Central Sikh Temple

About

The Central Sikh Temple — or Central Sikh Gurdwara — is one of seven gurdwaras serving the Sikh community of Singapore. First established in 1912, it relocated several times before settling at its present home in 1986 — on Towner Road, near the junction with Serangoon Road in Kallang, close to Boon Keng MRT.

Alongside the gurdwara stands a seven-storey Sikh community building that houses cultural activities, religious instruction, and community gatherings — an extension of the gurdwara's role as not only a place of worship but a centre of Sikh life in the city.

As in every gurdwara, daily worship at the Central Sikh Temple centres on the Gurū Granth Sāhib — the eternal Gurū of the Sikhs, enthroned at the front of the prayer hall. The gurdwara offers community kīrtan, daily prayers, and the langar — the free communal meal — through which the Sikh ethic of equality and sevā is lived out.

History

The Sikh community in Singapore originally used the Police Gurdwara Sahib at Pearl's Hill. In 1912, with help from the Sindhi merchant Wassiamull and from members of the Straits Settlements Police, the community purchased a bungalow on Queen Street to serve as a dedicated place of worship. This became the Queen Street Gurdwara Sahib, popularly known as the Wadda Gurdwara — the 'Big Temple'. After internal disputes among Majhai, Malwai, and Doabi groups, government took control of the building on 12 June 1917 and placed it under the Muslim and Hindu Endowment Board, and the gurdwara's services declined. Under sustained community advocacy led by Sham Singh Rumi, the Queen Street Gurdwara Ordinance of 24 October 1940 restored management to a Sikh board of trustees representing the community's varied regional roots. The site at Queen Street was acquired by the government in 1977 for urban redevelopment, and a new plot was provided at Towner Road. The Guru Granth Sāhib was temporarily housed at the Bukit Ho Swee Community Centre, the foundation stone for the new gurdwara was laid by Sant Baba Nahar Singh Ji Sunehranwale on 1 April 1983, and construction was completed in 1986 at a cost of S$6.5 million. On 16 November 1986 President Wee Kim Wee officially opened the building; in 1999, on 8 May, it was gazetted as a historical site by the National Heritage Board.