Sarawak Tamilarkal

Extracts from The Borneo Post...

"Sri Maha Mariamman Temple – The Lost Temple of Matang

CONTENT of DOCUMENTARY FILM 

          

Part 1.

1.    INDIAN INFLUENCE IN SOUTH EAST ASIA.

·         Early history of South Indian visit to South East Asia.

·         South Indian influence in South East Asia

·         Purpose of South Indian travel to South East Asia

·         Travel method

·         Kanchi Pallava’s visits to Borneo

·         Similarity between Kanchi Pallava’s  statues and Santubong Archaeological materials.

Part 2.

2.    SARAWAK TAMILS HISTORY

·         White Raja II Charles Brooke brought South Indian for work in coffee estate in Matang, Kuching,Sarawak.

·         Almost 2000 Indian labourers work in coffee etate.

·         Early History of Sarawak Tamils

·         Temple Build by Sarawak Tamils

·         Matang Mariamman Temple history

·         Batu Lintang Srinivasagar Kaliamman Temple History.

·         History of Tamil School development in Sarawak.

·         Related of Malaya Tamils and Sarawak Tamils in Sarawak.

·         Unique of Sarawak Tamils

·         Political development of Sarawak Tamils

·         And more

THE Sri Maha Mariamman (goddess of Mercy) temple, 1000 feet up the slope of the Matang mountain in the Kuching district was ‘lost’ for more than 50 years before it was discovered accidentally by a hunter back in the mid 1960s.

It was said the hunter Abi bin Bengggali, stumbled upon an abandoned building on the slope of the mountain while searching for game. Intrigued, he explored the interior of the sturdy building made of belian which despite the ravage of time was still largely intact.

Inside, he discovered relics of what was clearly a Hindu temple and taking fancy of a carved wooden elephant, he took it home. It proved to be a traumatic mistake for that night his house shook violently and in his sleep Abi dreamt that he must return the statue to the temple.

Needless to say the hunter lost no time returning the statue to the temple and his strange adventure became the talk of the village. When it spread to the ears of Hindus in Kuching the mystery of the abandoned temple was quickly unraveled.

The temple was built by Indian and Ceylonese (Sri Lankans) workers recruited by the second White Rajah Charles Brooke to tend his tea and coffee plantation on the slope of the mountain.

Some of the Indian elders in the 1960s still remembered their childhood spent in the plantation and vividly recalled their parents telling them how the workers, who arrived in 1867, using simple tools, built the temple dedicated to Sri Maha Mariamman from belian taken from the surrounding jungle.

When the temple was completed they invited a priest from India to consecrate it, possibly two or three years after their arrival. At its height, the 600 acre plantation employed more than 1000 workers who were housed in barracks nearby.

The workers were oppressed by the canganees (foremen) and managers and were poorly paid. Most of them were Hindus and to practise their religion they first built a shrine near a mountain stream. When they were more settled they set about erecting the temple which like in any Hindu community became the centre of their social and religious activities.

The Sri Maha Mariamman temple was not the only place of worship built by the workers as they also built another temple for the deity Subramaniam. Some of the workers were Catholics and they built a chapel in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These two buildings have not been located. After more than 150 years they are likely to be permanently lost to the jungle.

Due to poor management, the plantation was closed down in 1912 and the workers were given a choice to move down to Kuching to work in road construction or go back to India.

Perhaps of their bitter experience in the plantation most of the workers decided to go back to India and only 40 or 50 families decided to stay back. When they left the plantation those who chose to stay behind took the bronze statue of the deity Maha Sri Maha Mariamman with them to shrine near the Sarawak Club in Kuching.

Later they moved it to a small temple built along Batu Lintang Road. Much later a big temple dedicated to the deity was built on a piece of land at Jalan Rock and was completed in 1991. The statue was then moved there where it remains until today.

While the statue of the deity continued to be venerated and properly housed, the temple on the mountain was left to the elements and had it not been built of belian the whole structure would have collapsed to the ground.

