At the ceremony on August 7 to announce a Prime Minister decision recognizing Mukhalinga Ba The, a linga with the head of Hindu god Shivaa as a national treasure. (Photo: VNA)

Mukhalinga Ba The, discovered in Vong The commune, Thoai Son district in 1986, is a typical statue representing the sculpture and religious architecture of the Oc Eo culture, Believed to date back about the 6th century BC, it is 91cm in height and 20-22cm in width, and weighs 90kg.

Speaking at the ceremony, Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Nguyen Khanh Hiep revealed that Mukhalinga Ba The is the 8th treasure in the province recognised as a national treasure. In particular, all the recognised are of the Oc Eo culture.

Currently, the province’s museum is keeping six national treasures, including the Brahma Giong Xoai statue, dating back the 6th-7th centuries, two sets of Linga and Yoni from the 5th-7th centuries, a Giong Xoai wooden Buddha statue from the 4th-6th centuries, Linga-Yoni Linh Son and Mukhalinga Ba The while the Nandin Giong Cat Ring and a stone carved with a meditating Buddha image are being kept at the Oc Eo Cultural Relic Management Board.

Hiep said the discovered artifacts of the Oc Eo culture contain important cultural, historical, religious, architectural and artistic meanings, contributing to clarifying the process of expanding the southern region of the Vietnamese people.

The Oc Eo culture was first discovered in 1944 via artifacts found in the sites of Ba The Mountain, now in Oc Eo town, Thoai Son district in An Giang province.