Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
were being built in Bangkok at this time. Pahurat Road ran ten metres wide across the land
and was originally intended as a residential area for members of the royal court, who lived
on its south side. A large number of Chinese shopkeepers and craftsmen, mainly jewellers,
settled here to serve the community. On the northern side of the road, where the China
World department store now stands, was Wang Burapha, a palace and fort built in the
time of Rama
I
as part of the city's eastern defences and greatly enlarged in the 1820s. In
the 1870s, with invasion from the east no longer a threat, the palace was rebuilt again, this
time as a courtly residence for Prince Bhanurangsi Sawangwongse, a younger brother of
Rama
V
, who was commander-in-chief of the Royal Siamese Army and founder of the Thai
postal service, but who is probably best remembered by history as the father of the famous
racing driver, Prince Bira. Alongside was a market named Ming Muang, which made fine
quality clothing. To service this market a number of textiles suppliers began to move into
the area, predominantly Indians, who have had a long trading history with Thailand.
Amongst the Indian immigrants were a large number of Sikhs, who began arriving in
the final years of the nineteenth century, and who in their homeland have a special affinity
with textiles. The first is recorded as Ladha Singh, who arrived in Bangkok in 1890, and by
1912 the community had grown to a size where, rather than holding prayers in their own
homes, they established their own temple, or gurdwara. For this they rented a wooden
house in Ban Moh, but this proved inadequate and in the following year the community
leased a larger wooden house on the corner of Pahurat and Chakraphet roads, where they
could conduct prayers and other ceremonies on a daily basis. By 1932, the Sikh commu-
nity had become large and successful, and had raised 16,200 baht to purchase a piece of
land on which to build a new gurdwara. A further 25,000 baht went towards the construc-
tion of a three-storey building, which opened in 1933 and was named Gurdwara Siri Guru
Singh Sabha. During the World War
II
bombing by Allied forces, two 1,000-pound bombs
aimed at the nearby Wat Liab power station and the Memorial Bridge missed their tar-
get, and fell through the roof of the gurdwada. Several hundred Sikhs were inside at the
time, but miraculously the bombs failed to explode and no one was hurt. Other bombs
exploding in the vicinity did, however, cause cracks to the building, and although they
were patched up the decision was taken in 1979 to demolish the structure and build a lar-
ger one. The present gurdwara was completed two years later and is a six-storey struc-
ture standing on an area of 1,440 square metres (15,500 sq ft). It is the second largest
Sikh temple outside of India. Although the golden dome and white upper storeys can be
seen sailing above the rooftops, the building is completely hemmed in by the surrounding
buildings and labyrinth of lanes, and unlike the traditional four entrances of a gurdwara,
