, and this
gap caused a problem on the occasion of a marriage between a Bani boy
and a Balamon girl. According to Cham custom, marriage is permitted
during the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th months of Sakawi Ahier, and both the
Bani and Balamon still follow this custom. However, the 6th month of
Sakawi Ahier in the girls village corresponded to the 8th month in the
boys village. Their families requested one leader from each community
to nd the best solution to this problem, but they were unable to reach
an agreement as to the proper day for the marriage. Eventually, the young
couple just held a party to announce their marriage to the public, and they
did not perform the traditional wedding ritual.

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 334 Yoshimoto Yasuko

The disunity in the Sakawi has been revealed not only between
the two religious groups but also within the same group. For example,
there was a two-month gap between the Balamon communities in Bnh
Thun and Ninh Thun, so they used to celebrate the Kate the biggest
annual Balamon ceremony, held on the 1st day of the 7th month in
Sakawi Ahier on different days. This disunity was not in accordance
with the governments view that all members of an ethnic group should
celebrate the groups traditional ceremony together. Therefore, in 1987
a meeting was organized under the direction of the local government
in order to ensure that all the Balamon people would celebrate Kate on
the same day. Following this meeting, the two-month gap between the
Sakawi Ahier in the two provinces was resolved. However, it is said that
this solution created another gap in the Sakawi Ahier, this time between
Bani and Balamon in Bnh Thun.
Moreover, there has been polarization within the Bani community
in Ninh Thun over the xing of the leap year. As mentioned above,
the Bani in that province celebrate a ceremony called Suk Yang in every
leap year; however, the two sides organized the ceremony in different
years. Therefore, in 2001 a meeting was held in Ninh Thun to rectify this
difference. At the Suk Yang ceremony the following year, it was ofcially
announced that the two sides had resolved the problem and that the
Sakawi Cham in Ninh Thun was totally unied.13 However, in 2003,
some people were still in disagreement. Although several similar meetings
have been held to unify the Sakawi Cham, debate over this issue is still
ongoing among the South-Central Cham.

CONCLUSION
As mentioned in the introduction, the South-Central Cham have been
monolithically represented in previous ethnographic descriptions. The
Sakawi Cham has been regarded, both within and outside the community,
as a part of orthodox culture that has been inherited from the traditional
culture of Champa. I have examined the Sakawi Cham based on
observations made through eld research in order to understand it from
local perspectives. Sakawi Cham, which is used among the members
of both the Bani and Balamon communities, is depicted in intellectual
narratives as a symbol of unication between the two groups, the
relation between the two groups being explained through the notion of
Ahier and Awal. Nevertheless, in practice, the Sakawi Cham itself is not

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 Almanac of the Cham 335

unied, and the different interpretations have led to controversy within

the Cham society. This situation has persuaded the local government
to commit to reunifying the calendar in this region. Subsequently, an
orthodox culture has been created by interaction between the members
and the local government, as in the case of Kate, based on the idea
that a particular ethnic group should celebrate its traditional ceremonies
all together.
The diverse representations of the Sakawi Cham by different authori-
ties appear to reect localities or local identities within South-Central
Cham society. Although I was unable to provide a specic example of
this, the local identity in those smaller areas can be conrmed through the
narratives of the members. A previous work mentions that discrepancies
in the Sakawi Cham have existed for hundreds of years.14 Indeed, the
differentiation among the Cham people in this area, such as that recognized
in the old names of places like Parang, Kroang, Parik and Pajai, appears
to have existed for a long time. The various narratives on the Sakawi
Cham present an important unifying cultural element that helps people
to conrm their Cham identity within the framework of the state. At the
same time, however, it has also been a divisive factor between different
communities. In the end, it can be said that the controversy surrounding
the Sakawi continues to provide an opportunity for the people to conrm
their distinctive cultural identity.

