LONDON SRI MURUGAN TEMPLE - A BRIEF HISTORY By Mr V E PALANIAPPAN, Trustee, Founder Member The seed for London Sri Murugan Temple was sowed in 1975 when Mr L Meyyappan, Mr & Mrs VE Palaniappan, Mr & Mrs A Ramanathan, Mr & Mrs M Thenappan and Mr V Meyyappan met together and discussed in Mr A Ramanathan's house 18 The Glade, Bromley, Kent and decided to build a temple for Lord Muruga according to Agama Sastra and to provide a centre to cater for the religious and cultural needs of the Hindu (particularly Tamil speaking) community from various countries, settled in the United Kingdom. As a first step to gather such like· minded people into a congregation, monthly prayer meeting were organized on Kirthikai Day, an auspicious day for Lord Muruga. further a meeting was arranged in the India Club, Strand, London on February 1975, to discuss the s:ttucture and to decide the name for the proposed temple. The name for the temple was decided in this meeting as "London Murugan Temple". Mr & Mrs L Meyyappan, Mr & Mrs Palaniappan, '-ir & Mrs Ramanathan, Dr & Mrs Singaram (Malaysia) and Dr & Mrs S Subramanaiam (India) were all present at the' meeting. The first prayer of the meeting took place on 14th April 1975, corresponding to Tamil New Year Day of Rakshasa at 20B Hartington Square, London NW1, the residence ofMr L Meyyappan. About 100 people attended the pooja, which was a grand success. following the pooja, 78 people were joined as members who were all registered as "founder "embers" of the temple. Also a Management Committee was unanimously selected with 'IT L Meyyappan as president and Mr Nambi Arooran as secretary. The following few were selected as committee members: Mr VE Palaniappan, Mr A Ramanathan, Dr N SPadayachee, ~Ir Venkatachalam, Mr Krishnasamy, Mrs L Sivajoti, Mrs P Meyyappan, Mrs K Renganathan, ~Irs Muthukumaraswamy, Mr V Meyyappan, Mr C Vedanarayanan and Mr J agadeeswaran. The monthly pooja was performed in a traditional manner by devotees such as Mr Mathoor Krishnamoorthy, Mr C Vedanarayanan, Mr V Rajagopal and Mr K Renganathan, which attracted -increasing numbers. This became an event to look forward to in the monthly calendar and people from different parts of London started to attend. A particularly large contingent came from East London, including Mr S Thambyrajah, Mr S G Naidu and Mr Sekaran, Mr S Danikumar Australia) and the contingent from South London including, Mr & Mrs R V Naidoo and A C Pillai, V1ith their family and friends. For the convenience of the devotees and in order to attract more people, the prayer meeting was rescheduled on the Sunday following Kirthikai and the venue was changed to Bharatiya Vidya Bba\"an at 37 New Oxford Street, London WI and later to an even larger hall at Gregory House, Brunswick Square, London WC 1. The monthly pooja was performed to a portrait of Lord Murugan that was donated by AVM Chennai, and this portrait is in the temple even today. In July 1978 a VEL ••• ·as brought from Tamil EELAM (Sri Lanka) and offered to the temple by Mr. P and Mrs M Sivathasan. From this date, monthly poojas with Abishekam are being performed to this VEL. Now this VEL is placed with Lord Muruga in the main Sanctum Sanctorum. Following the pooja, eminent speakers gave religious talks and a variety of cultural programs such as music and dance took place. Thus the monthly meetings were successful, as expected, in attracting devotees and collecting funds. Funds were collected also from overseas countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. A Church buildings in Dudden Hill Lane, North West London and in Old Kent Road, Elephant & Castle were under consideration for purchase. However, in the meantime, late in 1978 the prayer meeting was relocated to the Labour Party Hall, in High Street North, Manor Park, because of the high concentration of our people residing in that area. Mr VE Palaniappan, Dr P Alagrajah, Dr N S Padayachee and Mr S Thambyrajah played a significant role in this move. Later the prayer .. meeting was moved to Plashet Grove School hall to accommodate the ever-increasing congregation. Following the move to East London, a greater number of local people became more involved. Persons like Mr Thambyrajah, Dr Alagrajah, Mr Ratnasabapathy, Mr G Ramadass, Mr Samp athkumar, Mr S K Ganapathi, Mr