New temple for Tongaat
AFTER decades of waiting, congregants at the Brake Village Sri Siva Soobramaniar Alayam in Tongaat will soon be able to worship in comfort.
Tomorrow, ground will be broken and concrete poured for a new structure that will comprise three new shrines, with a hall set in one of them.
The main shrine, which will occupy 220m of floor space, will boast an impressive 13m-high dome, a far cry from what worshippers have been accustomed to.
A 9m building has been home to the temple’s deities for more than 50 years.
On days of worship, since only so many could get into the temple, queues of worshippers usually flowed out into the road.
The temple’s original wood and iron structure was built in 1909 on Brake Village land, which was owned by sugar producer Tongaat Hulett.
After appeals from their employees, the company agreed to build a more solid temple. It has stood unchanged ever since.
In 2011, ownership of the property was given to the Siva Soobramaniar Alayam board of trustees. Geeva Subrayan, chief executive of the board, said they were ecstatic about the latest development.
“This new project is a dedication and tribute to our forefathers, who preserved our religion, culture and education,” he said.
The board has engaged the Sri Vaidyanatha Sthapati Associates of Chennai, India, to design and build the temple.