Bhadreśvara

Bhadreśvara is the Śaiva state god of Champa, the divine linga around whom the temple-city of Mỹ Sơn grew. Its earliest inscription, set up by King Bhadravarman around the turn of the fifth century, dedicates the god a linga whose very name binds the sovereign to Śiva — bhadra, the king's own element, joined to Īśvara, 'the Lord'. The mukhaliṅga, a phallic pillar bearing the god's carved face, made kingship and divinity a single substance, and later rulers styled their own foundation-lingas in the same manner (Śambhu-bhadreśvara, Śrīśānabhadreśvara). Though fire destroyed the original shrine and successive kings rebuilt it, the Bhadreśvara sanctuary endured as the spiritual centre of the northern Cham realm and the archetype of the mukhalinga cult across Champa.

Domains

• kingship
• destruction
• asceticism

Powers

• fuses king and god in the sacred liṅga
• guards the state and its sovereignty

Epithets

• Śrīśānabhadreśvara — the auspicious Lord BhadreśvaraMỹ Sơn inscriptions, in Golzio, 'Inscriptions of Campā' (2004) (primary)

Relations

• spouse: Po NagarAs Śiva he is paired with Umā-Bhagavatī, the goddess venerated at Kauthara as Po Nagar.R.C. Majumdar, 'Champa' (1927) (secondary)

Sources

• Bhadreśvara is the Śiva-liṅga installed as the supreme state god of Champa at Mỹ Sơn, its name compounding King Bhadravarman with Īśvara.: Mỹ Sơn stele of Bhadravarman I (C.72), ed. L. Finot, BEFEO 4 (1904) (primary); G. Maspero, 'Le royaume de Champa' (1928) (secondary)
• The Bhadreśvara cult, repeatedly restored after fire and war, remained the dynastic sanctuary of the Amaravati kings for centuries.: A.-V. Schweyer, 'Ancient Vietnam' (2011); K.-H. Golzio, 'Inscriptions of Campā' (2004) (secondary)