Govindarjau, Mr Peethambara Nair, Mr Alagu, Mr Dakshinamoorthy and others worked hand in hand with old core members like Mr V E Palaniappan, Mrs L Sivajoti, Mr & Mrs R V Naidoo, Mr V Rajagoplan, Mr A Ramanathan and Mr Krishnasamy and together they dedicated themselves to the establishment of a Murugan temple. By now the idea of building the temple in East London had taken firm root. After a lengthy search, we were able to purchase a suitable property at 78 Church Road, Manor Park, early in January 1983, with timely assistance from Bank of Baroda, London. Naturally our monthly poojas continued to take place at our own premises, with great success. Having acquired the property steps were taken to construct the temple in the traditional Hindu style, employing the service of skilled craftsmen and sculptors from Tamil Nadu, India. The Garbha Grahas for the presiding deity Lord Muruga, for Sri Ganapathy and for Lord Siva were beautifully built and the granite and panchaloga vigrahas sculpted in India, were installed according to Vedic rites. The Maha Kumbhabhishekam was performed by learned priests, Sri Ayyamanisivam and Sambamoorthy Sivachariar, on 12 February 1984. Thereafter a qualified priest was employed to conduct the daily poojas and other festivals during the year. Ihe priest also carried out other religious ceremonies like marriage, Shastiaptha Poorthy, Ayushya Homam, etc. 1985 was a landmark year in the history ofthe temple, as the Chariot Festival for Lord Muruga was celebrated with a procession through the street around the temple. This has become an annual event attracting many devotees, including visitors from overseas. At the end of 1987 our chief priest Kailai Sri Naganathasivam joined us. His dedicated and sincere service with full co-operation and participation of his learned assistants took the religious atmosphere in the temple to further heights. All the festivals related to Lord Muruga, like Adi kirthikai, Thai Poosam, Skanda Shasti etc., and other events like Vinayaga Chathurthi, Sivarathri, Sri Ayyappa Swami Mandala Pooja, Chandi Homam are celebrated withtra.ditional religious fervor With ever increasing numbers attending the temple for every festival, the shortage of space was keenly felt, especially in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum and around the Navagrahas. EquallYl car parking facility was found to be totally inadequate. Hence attention was focused on further expansion. With dedicated enthusiasm and continued perseverance few properties adjoining the temple in Browning Road were purchased and the land in front was acquired on lease to provide car parking space. The real breakthrough came when we purchased the Public House at 90 Church Road and the ice cream factory at the rear with the timely financial assistance from Bank. of Baroda, London. Then a historic decision was taken to reconstruct the temple with Rajagopuram in granite stone in accordance with the architectural style of South Indian temple. The services ofthe well known Sthapathi Padmashri Muthia SthapathYl was commissioned to draw the plan ofthe temple and our local architect Messrs Freeman, Ankerman Hickling Partnershipl to draw plans for other civil construction works. The plans were submitted to the local council to obtain planning permission. With close follow up and persuasion, the permission was obtained. In 1999, Balalayam was conducted by moving the deities to the temporary abode at 90 Church Road per prescribed religious rites, paving the way for the demolition of the old building and to commence construction of the new temple. By God1s grace the construction of this magnificent temple is nearing completion and the consecration ceremony is due to take place on 22 nd May 2005. Limitation of space does not allow us to thank. individually the innumerable well wishers, devotees, donors, and the sincere and devoted priests, temple administrator and the succession of Trustees and Management Committee members, who have toiled in many ways for the last 30 years to fulfil the ambition to build a temple 10 enshrine Lord Muruga and other deities. May Lord Muruga Shower His Blessings on all of us. 2312687231Microsoft Office Word06016falsethe University of Greenwichfalse8483falsefalse12.0000mi02mi0222009-06-12T11:18:00Z2009-06-12T11:18:00Z