SRI MAHAMARIAMMAN TEMPLE
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JALAN TUN HS LEE,
KUALA LUMPUR
AN INTRODUCTION
The Sri Mahamariamman Temple is the Hindu temple with longest history in Kuala Lumpur. It is located at Jalan Tun H. S. Lee. The temple was built to serve as a place of worship for immigrants from India in the 19th century. However, this temple is no longer restricted to Indian immigrants only, it has been one of the tourist attractions in Kuala Lumpur. This temple as one of the national heritage of Malaysia has always been an important landmark for the tourism industry in Malaysia. Temples were often left aside and desolated due to the passing away of the most influencing figure in the temple. However, it is indeed a blessing for Sri Mahamariamman Temple to stand firm without losing any fame until now.
HISTORY OF SRI MAHAMARIAMMAN TEMPLE
The founder of this prominent temple was Mister K. Thamboosamy Pillai. Pillai was a prominent leader of the Indian community in Malay Penisula. He was born in Singapore and later on moved to Kuala Lumpur in his 20s. Initially, he worked for the government, but after he quit the job, he involved himself in tin mining. He became extremely wealthy due to mining.
The Sri Mahamariamman Temple was originally located at a riverbank near KL Railway Station. However, due to the preservation of that area for railway tracks in 1885, the temple was shifted to the present location, Jalan Tun H. S. Lee. The land of the temple was demarcated as ‘Land for the Indian Community’ by the Sultan of Selangor. In order to improve the stability and durability of the building, the demolition of the attap structure was carried out in 1887 which was then followed by the brick construction of the building. The temple took 81 years to complete. The renovation of temple was carried out in 1972 with the installation of the gopuram, which is found at the entrance.
The worship house was first the personal place of worship for the Pillai family starting from 1873. Then, it became the community centre and the place for the devotees to pray for blessings and peace before heading to their work. However, in the late 1920s, the family decided to unveil the temple to the public especially for the early immigrants from India who settled in Selangor to replenish the shortage of manpower resources in mining, rubber and coffee plantation industry at that time. The decision was made by Pillai family so that everyone could worship the deities.
Due to a large amount of visitors and high demand for proper management of the temple, the Pillai family also handed the temple to the board of trustees which are now known as The Sri Mahamariamman Temple Devasthanam (SMMTD). This board consists of a group of godly and learned Hindu devotees who could properly manage the temple.
Generally, the style of the building is similar to the style of temples of South India, which is the Dravidian style. The Dravidian temple originated from South India in states such as Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Kerala. It is believed that the structural form of temples is what distinct them from ordinary buildings. In the past, this kind of temple is made of sandstone, granite or soapstone. This style of construction has encountered much evolution since 890 B.C. during the Pallavas dynasty. One of the prominent features of Dravidian temples is temples are built with multiple layers that are similar and are being stacked in the form of pyramid. Sri Mahamariamman Temple is resemblance of the Dravidian temple architecture.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
Gopuram
The most eye-catching part of the temple would be the 75 feet (approximately 22.9m) gopuram which is sculpted with 228 idols. Gopuram serves as the separation between the material and the spiritual world. It is located at the entrance and symbolizes the feet of divinity. A gopuram is usually built with great heights so that the population who are unable to go to the temple in person could also worship the deities by remembering the gopuram. The 5 tiers multicoloured gopuram are being further adorned by the 228 delicate sculptures which were made by S.T. Munippa from Tamil Nadu. Corbelling system is usually used to build a gopuram. The stacked horizontal courses are stepped inward and progressive forward to fill the room. The gopuram is normally hollow inside but some may be rubble-filled.
Main Prayer Hall
It is also the place where the priest performs prayers also known as puja, that will be followed by the chanting of devotees. The main hall is decorated in bright gaudy colour. 3 shrines, including the image of Sri Mahamariamman are located at the rear of the main hall which is the sanctum sanctorum (also known as garbhagriha) that acts as an inner chamber. Garbhargriha is usually a small windowless room where the primary deity is placed. Devotees believed that the energy of deity will flow out of the sanctum Sanctorum in all directions and will be reflected around the temple. The longer sides of the main prayer hall are not surrounded by walls but only pillars in order to allow sufficient ventilation and light penetration into the hall.
Around The Temple
According to the Layout plan of Sri Mahamariamman Temple, there are four other shrines that are located around the temple and they are Pecchai Ammam (rear left of the temple), Dugai Ammam, Sri Maha Vishnu (rear right of temple) and Navagraha. The roof of shrine for Navagraha is decorated with a chariot that is pulled by seven white horses.
Silver Chariot
Another feature that can only be seen during the Thaipusam celebration would be the 21 feet silver chariot that includes 240 bells and a pair of horses. This chariot originated from India and was sent in twelve parts that enable the work of assembling to be carried out in Malaysia in 1983. Before the emergence of silver chariot that is made up of 350 kg of silver, a wooden chariot that is made by Indian craftsmen was used starting from 1930.
