From this time on, the Champa inscriptions tell us nothing more (regarding destruction or damage) of the stone image of Bhagavati that had been installed by King Sri Jaya Indravarman in 887 Saka (965 C.E.). So, we cannot be certain whether or not the great stone statue of the goddess now standing in the central Thap Ba Temple, which the Vietnamese generally refer to as Thien-Y-A-Na, is in fact the stone image of Bhagavati installed in 965 C.E. Even at the beginning of the twentieth century, whilst he researched the remains of the Po Nagar temple, the French scholar Henri Parmentier thought that the statue worshipped in the central temple-tower might have been the Bhagavati Uma statue that had been erected in 887 Saka (965 C.E.).4 However, nearly 40 years later, in 1942, the stone statue of the central temple-tower was carefully analysed by another French scholar, P. Stern, who noted that the style analysis indicated that the base of the statue had an ogival stele that predated the statue (belonging to the early period of the My Son A1 style) and that given the stylistic mismatch it might well have been re-erected in the middle of the eleventh century.5 In 1963, more than 20 years later, the French scholar J. Boisselier continued work on the statue in the central temple, specifically analysing all decorative designs on the stele, especially the Kala head at the top and the two Macara heads on either side of the stele arch, J. Boisselier considered all the decorations on the stele to belong stylistically to the My Son A1 period. As P. Stern had concluded after his analysis of the decorative spear-shaped flowers on the body belt and bracelets, Boisslier felt that the statue might belong to the late period of the My Son style, a little bit later than 965.6

The statue in the central tower at Thap Ba Temple is quite large (90cm tall) and has been carved together with the stele behind it from a single stone block. The goddess sits in virasara (right leg is placed on the left one) with two outstretched hands resting on the knees in the dispensation of sacrament: the upward palm of the left hand on the left knee in abhaya mudra, and the upward palm of the right hand resting on the right knee in varada mudra. In addition to these two main hands, the goddess has eight minor hands (four on either side) that clasp in their palms Siva’s attributes: sword, arrow, club and spear in the right hand; bell, plate, bow and conch in the left.

Researchers have concluded that with these attributes typical of the god Siva, the goddess in the central temple-tower is Durga. In the legends, Durga is often considered to be a courageous and fearsome combatant, a goddess who protects gods and the order of the universe from the threats of wild devils. One of the great military achievements of the goddess is the destruction of the cruel, buffalo-headed devil Mahisha who cast gods down from heaven into the world. Popularly, under the title of vanquisher of the buffalo-headed devil, Durga is manifested as a Goddess with 10 hands sitting upon a lion or tiger and holding various weapons and symbols of the gods such as the trident of Shiva, the plate of Vishnu, the bow of Vayu the wind god, the spear of Agni the fire god, the plate of Indra the thunder god, and the chord of Varuna the sea god.