Champa

The kings of ancient Champa, a civilization located in the central region of today's Vietnam, started building sacred temples in a circular valley more than 1500 years ago. The monuments, now known by the Vietnamese name M? So'n, were discovered by nineteenth-century colonial soldiers and first studied by the French architect Henri Parmentier. Bombed during the Vietnam War, the ruins of the brick towers, decorated with exquisite carvings and sculptures, were designated as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1999. An Italian team has worked at the site for the last ten years, doing archaeological research and restoration work in cooperation with Vietnamese specialists. This book is the first published volume based on their efforts. The opening section consists of historical, anthropological and architectural studies of the civilization of Champa. The remainder of the book presents an unusually intimate and extensively illustrated portrait of the archaeologists' research and restoration work at M? So'n. While this book is important for specialists and students of the history and archaeology of Champa and Southeast Asia, it also tells a fascinating story that will appeal to general readers and visitors to this exceptional archaeological site.

Champa, a nine-year-old girl lives in a village on the banks of a river in Punjab. The lofty Himalayas rise in the background. Something of a dreamer, she is obsessed with the idea of seeing the world beyond her little village. On a visit to the Baishakhi mela, held during Punjabi New Year, she gets lost and is rescued by the Banjaras, the Indian gypsies. Illustrated with great charm, Champa's story carries us irresistibly along with her as she travels into the Himalayas, visits exotic places, learns about new people, legends and festivals - and eventually finds her way home again

In the 5th century, the Champa kingdom held sway over a large area of today’s Vietnam. Several magnificent structures still testify to their former presence in the Nha Trang region. Cham sculpture was worked in a variety of materials, principally sandstone, but also gold, silver and bronze. It was primarily used to illustrate themes from Indian mythology. The kingdom was gradually eroded during the 15th century by the inexorable descent of the people towards the south (“Nam Tiên”) from their original base in the Red River region. The author explores, describes, and comments on the various styles of Cham sculpture, drawing on a rich and, as yet, largely unpublished iconographic vein.

Eleven-year-old Champa lives with her family in a village on the banks of a river in Punjab. She is a dreamer, obsessed with the idea of seeing the world beyond her little village of Chanderpur. One day she has the opportunity to visit her Masi (Aunt), in Jaipur. With her Aunt and Uncle, Champa sets out to discover the beauty and colours of Rajasthan; its rich heritage and culture; and its legends and festivals. Much to her joy, she once again meets Gajra, her gypsy friend, and together the girls have the time of their lives on the sands of Rajasthan ...

SEX, LIES, AND ROCKY ROADS ... Life is simple for Champa. He has a good job as a chauffeur in his hometown of Lhasa, and if his Chinese boss Plum is a little domineering, well, he can understand that – she’s a serious art-collector after all. And he does get to drive her huge Toyota. When he starts to sleep with his boss as well as drive her around, life becomes a whole lot more complicated. But not in a bad way. Suddenly Champa’s sex life is beyond his wildest dreams. But then Plum brings home a Tara statue - a statue that shines with exquisite feminine beauty – and suddenly life is not simple at all, as Champa finds himself on the long road to Beijing in search of its inspiration ... THE UNBEARABLE DREAMWORLD OF CHAMPA THE DRIVER is a rollicking road novel brim-ful of sensuality and danger. Underlying the optimism and humour of its hero is a darker picture of racism and rough justice in modern Beijing.

A fifteen-year-old widow runs across a bridge to catch a train bound for Trichi. Sowmya is running away to make sense of the events that had seized her body and her mind, and had ripped apart her world. She is determined to flee her destiny of numbing isolation within her community, the Brahmins of the Thanjavur district in South India. Her plans pivot when she meets a devadasi--an aging dancer--in her compartment. When the woman Mallika opens her drawstring bag and buys Sowmya her dinner, Sowmya recognizes what she needs to overcome her own condition, that of a young woman in possession of a thin cotton sari, a head shorn clean, and little else. She asks Mallika how she too can achieve that kind of power--the power to open a bag and pull out money. Thus begins Sowmya's transformation in the city by the sea, Madras, which is in the grip of its own political and social changes while India is struggling to seize its independence from the imperial British raj. Here she learns the beauty of dance from Mallika, and the sweetness and agony of falling in love with a married man. The cinema brings unimagined opportunities and all the power and riches that she could desire, but it also consumes her relentlessly. When a letter arrives, Sowmya begins her quest to regain everything that had been lost when she once lived in that small village tucked into a little bend of the Kaveri River. Hear Champa Bilwakesh reading from Desire of the Moth here: http://voicethread.com/myvoice/#thread/5863247/30058528/31699244

The Cham people once inhabited and ruled over a large stretch of what is now the central Vietnamese coast. Written by specialists in history, archaeology, anthropology, art history, and linguistics, these essays reassess the ways that the Cham have been studied.

What if a child decides to be a champa flower? Can anyone tell that it is him? From India's greatest poet and storyteller comes this charming and perky poem that will surely lead to a fun round of hide-and-seek. A timeless treasure. Enjoy!