Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Constructed in 1855, the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on Serangoon Road is one of Singapore’s oldest Hindu temples and has been gazetted as a national monument.

In the mid-19th century, a group of Tamil community leaders, including Arunachala Pillay, Cootaperumal Pillay, Ramasamy Pillay, Appasamy Pillay, Chockalingam Pillay, and Ramasamy Jamidar, came together with the objective of building a Hindu temple for Vaishnavites, who generally worship Lord Vishnu and his manifestations. They purchased a piece of land measuring about 87,000 square feet in 1851. The temple they completed in 1885 was known as the Narasimha Perumal Temple.

The original structure of the temple remained unchanged until the early 1960s, when the Mohammedan Hindu Endowments Board, which was then managing the temple, redeveloped it with substantial financial support from philanthropist P Govindasamy Pillai, including the construction of the first two-storey marriage hall within the temple premises. The hall was officially opened by Yusoff Bin Ishak, the first president of Singapore, on 19 June 1965.

In 1966, the main deity of the temple underwent a transformation. The lion-headed manifestation, Narasimha Perumal, was replaced by the gentler and gracious form, Srinivasa Perumal. Consequently, the temple was renamed Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple. As one of the four Hindu temples administered by the current Hindu Endowments Board, it serves as the starting point for the kavadi procession during the Thaipusam festival. Some of the major festivals celebrated at the temple include Panguni Brahmotsavam, Vaikunda Ekadasiand Purattasi Sani.

The temple was declared a national monument in 1978. Following the Hindu tradition of consecratingtemples every 12 years, major facelifts were undertaken in 1979, 1992, 2005 and the most recent one in 2018. The latest ceremony attracted some 40,000 multi-ethnic devotees. In addition to its religious activities, the temple offers services such as free homoeopathy services and education bursary schemes for disadvantaged Hindu children.



For more information
“Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple.” Hindu Endowments Board. Accessed 1 August 2025. https://heb.org.sg/sspt/
Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple. Accessed 1 August 2025. https://sspt.org.sg/
“Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple.” Roots.sg. Accessed 1 August 2025. https://www.roots.gov.sg/places/places-landing/Places/national-monuments/sri-srinivasa-perumal-temple
Renuka, M and Ang, Mervin. “Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple.” Singapore Infopedia. Accessed 1 August 2025. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=ba6a69ad-b513-4889-848f-064f1c542912
Ng Jun Sen. “164-year-old Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple restored in consecration ceremony witnessed by PM Lee.” The Straits Times, 22 April 2018. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/164-year-old-hindu-temple-restored-in-consecration-ceremony-witnessed-by-pm

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The information in this article is valid as of August 2025 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. If you have any feedback on this article, please submit here.