Hindu Glass Temple in Malaysia - Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman Temple

Three hundred thousand pieces of colored glasses, namely blue, red, yellow, green, purple and white, will give shape to the Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman Temple at Jalan Tebrau in Johor Bahru State of Malaysia. And when completed in October 2009, it will be the first Hindu Glass Temple in the world.

Around 95 per cent of the Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman temple's walls, ceiling, domes and pillars will be adorned with more than three hundred thousand pieces of colorful glasses imported from Thailand, Japan and Belgium. The estimated cost of the temple is 3 million Malaysian Ringgit.

The original Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman Temple was built in 1922. The temple needed a makeover and the Temple committee decided on transforming the temple into something unique.

The star online writes

Temple president S. Sinathambhy, who is also an art teacher, said that so far RM2mil had been spent to renovate the 87-year-old temple.

He added that he conceptualized the design while riding in a motorised taxi (tuk tuk), during a trip to Bangkok.

“I saw something shimmering from afar and told the driver to take me towards the light.

“I finally came to a Buddhist temple that had a piece of glasswork at its entrance and I was amazed by the beauty of the piece,” he said.

Sinathambhy said he expanded on the idea to build a temple that would be fully embellished with coloured glass.

“I thought that having a temple filled with glasswork could attract many people,” he said. The 300,000 pieces of glasses on the Arulmigu temple consist of six colours, namely blue, red, yellow, green, purple and white.

Sinathambhy added that the temple was initially built in 1922 and needed a major makeover.

“I hired a few workers from Myanmar to help put up the glasswork,” he said, adding that he was involved in the design.

“It has not been easy since I started work on the project one year ago, and the current economic situation has made the task even more difficult,” he said.

The temple is expected to open to the public on October 25, 2009.

Images belongs to the Star Online