THE MEKONG DELTA LEGEND AND HISTORY

Legend of FunanThe Kingdom of Funan, the earliest civilization to occupy the Mekong Delta rose to power through a successful blend of local culture and Indian influence. Long ago, so legend has it, there was a waterlogged land where in, lived a princess, the daughter of a Naga king. One day a young Brahman named Kaundinya appeared at the shore. The princess went to greet the stranger, and as she approached he shot an arrow from a magic bow into her boat. Frightened, she surrendered herself to him. They were married and Kaundinya became master of the watery realm. As a dowry?, the Naga king drank up the water that covered the country so that his new son-in-law might cultivate the soil.Historical struggle for national survivalThe delta’s’ calm, bucolic appearance belies what has at times been a violent past. From the days of the Nguyen Lords it was an area of conquest and settlement, and later resettlement as populations were shifted in the periodic upheavals of Vietnam’s turbulent history.“The delta• is the haziest area of all... It’s hairy to operate down there” was how one US Army general described it. In more flamboyant style, a 1968 National Geographic article commented: “War on any battlefield is a nightmare”. The Mekong telta compounds the horror. To fight here means tortuous slogging through snake-ridden swamps, where sucking mud grips the legs like wet concrete. The opposition may be only five feet away, yet unseen in the thick jungle.”Today, with the fertile delta once again flourishing, it is hard to believe that modern warfare once turned this placid countryside into a nightmare.Chau Doc still supports large Khmer population, as well as the largest Cham settlement in the Delta. Cambodia’s influence can be seen in the tendency for women to wear scarves instead of the non la concical hat, and in the people’s darker skin, indicating Khmer blood. The Chau Doe district (it was a separate province for a while) is the seat of the Hoa Hao religion which claims about 1-1.5 million adherents and was founded in the village of Hoa Hao in 1939.In Rach Gia, the Nguyen Trung True Pagoda is dedicated to the 19th century Vietnamese resistance leader of the same name. Nguyen Trung Truc was active in Cochin China during the 1860s, and led the raid that resulted in the firing of the French warship Esperance. As the French closed in, he retreated to the island of Phu Quoc. From here, the French only managed to dislodge him after threatening to kill his mother. He gave himself up and was executed at the market place in Rach Gia on 27 October 1868.It is from such an involved history of soda-political evolution that Vietnam gradually developed its complex national character, partly moulded by foreign cultural influences partly by a powerful nationalist and militaristic force generated by the struggle for national survival.

Source: "Huong dan doc va dich bao chi Anh-Viet"