Kumbabishegam
(Consecration Ceremony)
Arulmigu Velmurugan Gnanamuneeswarar Temple
GOH Dr Balaji Sadasivan
Senior Minister of State,
Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts,
Ministry of Health
50 Rivervale Crescent
Sunday, 19th February 2006
Singapore 218123

Kumbabishegam (Consecration Ceremony) is a religious ceremony conducted to bless a new temple. A temple is infused with divinity through this elaborate ceremony. All new temples undergo this ritual consecration when holy water is poured over their pinnacles and deities within. This grand ceremony is generally performed on four occasions:

When new images or deities are installed in a temple;
When an existing temple has to be relocated;
When renovations are carried out in an existing temple; and
Every twelve years in the life of a temple.

These ceremonies follow a set pattern as laid down in the age-old scriptures known as the Agama Sastras. They contain rules, among other things, for the construction of a temple, the making of images, and the consecration.

Regular consecration ceremonies are required because people who visit the temple may pollute its sanctity unknowingly. Performing these ceremonies re-infuses the temples and its deities with sanctity.

The temple is located at Rivervale Crescent in Sengkang next to Chong Hua Tong Tou Teck Hwee Prayer hall and Sengkang Combined Taoist Temple. Merging three temples forms Arulmigu Velmurrugan Gnanamuneeswarar Temple: Velmurugan Temple (previously at Silat Road), Sri Krishna Bhagawan Durga Parameswari Temple (previously at Jalan Kayu) and Sri Mariamman Muneeswarar Temple (previously at Jalan Kayu).

The temple society of AVGMT was formed with the support of the Hindu Endowments and Hindu Advisory Boards in 2000. A 20,000 sq ft piece of land at Sengkang was purchased for $2 million. The temple costed $7 million to build and the development project took two and a half years to complete.

The new temple site will house two main deities. They are Arulmigu Velmurrugan and Sri Muneeswarar. With two main sanctums, the design of the temple is quite unique.

Ornate motifs and carves images found on pillars, the ceiling, walls and roof of the temple. Has a doomed roof, quite unlike the often used pyramidal roofs in most Hindu temples. 20 specialist sculptors and craftsmen from India were commissioned to complete the project.

The first Hindu temple to be established with the support and funding from the Buddhist Community. AVGMT regularly involves other religious communities as well in its festivals like joint SARS prayer, Annual Vesak Celebrations at Little India and Annual Divine Lights procession for World Peace. Inter-racial, inter-religious harmony takes precedence here.

The only Hindu temple in Singapore to set up a subsidized Learning Centre in its premises to cater to low incomes families.

The temple is also the first to conduct ceremonies celebrating the development of the new temple premises with large-scale people participation. These include the 1008 Shangustaapanam ceremony where one-thousand and eight conch shells (believe to have a deep symbolic and religious tradition in Hinduism) were placed in the base of the temples’ sanctums by devotees.

During the ceremony of Brahmaranthira Sthaapanam, people were given a once in a lifetime opportunity to place at the top of the temple dome precius metals and stones believed to enhance the temple’s divinity. The items remain in the sealed dome for lifespan of the temples. The temple has an average of 500 devotees per day.