The Sri Darma Muneeswaran Temple has been serving Hindu devotees since 1955, for over several decades, at its location at 17 Serangoon North Avenue 1 Darma Muneeswaran Temple has been in existence at this site (a rubber plantation), for more than a century. In 1990, a community of 30 Indian families living at Jalan Hwi Yoh erected a simple shrine. The shrine comprised of a flat semi-spherical gran
ite stone with inscriptions & a trident placed under an unnamed tree. The papal (Bodi) tree inside the temples was planted sometime in 1929 & there were attempts chop down the tree, but they failed. In fact misfortune befell the perpetrators. Several villagers who claimed they saw visions of Lord Muneeswaran, decided to erect a shrine in honour of the Lord. In 1969. the Hindus who maintained the temple made improvements & installed additional deties namely Ambal, Vinayagar, Murugan, Nagar & Bairavar. In 1980, with the help of Dr Lau, MP, Serangoon Gdn Constituency the temple was granted a TOL back-dated to 1955. The temple was than officially registered with ROS in 1980. To keep abreast with the developments around the temple vicinity, in 1995 the Management Committee decided to purchase the land & erect a permanent structure (proper temple) at the same site which is about 1500 sq meters. With the assistance of the MP, the land was purchased from the government on a 30 years lease. With funds collected from our devotees, well wishers, donors & through other various fund raising projects, the temple was constructed at a cost of $3.5m. The temple was consecrated on 11 June 2000. The most significant feature of this temple is that it is built at the original site around the ‘Bodi Tree” thus retaining its historical roots & vibration. Unlike other temples our temple has a tiled roof & there is a basement with multi-purpose hall, classrooms, mini library, staff quarters, toilets, kitchen & etc. The main temple prayer hall is an open concept with only nine pillars, all on the sides. The number of sanctums is also nine. It has a 3-tier Raja Gopuram of good height, octagonal shaped “Vimanam” for Lord Muneeswaran, 36 gold plated tridents on the roof tiles & 2 glass towers. This gives the temple a majestic & magnificent look. It has a 4ft Nagar, one of the biggest in this part of Asia. There are 2 ramps, one to the basement & the other to the prayer hall, to serve the handicapped. From a humble shrine/wooden hut, it’s transformed to a magnificent & prominent landmark in this part of Singapore. The temple caters to the religious & spiritual needs of the residents of Serangoon Gdn, Serangoon North, Serangoon Central, Ang Mo Kio, Hougang, Seletar Hills, Paya Lebar, Pongool, Yio Chu Kang & others in the vicinity. It conducts a number of major pooja during the year & the congregation can reach up to about 600 to 800 devotees at any time. There is a chariot procession to the neighbouring estates once a year. Besides religious activities the temple offers a wide range of other social, cultural, educational & welfare services. It is actually a centre of many activities, so much so, that we are unable to hire the basement hall for any private functions as it is fully used for the activities. We conduct Tamil tuition (Pr 1 to 6), vocal, dancing, musical instruments, yoga, chess & mandarin classes. As many as 400 to 500 participants take part in our activities during a week. We also provide legal & medical counseling. Every year we give away about $30,000 as bursary to needy primary & secondary students of all races. We also manage a kindergarten at Blk 838, Yishun St 81.
