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Temple's Background
SRI MAHA MARIAMMAN TEMPLE, MOUNT MATANG KUCHING, SARAWAK

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SEEING IS BELIEVING

The temple built during the era of the Second White Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Brooke in the late 1860s by tea plantation workers from South India, is supposed to be the only abode of "Sri Maha Mariamman in South East Asia, if not in the whole world, which is made of "belian" timber (iron wood), located on a 1,000 feet height on a mountain slope with pyramid shaped 'gopuram'.

The distance of the temple is about (2 1/2) two and half mile from the foot of the mountain and it would take about an hour to reach by foot

One who visits the temple would experience the cool and congenial atmosphere at the upper slopes of the mountain, panoramic view of the Matang plains and other landscape below and the 1800 Centurys Craftmanship on "belian" timber.

BRIEF HISTORY

Some 2000 feet up, the site chosen on the slopes of Gunung Serapi provided ideal terrain for tea growing and setting of a hill retreat for the second Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Brooke in the late 1860s.

The Rajah then allowed the entry of Indian plantation workers to be employed at the tea plantation. It is estimated that close to 1,000 Indian workers, were engaged when the plantations were thriving. British were known to be tea lovers who maintained their social habits in the colonies. The tea plantations were also of particular interest because they helped support an aristocratic British social life and lifestyle on the hill, where Rajah Charles had built a bungalow within the tea estate for him and the Rani named "Vallembrosa".

One of the buildings at the tea and coffee plantations which has remained more or less intact after more than 136 years was a Hindu temple built by the Indian plantation workers and was dedicated to the Goddess Sri Maha Mariamman.

The temple was the earliest known Hindu shrine in Sarawak and was rediscovered only in around 1967 after being abandoned by the Indian workers since the tea plantations were closed in 1912. It was over grown with trees and creepers. Since 1967 for the last 36 over years efforts have been made by the Hindu Communities in Kuching to maintain the sacred shrine, the surroundings and the road leading to the temple.

Edited by Mr T. Morgan

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