Hue was the cultural and religious capital of Ngyen dynasty of Viet Nam; interestingly, identity of the Perfume River that encircles this city preserves the ancient geographical clarity of the dynastic identity of this Forbidden Purple City(or Tu Cam Thanh) ‘within which the citadel, temples and tombs have been laid out in accordance with geomantic principles that, demonstrates the symbolic meaning, beauty and significance of the site’.
Name Ngyen refers to the Ganga Dynasty of the ancient world which identifies the river Hwang-Ho or the river Ganges, according to the Chinese pilgrims’ accounts. The Perfume River’s name is well preserved with Sugandha River that identifies the Sugandha or the Perfume Rice of the same accounts. In Pali literature, this Sugandha Rice identifies the Magadha-ksheta; this rice was then used only by the temples, royal peoples, and the priests. Avesta also has taken this name Sugandha which was then a place in the Saka-Island. Here ‘Sugandha’ means ‘perfume’ that marks the Gandhara country or as same as the Mangala country of Pali literature. Chinese pilgrim Hiouen Tsiang mentions Perfume Elephant(Gandha-Hasti) which is the other name of Ayiravata Elephant, or the Elephant of Indra, God of Heaven or the Thunder God. Viet Nam certainly marks the ancient Veta Island of Pali texts where Dona, the priest of the Dan community, built a temple for the relics of the Buddha.
According to Unesco’s accounts on this Hue heritage site in Viet Nam, ‘the structures of the Complex of Hue Monuments are carefully…..aligned cosmologically with the Five Cardinal Points (centre, west, east, north, south), the Five Elements (earth, metal, wood, water, fire), and the Five Colours (yellow, white, blue, black, red)’. In reality, these ‘five colours’ are Buddhist symbol of ‘Five Ways’ or ‘Pancha –Sila’; and Buddhist flags identify this principle. They never stand to represent any cosmological elements through them. The Ngu Binh Mountain in the city remembers the Place of Enlightenment of the Buddha through the name ‘Ngu’ that seems to mean ‘Gyan’ or Zion’ or ‘Wisdom’ Mountain; and Binh marks the Pali ‘Vihar’ or the dwelling-place of the Bhikshus or the Monks. If Ngu is considered as Naga or the Serpent then also the place of Enlightenment marks the Naga-dvipa or the Naga-Island that marks the place of residence of Serpent Muchukunda whose story is well connected with the Buddha.
The Van Mieu (Temple of Literature) which was at the spiritual life of the dynasty marks Mieu with Mt Meru, same as Mt Imaos at the foot of which was the Badarika, the foremost temple of the ancient world that attaches itself with ‘salvation’. Here, Von perhaps stands for ‘bana’ or the ‘forest’.
The Dan Nam Giao (Esplanade of Sacrifice to the Heaven and Earth) identifies ancient ‘Gaya’, the place of the Bo-Tree or the Tree of Wisdom. Dan here identifies the Dan tribe of the Bible that significantly marks the clan of the Buddha whose father’s name was Sudho-‘dana’ and his brother’s name was Suklo-‘dana’. Both ‘Sudho’ and ‘Suklo’ are identifies with two name of the rice.
The historic name of Hue and Ho are exactly the same as Hwo of Hiouen Tsiang’s accounts. The pilgrim visited this country; Ho Queyn of the literature refers to ‘Blessings or ‘karuna’ or Queyn of Ho where the latter refers to the River Goddess. Hue City in Thua Thien-Hue Province of Viet Nam seems to identify the ancient T’chin where Chinese pilgrims were staying. The Imperial Residence, the Hoang Thanh (Imperial City), and the Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden Purple City) were situated in the name of Howang or Huang and Champa of Kamboj(Cam) respecively. This was the exact place where anciently river Ganges was flowing through. This river along with its city Hastinapur (Elephantine) has already disappeared.
Elephant is a Buddhist symbol as Queen Maya, mother of the Buddha, dreamt of a ‘White Elephant’ entering her womb before she gave birth to Sidhartha;