Transregional Art and the Cult of Heruka in Early Thirteenth-Century Campā: Interactions with Java and the Khmer Empire

Tran Ky Phuong*1 and Pham Ngoc Uyen2

The 12th-13th-century tympanum of the Mỹ Sơn H1 temple offers crucial visual corroboration of epigraphic evidence for the practice of Esoteric Buddhism at the Cham court from the tenth century onward. Its depiction of Heruka assumes particular historical significance when read alongside the Mỹ Sơn inscription (C. 92B–C), dated to 1203/4 CE and belonging to King Sūryavarman, which records the royal veneration of a fierce Heruka deity within a Śaivite sanctuary. Produced during a period of prolonged conflict between the Cham and Khmer polities, this inscription suggests that tantric Buddhist deities were invoked as protective forces in moments of political crisis. The presence of Heruka imagery at the Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary underscores the permeability of sectarian boundaries within royal religious practice. Alongside the traditional Śaivite cult, the combined epigraphic and visual evidence points to a pragmatic and context-specific incorporation of Esoteric Buddhist traditions at the royal level. Moreover, the inscription situates Campā within a broader transregional network of tantric Buddhist practice across Maritime Asia, in which Heruka worship flourished contemporaneously in regions including Yuan-dynasty China, Mongolia, Cambodia, Java, and Sumatra.