History of Worshiped Figures
The hagiography of the deities worshiped at Lanh Giang Temple, the remaining records of ordination, and field study findings show that Lanh Temple worships three generals serving under the reign of King Hung Due Vuong and co-worships Princess Tien Dung and her husband Chu Dong Tu.
Legend of The Three Great Generals
(Water Gods)
The tale of the three generals under the reign of King Hung Due Vuong and worshiped at Lanh Giang Temple was recorded in the hagiography “Hùng triều nhất vị thuỷ thần xuất thế sự tích” (The Tale of a Water God Born during Hung King’s Reign). The hagiography was re-written by Eighth-Tier Clerk Nguyen Hien in the second year of the Vinh Huu dynasty based on an older version.
Altar of the King of Eight Seas and the Three Great Generals in the Rear Hall of Lanh Giang Temple
The tale reads: “Pham Tuc and his wife Tran Thi Ngoan lived in An Co Village, Thuy Anh District, Thai Ninh Prefecture, Son Nam Region at the end of the 18th Hung King’s reign. Both were good-natured and modest as they would do good deeds and help others. Despite their happy marriage and wealth, the couple remained infertile at their old age. One cool moonlit evening, Ngoan was taking a stroll when she encountered a young lady. When asked, the young lady told her that she was originally from the North but had left her hometown and traveled everywhere looking for ways to feed herself as she was poor, her parents died when she was young, and she had no siblings or relatives. Moved by her story, Ngoan adopted her and named her Quy. Quy had only lived with her adoptive parents for a couple of years before Pham Tuc died of an illness all of a sudden.
After three years of mourning for her adoptive father, one day, Quy went to the beach to wash herself. She was soaking herself in the water when a sea serpent came out of nowhere and wrapped itself three times around her torso and then left soon after. Quy came home and got pregnant. The stigma and slander from her villagers were so bad that she had to seek shelter in Hoa Giam Village (now Yen Lac Village, Moc Nam Commune, Duy Tien Town). Three months later, on the 10th of January of the Year of the Metal Snake, Quy went into labor and gave birth to a blob. Finding it weird, she threw it into the sea. The blob was floating to the river mouth of Dao Dong Village when it got caught by the net of a fisherman named Nguyen Minh. Despite his multiple attempts to dispose of the blob, it got caught by the net again and again. Finding it strange, Minh prayed to himself: “Scared blob, please let me cut you open.” After that, he cut it open with a knife. Three serpents broke away from the blob and slithered into the river. The first serpent went on to live in the river of Dao Dong; the second one went back to the river mouth of Thanh Do; and the third one returned to Hoa Giam Village, where Quy was residing.
When the first serpent was residing in the river of Dao Dong, everyone was scared of him. They believed that he was the reincarnation of the water god and worshiped him in a shrine. Three years later, on a dark and foggy night, it thundered fiercely on the river and at dawn, everyone heard a poem being recited under the water:
“Sinh là tướng, hóa là thần,
Tiếng thơm còn ở lòng dân muôn đời.
Khi nào giặc dã khắp nơi,
Bọn ta mới trở thành người thế gian”
(Born generals, turning gods,
Our fame lives on.
When invaders come,
We shall turn humans)
From that on, the locals found that whatever they prayed to him became reality.
The Dream of The Three Great General
in Son Nam
Regarding King Hung Due Vuong (the 18th Hung King), he had twenty sons and six daughters in total but later only Princess Tien Dung and Princess Ngoc Hoa remained. The first daughter Tien Dung married Chu Dong Tu and the second daughter was married to the Mountain God (Tản Viên Sơn Thánh) by her father. The Mountain God was a brilliant man who understood everything between heaven and earth and won the heart of King Due Vuong, who wanted to make him the next king. Thuc Phan, a royal relative, found that King Due Vuong was getting old without any sons and planned to overthrow him. Thuc Phan sought assistance from the North, who then sent him troops. They would attack the capital from five routes both on land and on waterways. King Due Vuong was so afraid of the infamous troops of Thuc that he set up an altar and prayed to heaven and earth. That night, a messenger dressed in blue appeared in his dream. The messenger landed on his front yard from the sky and said: “Summon the three water goods born in Son Nam Region and now living in the shape of a serpent and the invaders shall be defeated.” As soon as the king woke up, he sent a messenger to Son Nam Region based on the direction that he was shown in the dream.
