Oldest four-handed Buddha statue in Vietnam

      The Vietnam Record Book Centre will present a certificate of national records to the Buddha statue at Linh Son Pagoda in An Giang on May 24 in HCM City.
The 1.7m high, four-handed Buddha statue at Linh Son Pagoda was created between the 2nd and 6th centuries. It is about to be recognised as the oldest and largest four-handed Buddha statue in Vietnam.
The statue was discovered in Oc Eo town, the southern province of An Giang province in 1913. Previously, local residents unearthed two schist-made steles carved with ancient scripts at the same place. Researchers said that these scripts may belong to the ancient Phu Nam people. Local people built Linh Son Pagoda to worship the statue and the two ancient stone steles.
Experts say that statue and the two ancient stone steles are Hindi, similar to the Ba Chua Xu statue on Sam Mountain in Chau Doc, An Giang.
The Ministry of Culture and Information (currently the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) recognised the statue and steles as national relics.
The Vietnam Record Book Centre will announce 13 new Buddhist records on May 24, at the 5th Meeting of Buddhist Records in HCM City.