01Naraina Pillai’s shrine
Naraina Pillai, a clerk from Penang, came to Singapore with Raffles in 1819, the year the British settlement was founded, and went on to run a brickworks and a building business. In 1827 he set up a small shrine of wood and attap palm on South Bridge Road, with a murti of Mariamman. For the Tamil settlers of the young port it was also a shelter and a meeting hall. New arrivals slept in its halls until they found work, and disputes in the community were settled there.
02Theemithi, the walk on fire
About a week before Deepavali the temple holds Theemithi, in honour of Draupadi Amman, whose shrine stands inside the compound. Devotees who have kept vows for weeks walk barefoot across a long pit of glowing coals in the temple courtyard, starting before dawn and going on into the afternoon. The procession sets out the night before from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal temple in Little India. The gopuram over the entrance, crowded with painted figures of devas and rishis, is the face of the temple on every postcard of Chinatown.
The life of this place
- 1827Naraina Pillai founded a shrine of wood and attap on South Bridge Road.
- 1973Gazetted as a National Monument of Singapore.
Near Chinatown MRT station. Shoes off at the gate; Theemithi falls about a week before Deepavali.
