Bach Ma Temple

Bach Ma Temple

Bach Ma Temple is in Ha Khau ward, Huu Tuc district, Tho Xuong district, Hoai Duc district, now at 76 Hang Buom street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi. The temple worships the god Long Do, titled Quang Loi Bach Ma Dai Vuong (god Long Do means the god of Long Do mountain, also called Nung mountain, the place that receives the sacred energy of the rivers and mountains of Thang Long citadel). Legend has it that when our country was dominated by the Northern Tang Dynasty, Cao Bien ordered his soldiers to build Dai La citadel. Suddenly, he saw the sky and earth being dark and dark, and a god riding a red dragon, sitting on a five-colored cloud, hovered above. city ​​face. Cao Bien was scared and intended to use a magic spell to ward off the attack. That night, Bien dreamed that the god appeared and said: I am the elite of Long Do land. I heard that you ordered the construction of the citadel, so why do you intend to use magic charms to protect it? Bien woke up scared but still buried copper and iron in the dragon veins for protection. That night, there was heavy rain and strong winds, thunder and lightning. Waking up in the morning, Cao Bien went to see the places that had been secured and saw that copper and iron had been smashed to pieces. Cao Bien saw that it was the sacred god of the South. Bien could not do anything, so he ordered a temple to be built to ask for blessings. Legend has it that when Ly Cong Uan moved the capital to Dai La citadel, he ordered the citadel to be built but it was not completed. The king sent people to Bach Ma temple to pray to the gods. He saw a white horse coming out of the temple in a circle from east to west, leaving traces wherever it went, then returning to the temple and disappearing. The king sent his soldiers to follow the horse's footprints to build the citadel, and sure enough, the citadel was built. King Ly Thai To then repaired the temple and appointed the god Long Do as Quang Loi Bach Ma, the most sacred deity. Lifting the veil of divinity, we see that when the Ly dynasty's kings and mandarins moved the capital to Dai La, they planned the eastern capital as Bach Ma temple, in the west as Voi Phuc temple, in the north as Tran Vo temple, in the south as Cao Son temple ( Kim Lien family today). That is "Thang Long four towns". The ancients sanctified the capital's land and the king's deeds, the holy land was determined by the gods with the "magic circle" which was a belief from the tribal times. The temple has been repaired many times. The system of stone steles still present at the relic shows that the temple was expanded in the Chinh Hoa era of the Le Dynasty (1680 - 1705). At the end of the 19th century, the old foundation was enhanced and expanded. In 1781, Lord Trinh approved the 3 borders of Mat Thai, Bac Thuong, Bac Ha, and Ha Khau ward surrounding Bach Ma temple to be made "customary" by people (sam). offerings and sacrifices, not collections or other miscellaneous services). In 1829, it was repaired again to make it more magnificent. In 1839, additional writing was built on the left side of the temple, and the Phuong communal house (square communal house) was built to serve as a place for worshiping every week. The temple grounds have shrunk. On the occasion of the 990th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi (2000), the monument was majorly renovated on the basis of preserving the old architectural status quo. The temple faces south, currently including Tam Quan, Phuong Dinh, Dai Pagoda, Burning Incense, Forbidden Palace and the Council House in the back. The new communal house was built in 1839 under the Nguyen Dynasty, so it bears the architectural style of today. The cows on the cross beams and the lotus-shaped lanterns on the top of the four armpit beams are close to the communal house architecture in Hoi An. From the communal house to the great altar there is a dome shaped like a "crab shell". The "crab shell" connects the houses, creating a spacious space. Dai Bai has a wooden frame with four rows of legs, a set of rafters structured in the style of "stacking beams, gong racks", and a roof divided in the style of "upper third, lower fourth". On the wooden posts, armpit beams, and beams, there are many carved plaques. Decorative themes are fire clouds, flowers and leaves. Connecting the great altar to the incense burning house is a semicircular "crab shell" dome, decorated with flowers and leaves. In the Forbidden Palace, there is a high wooden floor with planks on three sides to serve as the seat of the god Bach Ma. The statue of the god Bach Ma (Long Do) sits in the cemetery, always covered. Both the statue and the tomb are products of the Nguyen Dynasty. The temple still retains 15 steles. The content of the steles refers to the history of temples and gods, worshiping rituals, and restorations. The temple has worshiping objects such as ceremonial sets including ancient weapons such as halberds, swords, spears, spears... painted with gilded vermilion and delicately carved. In the temple, in addition to bronze incense burners, bronze vases, and a large number of people, there is also a Buddha statue. This detail represents the folk concept of "three religions of the same religion". The temple also has a pair of high-legged, high-necked cranes and a pair of gongs in a solemn standing position. Among the relics of the "Four Towns", Bach Ma Temple in the eastern town was built the earliest. Existing in the heart of the old town with many colors, architectural artistic elements and a system of historical and philosophical legends about the worshiped deity, Bach Ma Temple forever retains its value as a sacred landmark of the ancient world. The capital city of Thang Long has a thousand years of culture. The temple was ranked as a historical and architectural and artistic relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1986. Source: Hanoi People Magazine

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