GODDESS KALI

The most colorful, striking temple in Singapore, it is dedicated to the fierce goddess Kali, depicted with a garland of skulls, who tears out the guts of her victims, yet also spends moments of peace and tranquility with her sons Ganesh and Murugan.

The choice of the goddess Kali as the main deity of the temple is significant. Considered a powerful goddess and a destroyer of evil, her presence here was a response to the acutely felt need of migrants to feel safe in a new land.

It seems that worship initially took place in a small shrine with carvings and inscriptions around a clay statue of an angry Sri Kaliamman, i.e. the goddess Kali, triumphing over evil. Over the years, further sanctuaries and rooms were added, expanding the temple considerably. In 1908, a statue of the goddess was ordered from India for the central shrine. In the same year, a shrine was also built to the goddess Sri Periyachi Amman, protector of children, and others were added over the years.

The style of the temple is in keeping with the Tamil temples in the South of India, in contrast with the style of the Indian temples in the north-east of Bengal, where the cult of the goddess Kali is extremely widespread.