Notes
1. Rie Nakamura, Cham in Vietnam: Dynamics of ethnicity, Ph.D. diss.,
University of Washington, 1999.
2. The current number of ethnic groups and the three criteria for classication
were dened only in 1979. For a discussion of the historical evolution of
the Cham ethnic category, see Yoshimoto Yasuko, Minzoku hanchu to
Chamu hyosho: Betonamu no jirei kara [Ethnic category and representation
of Cham in Vietnam], Popurusu [Populus] 1 (2002): 4476.
3. For example, tienne Aymonier and Antoine Cabaton, Dictionnaire cam-
franais (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1906), pp. xxixxxxi; Nguyn Khc Ng,
Kho cu lch Chm [A study of the Cham calendar], Vn-ha -Chu
[Asian Culture] 1 (1958): 5165; Trng Vn Mn, Lch ngi Chm
Thun Hi [The calendar of the Cham in Thun Hi] (Lun vn Tt
nghip ngnh Dn tc hc, Trng i hc Lt, 1991); Trng Vn
Sinh, S lc v cch tnh lch Chm [Outline of Cham calendar
calculation], TAGALAU 1 (H Ch Minh City: Hi Vn hcNgh thut cc
Dn tc Thiu s Vit Nam, 2000), pp. 16571.

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 336 Yoshimoto Yasuko

4. In fact, the Cham people do not use the word Balamon among themselves;
instead, they usually use just Cham to refer specically to those that the
Vietnamese designate as Balamon, which is the Vietnamese rendering of
Brahman; see Nakamura, Cham in Vietnam. I am using the term here
to make the distinction clearer between the two groups.
5. See, for example, Phan Xun Bin, Phan An and Phan Vn Dp, Vn ho
Chm [Cham culture] (Hni: Khoa hoc X hi, 1991), pp. 285, 300.
6. See, for example, Thnh Phn, T chc tn gio v x hi truyn thng
ca ngi Chm Bni vng Phan Rang [Religious organization and
traditional society of the Cham Bani in the Phan Rang area], Tp san Khoa
hc [Scientic Review] 1 (1996); and Nakamura, Cham in Vietnam,
pp. 83103.
7. For further details, see Rie Nakamura, Awar-Ahier: Two keys to understanding
the cosmology and ethnicity of the Cham people (Ninh Thun Province,
Vietnam), in Champa and the Archaeology of My Sn (Vietnam), ed.
Andrew Hardy, Mauro Cucarzi and Patrizia Zolese (Singapore: NUS Press,
2009), pp. 78106.
8. For an overview of the arrival of Islam among the Cham, see Pierre-
Yves Manguin, Lintroduction de lIslam au Campa, Bulletin de lcole
Franaise dExtrme-Orient 66 (1979): 25587.
9. For a discussion on the derivation of the Champa calendar, see Sugimoto
Naojiro, Indochina-ni okeru Indo-bunka no Bochimondai: Rekihou wo
Chushin toshite [The problem of the origins of Indian culture in Indochina,
with a focus on the calendar], Tonan Ajiashi Kenkyu 1 [Studies on Southeast
Asian history] (Tokyo: Gennando, 1956): 14369.
10. Interview at the Editorial Ofce of Cham Language Texts (Ban Bin san
Sch Ch Chm), Ninh Thun province, August 1996.
11. Takahashi Muneo, Jawareki no taikei to sono henkaku [The system of
Jawa calendar and its reformation], Koyomi to kurashi: Daisan Sekai
no rodo rizumu [Calendar and life: Working time in the Third World], ed.
Kojima Reiitsu and Oiwakawa Futaba (Tokyo: Ajia Keizai Kenkyusho,
1987), pp. 7785.
12. Interview with a Bani religious leader, Bc Bnh district, Bnh Thun
province, June 2000.
13. Yoshimoto Yasuko, 2002-nen, Nintuan-syo no Sukjan ni Sanka shite: Sakawi
Cham no toitsu to iu dekigoto [Unication of the Cham calendar: A note
based on participation in the Suk Yang ritual], Betonamu no shakai to bunka
[Vietnamese society and culture] 4 (2003): 2858.
14. See Sinh, S lc v cch tnh lch Chm.

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