Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman Temple, Johor Baru, Malaysia - The only Hindu Glass Temple abroad

The main temple is dedicated to Kaali, the Divine Mother, here worshipped as Sri Raja Kaliamman Maha Kaali, Thillai Kaali, the Saviour of the universe. The floor of this temple also is paved with granite. The basalt image of the mother, dressed in gorgeous gold brocade, stands on a white marble image of the prostrate body of her Divine Consort, Siva, the symbol of Absolute. On the feet of the goddess are, among other ornaments, anklets of gold. Her arms are decked with jewelled ornaments of gold.

She wears necklaces of gold and pearls, a golden crown, golden earrings, and a golden nose ring with pearl drop. She has eight arms. The lower left hand holds a severed human head and the upper grips a blood stained sabre. One right hand offers boons to her children, the other allays their fear. The majesty of her posture can hardly be described. It combines the terror of destruction with the reassurance of motherly tenderness.

For she is the cosmic power, the totality of the universe, her glorious harmony of the pairs of opposite. She deals out death as she creates the preserves. She has three eyes, the third being the symbol of divine wisdom: they strike dismay into the wicked, yet pour out affection for her devotees.

From of the beginning to the Building of the 1996 temple with three tiered Raja Gopuram. Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman Temple is one of the oldest temple in Malaysia, It has been in existence since 1922 on a piece of land bequeathed to the Indians by the generosity of then Sultan of Johor His Majesty Sultan Sir Ibrahim Iskandar Al Masyur Ibni Al Marhum Sultan Sir Abu Bakar known as one of the richest men in the world during his reign (1895-1959) of 64 years. The longest in recent Malaysian history.

The temple building built in 1922 was demolished in 1989 to make way for a new temple during the Chairmanship of Mr. Sivasamy (Chairman 1970-1996). Unfortunately the expected co-operation from the public did not materialize and many of the management committee left leaving Mr Sivasamy to carry on. Prayers continued to be conducted in the temporary shed that had been erected.

Then came a young graduate teacher Sinnathamby being his name, into history of the temple (and he would go into the world history of Temple building 18 years later). He was only 21 when the old temple building was demolished in 1989. Then itself he was dreaming of a grand temple that should be built for Sri Raja Kaliamman, although it was the temple committee’s could not build the temple, being Mr Sivasamy’s son, he took upon himself, with the blessings of the Divine Mother, the building of the temple as a worthy abode for the Divine Mother which would become one of the well known Hindu temples in the world.

The temple had its Kumbabishegam on the 25th of August 1996. Thousands of devotees gathered to witness the ceremony and view the beautiful new temple, All the credit goes to then 29 years old Mr Sinnathamby who took all the effort and made it possible against the odds to have built a temple with three tiered Raja Gopuram. He had even delayed his marriage to his fiancé for seven years vowing that he will only get married after the temple in consecrated.

Mr Sinnathamby has been conducting poojai in the temple since 1991 in Tamil, often chanting and singing in praise of mother Kaliamman. From the same year he stopped blood offerings. In the year 2000 he introduced the red dress code for members of the Kaali family (temple members). This was to instil discipline and self discipline and self esteem. Others devotees to the temple too wear red when involved in religious rituals during festivals.

He did not stop at temple building. Realizing that many of our youths are involved in social ills ThiruGuru started his mission to fight the evil influences among our youth and to provide social services. He established and organization NYANA YUTHAM FOUNDATION in 2001 with the aim of instilling moral and spiritual values and helping in the education of our youth.

A MASTERPIECE

The glasswork of the temple is made up of 500,000 glass pieces. One might take it as buying that many pieces and pasting it on he walls. No! It is not as simple as that. 500,000 glass pieces were imported from Thailand, Japan Belgium in 6 colours, namely blue, red, yellow, green, purple and silver, were bought cut different shapes and used.

The design for this mammoth task was done by ThiruGuru. The work was done under his supervision by nine Myanmar artisans.

Ninety five percent of the interior walls of the temple is covered by glasswork. The same goes for the Raja Gopuram and Moolasthanam Gopuram in the existerior.

300,000 rudraksha beads cover the interior walls of Siva Sannithi. Motive and symbols swastika, lingam and namam and other intricate designs adorn the walls gopurams.

The cost of renovations was RM3 million (about one million US Dollars). An amount of RM 400,000 was from the State Government and the rest from the public. The three million figure includes the building of a three storey multipurpose hall named hall named Sri Bhagawan Sitthar Peedam.

The temple was completed and consecration ceremony was held on 25th October 2009 and a crowd of 30,000 people witnessed it. Since the hundreds of people have been visiting it every week.