The Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong on Sunday led a Puja for the re-consecration of a 164 year Hindu temple, which was recently renovated at a cost of about SGD 4.5 million. Also present at the puja were four ministers of in his government and about 40,000 devotees. This was the first time PM Loong had taken part in such a ceremony after becoming the Prime Minister in 2004.
As per a Facebook post by PM Loong, the renovation of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal temple took about 1.5 years and was possible thanks to the generous donations by various devotees. He also informed the public of the same via a tweet:
Joined Hindu community leaders & thousands of devotees at the re-consecration of the newly renovated Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple this morning. – LHL https://t.co/BpAP6yFtKg pic.twitter.com/uJ5F09InIs
— Lee Hsien Loong (@leehsienloong) April 22, 2018
The renovation was carried out in the build-up to the re-consecration ceremony also known as Maha Samprokshanam, which takes place every 12 years. The Maha Samprokshanam would now be followed by a 45 day long cultural celebrations termed as Mandalabishegam.
As per reports, the ceremony at one of the oldest temples in the island nation comprised of sprinkling holy water from sacred vessels known as Gadams on the main statue of Sri Srinivasa Perumal and the temple’s nine pinnacles.
Historically this temple was built in 1854 and was declared a national monument in 1978. This was the fourth such renovation which took place in the temple since 1978 and has seen the expansion of the worship and eating space. Besides this the temple was rid of pests, weeds and saw its paintings and murals getting repainted. Its structures like the tower entrance, temple roof and pillars were reconditioned.
In order to carry out the restoration, a 20 member team of highly skilled artisans was brought in from India. Maintaining the original colour scheme was one of the conditions during the restoration, hence a 14 colour palette comprising of oil and enamel paints was used to ensure the same. The renovation also saw the use of lime mortar instead of regular cement.
