A Surviving Hindu Temple in University of Malaya

by Nureetha Manogaran

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There are at least a few thousands Hindu students in all public universities in Malaysia, but there is no temple for the Hindu students in any of the public universities except for University of Malaya. It is the only Hindu temple inside the varsity campus among other public universities in Malaysia.

Although University of Malaya is the only public university that has a temple for the Hindus, it has its restrictions as it is not for the public but only for the university’s Indian staffs and students. However, in recent years, there has been discussions regarding the demolishment of the Sivan Temple if there are no active student activities or movements. It’s an agreement between the university and the temple committee.

Sarannya Murugan, 21, a student studying in University of Malaya said that visiting the temple is a popular culture among Indians. It’s not compulsory but they are advised to go to the temple twice a week. It’s our tradition so we are the ones who need to take care of the temple. “I feel UM Indian students should take responsibility on taking care of our temple as we do not want it to be demolished,” she said.

Due to that, the Sivan Temple’s committee members are volunteering for free to maintain and to ensure the temple is active. Among the members are Dr. K. Puniamurthy, the president of UM Sivan Temple and vice president, Dr. Jayarai from the Faculty of Engineering.

Since 2015, Dr Puniamurthy has been the president of the UM Sivan Temple. He said that initially, the poojas (prayers) are performed only on every Tuesdays and Fridays. After finding a local priest that has knowledge on prayers and singing “devaram” as well as mantras, the temple now performs poojas every evening from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

“We have a license for this temple and it is renewed every year. We pay some money to the university to renew the license. We can renovate the existing building of the temple like upgrading the priest’s room or change the roofs to better materials. But we cannot extend the temple or change the build-up area. It is the university’s order to stick to the original size of the temple,” said the president.

He also added that, “One of the most important points that keeps the temple going is by organizing “Ubayam”. Ubayam is one of the main prayers that students organize together and serve food for the attendees. The fee for our “ubayam” is the lowest among the other temples as it is around RM150-RM200. We keep the fee low because the 'ubayam' is catered for University of Malaya’s students.

A student from the Faculty of Accountancy and Economics, Shamita, 20 shared her sentiment that the UM Sivan Temple is honestly the one place that she feels closest to home. “Whenever I feel down, have too many things on my plate or if I just feel like I need some tranquillity, that’s the one place I always head to. This place has taught me that home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling.”

Things have been changing for the better in the last ten years. Students from different residential colleges have been organizing 'ubayam' between the Indians in their colleges. Now, if there is ‘ubayam’ being organized at the temple, around 300-350 students will come along with their invitation cards.

Bhavanisri Nadaraj, 21, said that by going for the 'ubayam' and prayers in the temple, it creates a bonding with other residential college and faculty students.

On top of that, every year the UM Sivan Temple will organize “Thiruvizha” in the temple. It is one of the major prayers of the temple. They will cook the food within the temple and serve to the devotees. This “Thiruvizha” is usually held on a Sunday because students are free on Sundays most of the time. They even celebrate all the Hindu festivals such as Navarathiri, Shivaratri, Saraswathi Pooja, and Karthigai. Along with that, they will also serve food for the students.

Sharumathi Kavirajan, 21, a student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Science said, “Personally, I feel that having worship places in the campus of a public university is good. Be it any religion, they all teach good virtues. So, if there are worship places on campus, students and people around the area would be able to benefit spiritually from it.”

Bavani Mannathan, 23, who’s studying Economics of Administration said “For me, UM temple is really convenient for me to pray. As a student with no transportation of my own, I can't really go to temples outside to pray and even if I can, it is time consuming and expensive. With UM temple on campus, I can easily go there to pray and get some peace of mind, especially during hectic weeks.”

Although it is a good thing that at least the University of Malaya has a temple for Hindus in the campus, it is still a restricted temple, so we don’t know what might happen in the future. Hindu students and staffs are doing everything they can to keep the temple going hence, it is their hope this temple will still be intact in the future.