Po Sah Inâ
Cham · mortal · Cham traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Po Sah Inâ is a princess of the southern Cham remembered in the traditions of Bình Thuận, where the brick towers on Bà Nài hill near Phan Thiết carry her name. Local legend makes her a daughter of the royal house, a woman of great beauty and piety whose devotion to the gods and care for her people earned her lasting veneration; her love-story with a nobleman of another faith is told as a tale of duty overcoming desire. The towers themselves are older than the historical princess, raised in the eighth or ninth century in the Śaiva style of Panduranga, but the Cham community long ago bound the shrine to her memory, and she is honoured there as a benevolent figure of the region's sacred landscape.
Domains
- devotion
Powers
- endowed and guided her people's worship
Sources
- Po Sah Inâ is a Cham princess of the ninth century remembered in the folklore of Bình Thuận and commemorated in the tower-group that bears her name near Phan Thiết.: Ngô Văn Doanh, 'Champa: Ancient Towers' (2006); Sakaya, 'Văn hóa Chăm' (2010) (secondary)