Altar of the Third Venerable Mandarin
No sooner had the messenger reached Dao Dong than it began to rain heavily and thundered fiercely on the river mouth. A man with a face of a dragon and a body of a carp showed up in front of the messenger. He was roughly two and a half meters tall and had the strength of numerous men combined. He called himself Vinh and volunteered to join the battle against the invaders. Vinh then went to get his two brothers, said goodbye to their mother, and left to meet the king. Seeing how different the three brothers looked compared to average men, the King appointed Vinh as the commander of the Western Region, comprised of Son Nam, Ai Chau, and Hoan Chau and asked him to work with his two brothers and other generals to drive away the Thuc’s invaders.
That day, 200,000 soldiers of Hung King and thousands of renowned generals arranged their battle positions. The Mountain God commanded the front troops; Vinh commanded the middle troops; Vinh’s two brothers coordinated the rear troops. Facing the incredible strength of Hung King’s army, all five avenues of approach were eliminated. Hearing news of the victory, King Hung Due Vuong ordered that cattle be slaughtered to treat soldiers to a feast. The King wished to confer Vinh the title “Binh Phủ Ngư Thượng Đẳng Thần” (the Upper Deity of the Armed Fishermen) but he refused and instead requested that the people from Dao Dong would be granted a perpetual exemption of tax in the form of labor. After Hung King agreed to his request, Vinh and his two brothers returned to Dao Dong and threw a party to treat their helpers and the locals. They then visited their mother in Hoa Giam Village.
Upon returning to Dao Dong, Vinh had a mansion built on a nice piece of land that he found near the wharf and gave away thousand taels of gold so that the locals could purchase agricultural land and take care of his altar later on. Vinh also encouraged them to farm and advised them to do good deeds and against doing bad deeds. Thanks to him, the locals led a wealthy life. A few years later, on the 25th of August of the Year of the Fire Tiger, while Vinh was sitting in his mansion in the daytime, it suddenly turned dark and rained torrentially as the wind roared. As soon as the sky cleared up, people came to see him but could not find him anywhere. Finding it strange, the locals filed a report to the authorities. Learning about it, the King conferred Vinh the title “Trấn Tây An Tam Kỳ Linh Ứng Thái Thượng Đẳng Thần” (the Holy Upper Deity Guarding the Western Intersection of Three Regions) to commemorate his contributions. The King released a decree of ordination and gave the people of Dao Dong 400 quan-s (an ancient monetary unit) so that they could hold a procession for his divine status and renovate his shrine for worshiping purposes. Together with the people of Dao Dong, the people of Hoa Giam erected a temple to commemorate Vinh and his two brothers for their war contributions.
The Another Legends
The Third Venerable Mandarin figure was played by People’s Artist Pham Hai Hau in a trance ritual
There exists another legend in the folklore about the deities worshiped at Lanh Giang Temple and it reads:
“Of the three Pham brothers, only the eldest, Pham Vinh, was born to a noble family under the reign of Hung Kinh. He became the commander of three marine corps. In a decisive battle, he was beheaded. His head floated to the Lanh Wharf and was buried by the villagers of Yen Lac, Moc Nam Commune, who went on to build a temple (now Lanh Giang Temple) to worship him. His body (lower part) floated to the other side of the Luc Dau River and was buried by the villagers of Xich Dang, Lam Son Ward, Hung Yen City, who also went on to build a temple (now Quan Lớn Temple or Temple of the Venerable Mandarin) to worship him. Upon his passing, he transferred to the Dragon/Water Palace where he served as a decision-maker being well-versed about the three worlds and the ruler of all votive dance practitioners (therefore, he is also known as the Deity of Votive Dance Practitioners). In his free time, he asked the three marine corps to muster their vessels and toured all waterways spreading blessings to fishermen.”
Lanh Giang Temple also retains records of ordination written under different dynasties, allowing the locals to worship “Trấn Tây An Tam Kỳ Linh Ứng Đại Vương” (the Holy Lord Guarding the Western Intersection of Three Regions). The decree of ordination written on the 8th of October, the 7th year of Duy Tan (1913) reads: “To order An Lac, Duy Tien, Ha Nam to worship the Holy Lord Guarding the Western Intersection of Three Regions under the sacred dynasty of Hung King”. Lanh Giang Temple worships Vinh and his two brothers as demonstrated through the calligraphy in a wood carved plaque and ancient antithetical couplets on the paintings kept at the Central Hall.
