8th Stop: Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple

The girls carried on walking and reached a Hindu temple. They stopped and marveled at the intricate workmanship of the statues that dotted the temple facade. "This is the statue of Lord Vinayagar", one of the girls pointed out to the rest. The boys were amazed. "They are not only beautiful, but also so smart!" the boys thought. The girls were attractive and intelligent while the boys had neither. This was maybe another sign of the great mismatch.

The Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple stands at 21m high and remains one of the tallest Hindu temples in Singapore.

The temple's history can be traced back to the 1850s when a statue of Lord Vinayagar was found near a pond in the area. Beside the pond stood a lone Chempaka tree and it is this tree that is allowed many to identify with the temple. A Ceylon Tamil, Mr Ethirnayagam Pillai, started on the construction of a modest looking temple made out of simple materials. Over the years, the temple was continually reconstructured and improved upon and finally in the year 1998, plans for the current design came to fruition.

The road on which this temple is located on, Ceylon Road, is also home to our President, S R Nathan.

[The monument in front of the temple which gives information about the temple. The picture next to it shows the detailed architecture of the temple - 32 different statues of Lord Vinayagar]