The Landmark Mountain of Linga, Lingaparvata

Around the 5th to 6th centuries, a city modeled after Kurukshetra, the legendary sacred capital of ancient India, was established on the western bank of the Mekong River. The locals believed that a towering 10-meter-high stone pillar at the peak of one of the Phou Kao mountain range's mountains was a manifestation of Shiva in the form of a linga, and they named this mountain 'Lingaparvata,' the Mountain of Linga. This mountain became a central landmark in the sacred landscape. Just as the sacred Ganges River is said to originate from Mount Kailash in the Himalayas and flow through the hair of Shiva, the locals revered the Mekong River—where tributaries originating from the Mountain of Linga converge—as a sacred river. The forest, mountain ridges, and lands spreading between the divine mountain peak and the life-giving river were regarded as an ideal Hindu realm.

The Vat Phou temple complex, dedicated to the worship of Shiva, was constructed along the path from the ridge of Lingaparvata down to the Mekong River. The landscape, featuring the giant linga at the mountain peak symbolizing 'the world of gods,' the main sanctuary of Vat Phou, the ridges and forest representing 'the world of saints,' the city and land representing 'the world of humans,' and the Mekong River symbolizing 'the ocean of the universe,' evokes the Hindu cosmological map, the Mandala.

The sacred mountain's forest, filled with holy rocks, waterfalls, valleys, caves, and ancient trees, is rich with traces of local beliefs and the practices of Hindu sages, including yoga and meditation. This forest, with its life-giving water flowing through valleys and tributaries to nourish the land, provides the locals with essential resources such as timber, stone, fruits, and medicinal herbs necessary for construction and daily life. The locals developed canals and barays using the tributaries flowing from the sacred mountain, and the surplus production from managing these water resources was used to support the construction and maintenance of temples and public facilities.