Sri Mariamman Temple located along 244 South Bridge Rd, Singapore 058793.
It should be
noted that the temple is located in Chinatown and the South Bridge road; where
this temple is situated along is home to the Buddha Tooth Relic temple and a
Mosque within a few hundred metres of each other. It’s an impressive site to
see such diverse cultural and religious sites sit so close to one another and
remain at peace. This by itself is a great representation of Singapore’s racial
harmony ethos.
The Sri
Mariamman Temple is the oldest temple in Singapore and was initially founded in
1827 by Naraina Pillai. The initial structure was small and built from wood.
The temple has since gone through numerous expansions and now has a large premises
compared to other temples in Singapore. This temple was included under the
Singapore National Monuments in 1973.
Given that
this temple has stood through the ages, the temple has served as a temporary shelter
for new immigrants, particularly Tamil persons until they found employment and
more permanent accommodation. Back in the days, the temple also served as the
only registry of marriages for Hindus as only the priest of the Sri Mariamman
Temple was authorised to solemnise Hindu marriages in Singapore.
The main
diety of the temple is an Amman and is the original statue installed by Pillai
in 1827. In its present form, the temple now has numerous other deities. This
temple is now managed by the Hindu Endowments Board of Singapore. The temple
has been periodically going through kumbhabhishekham’s every 12years since 1936
and the latest was held on the 12th of February 2023.
Due to its
historical and social significance, this temple is a must see along with Chinatown
and Buddha Tooth Relic Temple on your next visit to Singapore.
See below,
a Youtube Video featuring this temple. The video was shot in January of 2023,
so not long before the 2023 kumbhabhishekham.
In this video, the temple is shown last in the video which is a series
where we visit temples in Singapore. In this series, we visit SriThendayuthapani Temple, followed by Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple and Sri
Mariamman Temple.
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