I spotted this post, about the Veerakaliamman Temple, in Little India, by Rana. He suggests there’s a possible factual error on who built actually the temple, and also how the mistake could have come about:
There’s one mistake there, however. The temple could not have been built by Bengali labourers. Hindu Bengalis never came to work as labourers in Singapore. The Bengalis who ventured abroad back then were more likely to be Muslims, called Lascars or Lascars, because they were usually sailors. A Lascar is mentioned in a Sherlock Holmes story: The Man with the Twisted Lip.
Read his post for the details. I think it might spark off an interesting discussion. It’s certainly raised my awareness of the origin of the temple, factual inaccuracy or not. Rana also connects the building of the temple to the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, and then to Queen Victoria. I found it to be like a “Discovery” episode. A brief and interesting “history lesson”.
1 Response
called Lascars or Lascars
wats the diff?
Posted on March 27th, 2006 at 2:21 am
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