Traditional Hindu Festival at the ancient Murugan Temple in Singapore.

A large congregation of 12000 Hindu devotees in Singapore, participated in the Abhishek Puja of an ancient temple.

Devak Adikal | HENB | Singapore | May 2, 2023:: Around 12,000 Hindu devotees on Thursday attended the consecration ceremony at Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, one of the oldest temples in Singapore. This temple was declared a national monument by the Singapore government in the year 2014. The Sri Thendayuthapani Temple was built in the year 1859 and has a close association with Thaipusam. The ceremony is dedicated to Lord Murugan who is considered a symbol of courage, strength, and virtue in Hinduism.

This is the first consecration ceremony held at the temple since the government declared the temple as Singapore’s 67th National Monument in 2014. The temple is the final destination during the traditional padayatra of the festival and the consecration ceremony is held once every 12 years. The first part of the ceremony began at seven in the morning in a large tent where priests chanted from holy scriptures and blessed with holy water.

This was followed by Kumbhabhishekam, in which holy water is poured from the top of the gopuram (pillar at the entrance to the temple) during which devotees chant arokaras (praises to Lord Murugan), The Straits Times reported. M. Saminathan, president of the Chettiar Temple Society, which manages the Sri Thendayuthapani temple, said 1,000 volunteers have been deployed to control the crowd and provide holy sacraments and food (prasadam) to the devotees.

The consecration was attended by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, besides Culture, Community and Youth Minister and Second Law Minister Edwin Tong and Joan Pereria. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was also supposed to attend the ceremony, but he could not attend due to the Kovid-19 infection.

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–With Inputs from The Straits Times.