About Sri Sivan Temple

It has been recorded that the Sri Sivan Temple was rebuilt as a solid structure in the early 1850’s at the Orchard Road site under which the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station is located. The Sivalinga was known to be worshiped at this site well before 1850. The Sivalinga had moved three times within Singapore- once from Potong Pasir to a spot in the lower end of Dhoby Ghaut; then to a site near where MacDonald House Stands today; and then on to the Orchard Road site where it used to be until 1983. An order placing Sri Sivan Temple under the Mohammedan and Hindu Endowments Board (set up in 1907) was gazetted on October 18, 1915. In 1968, the Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) was formed to manage four temples including the Sri Sivan Temple. In 1983, the Government decided to acquire the land on which the temple stood. An MRT station was to be built underground. Therefore, a transit temple was built next to the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple at Serangoon Road while a more suitable and permanent site was being identified. All the god-forms from the Orchard Road Temple were installed in the new temporary site at Serangoon Road which allowed for all daily prayers and festivals celebrated to continue. The Hindu Endowments Board had intended to make the new temple unique in appearance, features and facilities. The Board and the management committee of the temple consulted well-known temple architects in India. What followed was a unique design- an octagonal structure. The new temple was built at a cost of $6 million on a 3,000 sq. meter plot at Geylang East. The new site is about four-and-a-half times bigger than the temple’s former site at Orchard Road. After ten years of temporary residence at Serangoon Road, the Sri Sivan Temple was consecrated at its present Geylang East site on May 30 1993. Major festivals celebrated at Sri Sivan Temple are Maha Sivarathiri and Guru Peryarchi.