Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
135
find a small door way to a chamber under the altar . Another B uddha image r eclines
inside, this one shown at the end of his life, beneath the Yellow Seraka tree. On the left
side of the main part of the hall is a r eplica of a footprint left by the Buddha in Ceylon.
Next to that is a wheel of for tune; for S50¢ (US35¢/20p), you get one spin.
336 Race Course Rd., 1 block past Perumal Rd.
&
65/6294-0714.
Free admission, 8am-4pm.
5-min. walk
from Farrer Park MRT.
Sri Perumal Temple
Sri Perumal Temple, built in 1855, is dev oted to the worship
of Vishnu. As par t of the H indu trinity, Vishnu is the sustainer , balancing out B rahma
the creator and Shiva the destroyer. When the world is out of whack, he rushes to its aid,
reincarnating himself to show mankind that there are always new directions for develop-
ment.
On the first tier to the left of the fr ont entrance on the
gopuram,
statues depict Vish-
nu's nine r eincarnations. Rama, the sixth incarnation, is with H anuman, the monkey
god, who helped him in the fier ce battle to fr ee his wife fr om kidnapping. Krishna,
shown r eclining amid dev otees, is the eighth incarnation and a her o of many H indu
legends, most notably the Bhagavad-Gita. Also up there is the half-human and half-bird
Garuda, Vishnu's steed. Inside the temple ar e altars to Vishnu, his two wiv es, and Gar-
uda.
During Thaipusam, the main festiv al celebrated her e (see chapter 3), male dev otees
who have made vows over the year carry
kavadi
—huge steel racks decorated with flowers
and fruits and held onto their bodies b y skewers and hooks—to sho w their thanks and
devotion, while women carry milk pots in a parade from Sri Perumal Temple to Chettiar's
Temple on Tank Road.
397 Serangoon Rd.,
1
/
2
block past P erumal Rd. Free admission. Best times t o visit ar e daily 7-11am or
5-7:30pm. 5-min. walk from Farrer Park MRT.
Sri Veerama Kaliamman Temple
This H indu temple is primarily for the
worship of Shiva's wife, Kali, who destroys ignorance, maintains world order, and blesses
those who strive for knowledge of God. The box on the walkway to the front entrance is
for smashing coconuts, a symbolic smashing of the ego, asking God to show “the humble
way.” The coconuts hav e two small “ eyes” at one end so they can “
7
see” the personal
obstacles to humility they are being asked to smash.
Inside the temple in the main hall ar e three altars, the center one for Kali (depicted
with 16 arms and w earing a necklace of human skulls) and two altars on either side for
her two sons—Ganesh, the elephant god, and M urugan, the four-headed child god. To
the right is an altar with nine statues r epresenting the nine planets. Cir cle the altar and
pray to your planet for help with a specific tr ouble.
Around the left side of the main hall, the first tier of the
gopuram
tells the story of how
Ganesh got his elephant head. A small dais in the r ear-left corner of the temple com-
pound is an altar to Sri Periyachi, a very mean-looking woman with a heart of gold. She
punishes women who say and do things to make others feel bad. S
he also punishes
men—under her feet is an exploiter of ladies.
Here's a bit of trivia: R ed ash, as opposed to white, is applied to the for
ehead after
prayers are offered in a temple devoted to a female god.
141 Serangoon Rd. at Veerasamy Rd. Free admission. Daily 8am-noon and 5:30-8:30pm. 10-min. walk
from Little India MRT.
