Heraldic Lion

The Cham adopted Indian Buddhist and Hindu religious systems, languages, and the practice of building stone temples and monasteries. The lion, which is ubiquitous on Indian monuments, was also incorporated as a protector at Cham sacred sites. In Champa, however, the roaring and rearing lion imagery is semihuman and distinctively aggressive and extroverted. This powerful figure rearing in a combative pose was formerly in the renowned Pan-Asian Collection of Southeast Asian art assembled during the 1960s and 1970s by one major collector, Christian Humann of the renowned Rothschild banking family.