Abi’s story sparked a campaign among the Hindus of Kuching to restore the temple leading to an expedition to its site in 1968. The path built during the Brookes leading to the plantation was cleared and it turned out to be a very well built small road meandering up a gentle slope.

Although the walk up to the temple is three kilometers up hill all the way, you do not have to be an Olympian to get there as the path is wide and well constructed and the gradient is gentle.

On Dec 4, 1970 the repair works were completed and a poojai (high mass) attended by about 500 people were held to mark its restoration. Since then devotees regularly offered prayers there and it was put under the care and administration of the Kuching Hindu Temple Association Ban Hock Road.


Like the workers of the plantation, the building committee is using belian wood from the mountain to build the temple. The Sarawak Forestry Department granted them permission to cut down five belian trees from the slope for the timber.

This temple is the only Sri Maha Mariamman temple in the world made of timber and we want to keep that record.


Source : The Borneo Post - Francis Chan 2007

The group of researchers based University Malaya has done filming full history of Sarawak Tamils and Matang Temple. For more details 018 463 2325(Mr.Suren - KBBT Petaling Jaya) 012 6387901(Mr Mathi - Documentary Director) 

மலேசிய வரலாற்றில் முதன் முறையாக சரவாக் தமிழர்களின் வரலாற்றை, மலேசியாவில் அவர்கள் கால் ஊன்றிய தடத்தை சித்தரிக்கும் வண்ணம் ஆய்வின் அடிப்படையில் ஆவணப்படம் ஒன்றை எடுத்துள்ளதாக ஆய்வை மேற்கொண்ட செல்வஜோதி ராமலிங்கம் தெரிவித்தார்.

பொதுவாக தீபகற்ப மலேசியாவிற்கான தமிழர்களின் வருகையை பலரும் அறிவோம். ஆனால் சரவாக் மண்ணில் கால்பதித்து இன்னமும் இணைப்பு மாறாமல், உறவு குன்றாமல், கலை,பண்பாடு, சமயம் முதலிய விழுமியங்கலோடு பிணைந்து சரவாக் தமிழர்களின் வரலாற்றை எடுத்துரைக்கும் முயற்சியாக இந்த ஆவணப்படம் உருவாகியுள்ளதாக அவர் மேலும் சொன்னார்.

இந்த ஆவணப்படத்தில், தென்கிழக்கு ஆசியாவில் காணப்படும் இந்து மற்றும் புத்த மதத்தின் தாக்கத்தையும், போர்னியோ தீவிற்கு பல்லவர்களின் வருகை குறித்தும் படமாக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

டாக்டர் சாங் பாட் ஃபோ என்பவர் சந்துபோங் மலை பகுதியை அகழ்வாராய்ச்சி செய்து ஒரு புத்தகம் எழுதியுள்ளார். இப்புத்தகத்தில் பல்லவர்களின் சரவாக் வருகையை குறித்து ஆதாரங்களுடன் விளக்கியுள்ளார்.

இரண்டாம் வெள்ளைராஜா என்று அழைக்கப்படும் சார்லஸ் புரூக் காலத்தில் காப்பி மற்றும் தேயிலை தோட்டத்தில் வேலை செய்வதற்காக அழைத்து வரப்பட்டவர்கள்தாம் இன்றைய சரவாக் தமிழர்கள். இவர்கள் சரவாக் மண்ணில் இன்றும் தங்களது பாரம்பரியத்தையும் கலை, கலாச்சாரத்தையும் இழக்காமல் பேணி காத்து வருகிறார்கள் என்பது கூடுதல் சிறப்பு.

கூச்சிங் நகரில் உள்ள மாத்தாங் மாரியம்மன் ஆலயம், ஸ்ரீனிவாசகர் காளியம்மன் ஆலயம் மற்றும் மாத்தாங் மலை கோவில் அம்மன் ஆலயத்தின் வரலாறுகளையும் இந்த ஆவணப்படத்தின் மூலம் பதிவு செய்யப்படுள்ளது.  

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