ARCHITECTURE STUDIES OF HINDU TEMPLES
The architecture of Hindu temples does not only relate to construction, but also sacred geometry and astronomy. Generally, the style of building Hindu temples can be divided into: Nagara style in which the tower is beehive-like, and Dravida style, in which the tower has a gradually smaller tier of pavilions. The design of all Hindu temples is in accordance to Vastu-Sastra, which is known as the guidelines for building Hindu temples. For example, in Vastu-Sastra, it is written the essential rules and manuals about the selection of venue, the preparation method and the way of construction. The temple needs to be square in plan and they were often divided into numbers of squares. A design named Vastu-Purusha-Mandala is used in the Hindu temple. This design includes the supernatural and heavenly bodies. As shown in the figure below, Vastu-Purusha is lying on the ground with his feet facing the south-west. The square in the middle is called Brahmasthana. This is the vital point where Brahma oversits and protects the temple. Each direction has its own Dikpala (Defenders of Directions) who is entrusted to guard specific spaces.
A temple often has a plan view with the shape of combination of circle and square. The combination of these two are deemed as the sacred geometry in the Hindu tradition. A square symbolizes the dwelling place of human, which is the Earth, that consists of the four directions. A circle represents the heaven that is without the Alpha and Omega. Different from the Earth, heaven is not bounded by space and time. This sacred geometry formed by temple symbolizes the Earth and heaven meets, the place where an equilibrium between good and evil exists. These two elements support each other. To sum up, the designation of temple plan is based on the universal principle that explains how the universe works.
The location of building of a temple is usually near water sources and near to the nature. According to Sanskrit text, a Hindu temple is best situated at places where water flows, animals residing without fear and gardens could be found. If natural water bodies do not exist at the site, a man-made pond together with water gardens could be included in front or at the left of the temple as a replacement for water sources. If the condition of site does not allow the construction of pond, water need to be present during the dedication of temple. Apart from water bodies, temples could be built in caves, at the end of streets or inside of forests. Being near to nature enables worshipers to have a quiet heart and minimum distraction from worldly matters.
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After deciding a strategic place that adheres to the requirements above, further examination of the site is required. For instance, soil investigation is carried out to test the suitability of soil. The first step of the examination would be digging a hole and then filling the hole with the soil dug out. Water then be poured into the pit and the amount of water retained the next morning will tell the quality of soil. The next step is planting crops such as corns at the site and the germination of crops is observed to know the quality of soil. The spirits that dwell at the site need to leave and offerings are given to them at night and also before they depart. The harvesting of crops planted will be fed to cows which symbolizes the starting of temple construction. This process also commemorates spirits who left for another peaceful places apart from serving as first tribute at the new site in order to have the existence and manifestation of God.
Prominent Hindu temples are usually built in the form of concentric circles. In Tamil, these circles are known as piraharam (also known as veethi). In Malaysia, Hindu temples are often built to have only one piraharam which resembles the body of human, just like Sri Mahamariamman Temple. The inner design of this temple was inspired by a structure of a human lying with his back on the floor, as shown in the figure. The head that is symbolized by the garbagraham is towards the west while the leg that is symbolized by the gopuram is facing east. Each of these sections symbolizes a particular human body part as shown in table below - Parts of Temple.
SOCIAL & CULTURAL INFLUENCES
The Sri Mahamariamman Temple was recognized as the Hindu temple that is the wealthiest and most historical in the Kuala Lumpur. In the 19th century, this was the venue for devotees to meet their relatives and friends from India who immigrated to Selangor. By having this temple, the devotees could not only hold on to their identity despite sojourning in foreign lands, they could also take care of their spiritual needs so that their religions and faith could be strongly preserved while staying miles away from their hometown.
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Generally, gods from the rural area of India were related to elements found naturally or relating to agriculture. This often leads to the emergence of village temple. Village temple is also known as non-agamic temple, in which the deities from this kind of temple are often related to animistic belief and supernatural presence, just like Sri Mahamariamman Temple. This is a huge difference when compared to agamic temple that are associated to high level of Hinduism. The worship practices in the non-agamic temple are less elaborated such as prayers are led by non-Brahmin priests.
This temple is named after one of the deities in the Hindu religion, which is Mariamman goddess. ‘Mari’ means rain while “Amman” means mother. She is known as the Mother of Rain and is often prayed for crop prosperity and fertility. She is a goddess that is worshiped in rural areas of Tamil Nadu in India and is known to devotees for her ability of deliverance from heat-based sicknesses such as smallpox. Apart from that, she is popular among the Indians staying outside of India for her protection while staying in foreign countries.
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1895 marks the first Thaipusam celebrated in Sri Mahamariamman temple. Starting from 1930, a prominent silver chariot is being used to transport Lord Muruga’s statues and his spouses named Teivayanni and Valli all the way to Batu Caves every year. This parade will begin with the ritual of chanting for 30 minutes together with the playing of music. This ritual is usually participated by a large number of Hindu devotees which causes the need for road closure for the procession route from Sri Mahamariamman Temple to Batu Caves. Even so, this Thaipusam procession has always been one of the most anticipated festival celebration in Malaysia.