Central Sikh Temple

About

The Central Sikh Temple, or Central Sikh Gurdwara, is one of seven gurdwaras serving the Sikh community of Singapore. First established in 1912, it relocated several times before settling at its present home in 1986, on Towner Road, near the junction with Serangoon Road in Kallang, close to Boon Keng MRT.

Alongside the gurdwara stands a seven-storey Sikh community building that houses cultural activities, religious instruction, and community gatherings, an extension of the gurdwara's role as not only a place of worship but a centre of Sikh life in the city.

As in every gurdwara, daily worship at the Central Sikh Temple centres on the Gurū Granth Sāhib, the eternal Gurū of the Sikhs, enthroned at the front of the prayer hall. The gurdwara offers community kīrtan, daily prayers, and the langar, the free communal meal, through which the Sikh ethic of equality and sevā is lived out.

History

Singapore's Sikh community first gathered at the Police Gurdwara Sahib on Pearl's Hill before purchasing a Queen Street bungalow in 1912 with help from the Sindhi merchant Wassiamull and members of the Straits Settlements Police, founding the Queen Street Gurdwara Sahib, known to the community as the Wadda Gurdwara, the Big Temple. Internal disputes among Majhai, Malwai, and Doabi groups led the government to take over the building in 1917, and only after sustained advocacy led by Sham Singh Rumi did the Queen Street Gurdwara Ordinance of 1940 restore its management to a Sikh board of trustees. When the government acquired the Queen Street site for redevelopment in 1977, the Guru Granth Sahib Ji was carried to a temporary home at Bukit Ho Swee Community Centre while the community built anew at Towner Road: Sant Baba Nahar Singh Ji Sunehranwale laid the foundation stone on 1 April 1983, and President Wee Kim Wee opened the completed gurdwara on 16 November 1986. Singapore's National Heritage Board gazetted it a historic site on 8 May 1999.

Significance

As at every gurdwara, the sangat gathers before the Guru Granth Sahib Ji enthroned at the front of the prayer hall, and the kitchens serve langar to all who come regardless of faith or background, the daily expression of the Sikh ethic of equality and sevā. The seven-storey community building beside the gurdwara extends that life into religious classes, cultural activities, and gatherings that make the Central Sikh Temple not only Singapore's principal gurdwara but a living centre of Sikh community life in the city.

Architecture

Modern gurdwara architecture: a white multi-storey building crowned with a gold-finialed dome and flanking chhatris, built beside a seven-storey Sikh community centre