One of the most beautiful and important Hindi temples of Singapore, the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple has a key importance first for daily worshipping and secondly as being the final stop of the famous Thaipusam Hindi Festival held yearly and waited with much awe by all the Hindi believers of Singapore.
The Sri Thendayuthapani Temple is located in the Little Indian district of Singapore and it looks just beautiful with its detailed mandapam which is worth taking at least a hundred photographs it contains so many colourful carved figures crowded together, all playing a role in the Hindu religion. The Sri Thendayuthapani Temple is also called shortly the Chettiar Hindu Temple as it was predominantly built and used by the Chettiar Indians. Being among the oldest Hindu temples of Singapore, the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple was built already back in 1859 and its located along the main road of Little Indian district, the Serangoon Road. The Sri Thendayuthapani Temple is a Shaivite Hindu temple representing one main line out of the four in Hindu religion. The Shaivites believe in the power of God Shiva and they say that Shiva is the most important god above every others, according to their beliefs. The Sri Thendayuthapani Temple is primarily dedicated to Lord Muruga who is also called Lord Subramaniam, son of Shiva and Kali being the brother of Ganesha , the funny looking elephant headed God of fun and happiness.
The first consecration of the temple was on the date of its opening in 1859 which gives reasons to believe that the complicated parts of the temple, such as the highly decorated mandapam, the making of which could have taken a year even if its made by several artists in the same time, had been started some years earlier than its actual opening. The Chettai Hindu community first bought the territory where the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple is standing today from an English general. The earlier temple was smaller than the today’s version. The earlier version contained two mandapas, the decorated one for the celebrations and another one features in the central hall of the temple which leads to the main praying hall where the main sanctuary of Lord Mandapa is also located. The main renovation works have started in 1936 and ended almost twenty years later! The temple has also been modernised with modern amenities such as electricity and toilettes. In the late seventies an entire reconstruction and renovation process of Sri Thendayuthapani Temple has started, which resulted in the inclusion of a large wedding hall and a car park was also added to the temple The main structure of the temple wasn’t hurt at all though as the wedding hall only replaced the former food courtyard of the temple. The renovation works took 2 years with a beautiful outcome: the temple looks great and colourful.
Because of the large volume of restorations the temple and because Hindu temples need to be consecrated frequently the next consecration the ceremony of which was held in 1996 November in the presence of thousands of Hindu worshippers. The last consecration ceremony was conducted in 2009. Ever since the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple is among the best-visited Hindu and Shaivist temples of Singapore, also it has the biggest Hindu wedding hall of Singapore. The Mandapa of Sri Thendayuthapani Temple is simply breathtakingly beautiful and it’s easy to reach from every directions.