The calligraphy on the Chinese wood carved plaque reads:
三 靈 顯 聖
“Tam linh hiển thánh”,
(Three heroes turn Deities)
三 靈 眷 佑
“Tam linh quyến hựu”
(Three heroes offer protection and assistance)
The antithetical couplets read:
“Tứ thiên niên quốc tục thượng thần, bát hải long phi truyền dị tích,
Đệ tam vị hoàng cung hiển thánh, Lảnh Giang kình thiếc tạ linh thanh”.
Roughly translated as:
“Four thousand years of practicing the worship of deities as a national custom, a miraculous tale of dragons flying over eight seas.
The third lord in the king’s palace turned a Deity, his holy fame lives on with the calm water of Lanh Giang.”
Legend of Princess Tien Dung &
Chu Dong Tu as Worshiped Figures
In “Ngọc phả đền thiêng xã An Bảo” (The Biography of the Holy Temple of An Bao Commune) preserved at the Temple of Mother Goddess, the legend of Chu Dong Tu and Tien Dung was recorded as:
“The 18th Hung King had a daughter named Tien Dung. Her mother was Nguyen Thi Phuong, who was from An Bao Commune, Thuong Tin District, Phu Xuyen Prefecture (now Yen Lac Village, Moc Nam Commune, Duy Tien Town, Ha Nam Province). The King gave her the title “The Queen of Benevolence”. The Queen and Princess Tien Dung would take a boat ride back to the countryside and help the locals, the poor, and the ill. They would support the construction of roads and bridges everywhere which benefited everyone. One day, Princess Tien Dung went back to visit her maternal relatives. When she was only a couple of miles away from her hometown, she asked the boat driver to stop so that they could take a bath. Where she bathed herself was Chu Dong Tu’s hideout. The poor Chu Dong Tu could not even afford a loincloth so he had to bury himself under the sand when the princess saw him.
Altar of Princess Tien Dung
Altar of Chu Dong Tu
Tien Dung considered her encounter with Chu Dong Tu destiny and proposed to him. Upon hearing the news, Hung King got enraged and did not allow the couple to return to the royal palace. The couple started a business together at the local market and helped the locals. One day, they met a Zen master on a sightseeing trip, who gifted them a stick and a magic hat. They were traveling to the edge of the forest when it turned dark. The couple pushed the stick into the ground, put the hat over it and then took a rest. Suddenly, a fortress appeared with a grand palace and a large number of servants, guards, and soldiers. Everyone was so shocked the next morning. Hearing the news, the King thought that his daughter and son-in-law intended to start a rebellion and sent troops to suppress them. However, as soon as the troops reached the fortress, they were blown away by the wind into the water. A few days later, on a moonlit night, the whole fortress flew to the heaven. The land on which it was located collapsed into a massive lagoon. Witnessing the scene, the locals erected a temple to commemorate the couple’s contributions.
A couple of years after the couple transcended to heaven, the area was struck by drought, plants were perishing and people were dying of diseases everywhere. One day, a golden cloud was found hovering over the shrine of the earth god. Believing that it was the reincarnation of the couple, the people of An Bao got excited. They kowtowed to the cloud and asked for the couple’s help to overcome the disaster. Chu Dong Tu appeared and asked the locals to fetch water from the river. He held the water in his mouth and sprayed it into the air. Soon after, it rained heavily and kept raining for the next three days. On the fourth day, both Tien Dung and Chu Dong Tu showed up and hosted a ritual at the altar hall of the Nguyen clan on the left of the shrine of the earth god. Afterwards, they threw a party for the locals. This took place on the 16th of July. From then on, the villagers hold a celebration every year on that date to commemorate the couple for returning to the village and helping them.
Though worshiped in the altar hall for deities, the statue of Princess Tien Dung is now placed in the Hall of Mother Goddess (nhà Mẫu). Meanwhile, the throne and tablets of Chu Dong Tu were carried by the locals to the Halll of Mother Goddess on the other side of the dyke as Yen Lac’s tutelary deity.