Merging 'different' sacred spaces: Enabling religious encounters through pragmatic utilisation of space?

Abstract

This article examines the phenomenon of the 'merger' of places of worship on the island nation-state of Singapore, and raises sociological questions regarding the rationale for such sharing of space for emergent styles of religiosity. The ethnographic material comes from two such cases of merger. involving Hindu and Taoist religious traditions in Singapore. These data allow us to abstract broader issues of conceptual relevance to the understanding of religion under conditions of modernity. My argument is that the practical requirement of merger in a shared physical location creates a literal and sym bolic space, as well as a context for interaction between individuals, communities and ultimately modes of religiosity. This context is both constraining and liberating at the same time, but I do not see modernity as eroding or diminishing religiosity. Rather, one observes that the formal rational, instrumental logic also facilitates innovations, inven tiveness and creativity in the religious domain, producing a vastly altered religious landscape. This challenges and impels us to move beyond a reductionist choice between the secularising or the sacralising effects of modernist forces on religious practice.

Unraveling “Singaporean Hinduism”: Seeing the Pluralism Within

“…My data urge the conclusion that the preponderance of such "home-grown" groups renders the Hindu landscape on the island convoluted. The formal organization of these efforts to rethink and reconfigure Hinduism can be interpreted as responses to the exigencies of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious context, where religious diversity is largely valorized but can also be viewed as a "problem" both from the perspective of the state and the various religious communities (Sinha 2003). In the main the paper is ethnographic, grounded in primary data collected via interviews and qualitative surveys.…”

'Mixing and Matching': The Shape of Everyday Hindu Religiosity in Singapore

“…Additionally, the state and the various 'para-statal' institutions view the HEB as representing the interests of the Hindu community and it is often approached for input on Hindu issues. Th e cumulative eff ect of this enlarged role of the HEB means that it has contributed to packaging and legitimating a face of Hinduism for wider public consumption, and in the process also framed the boundaries of what constitutes 'proper Hinduism' (Sinha, 2008a).…”

“…According to the Singapore Census of 2000, the Hindu population in Singapore stands at 99,904 -a small percentage of the total population, and one that has remained stable in the last 50s years or so. Elsewhere, I have unpacked the religious parameters of this numerically 'small' cluster, while arguing that the 'unravelling' of categories like 'Hindu,' 'Hinduism' and 'Singaporean Hinduism' helps in mapping the complex tapestry of belief and ritual they encompass (Sinha, 2005(Sinha, , 2008b. In the context of this paper, I approach the domain of 'everyday Hindu religiosity' to be constituted by a number of intertwining, intersecting and sometimes contradictory strands of religious practice and thinking.…”

“…Malaysian Hindu domains has entailed conducting fi eldwork in what I have defi ned as 'jungle temples' (or underground temples), where village Hindu gods and goddesses (such as male and female guardian deities) are venerated, and a ritual complex associated with them fl ourishes (Sinha, 2005). One of my fi rst observations was that, folk Hindu deities co-existed unproblematically with gods of the Hindu Sanskritic tradition in these locations.…”

“…Th eir status is further ambiguous as they are officially registered spaces but do not fi t the stereotypical features of a Hindu or a Taoist temple. I have described these locations as examples of 'conjoined' and 'merged' religious spaces (Sinha, 2003). Th ese are the 'Hock Huat Keng / Veera Muthu Muneeswarar Temple' (in Yishun) and the 'Loyang Tua Peh Kong Temple' (in Changi).…”