Hindu worship in contemporary Singapore

• Main Author: Sangeetha Madasamy.
• Other Authors: Teo You Yenn
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Religions
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/93908; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/7787
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This research aims to study how certain folk Hindu practices have persisted even though religion in Singapore has been hyper-rationalized. The state although secular, has been active in managing religion and it has done so through various legislations and the different statutory boards. Religion is seen to play a specific role in society, where practices that are relevant and complimentary to nation-building are encouraged to be cultivated, while traditional and outdated practices are advised to be discarded. Amidst such an environment, I find that Singaporean Hindus have managed to persist in practicing folk Hinduism even when there are limited opportunities for such a form of worship in Singapore. I use animal sacrifice as a point of study to showcase how such folk practices have persisted even though they have been banned in Singapore and how Singaporean Hindus still manage to perform their preferred mode of religious worship by patronizing temples in Malaysia.