The Trung Sisters, national goddesses of ancient Vietnam, atop their war elephants
THE TRUNG SISTERS – Trung Trac and her sister Trung Nhi occupy a special place in Vietnamese mythology. If you want a glib or simplistic comparison to approach their story with think of them as an ancient Vietnamese version of Lakshmibai of Jhansi in the history of India or Joan of Arc in Western lore. In the early 40’s C.E. Trung Trac led an uprising against the latest Chinese occupiers with
her sister acting in a much smaller capacity according to all accounts but the Trung Sisters are always mentioned as a team and iconography usually depicts them together astride their battle elephant.
Trung Trac’s uprising, consisting largely of former noble families and by all accounts (even on the Chinese side) large numbers of female combatants, succeeded in driving the occupying forces far to the north. She then abolished all the Chinese taxes and restored Continue reading
