The Temple in the Sea, officially known as the Sewdass Sadhu Shiva Mandir, is a

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

mandir A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to whom it is dedica ...

in Waterloo, Carapichaima,

Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo is one of the nine regions of Trinidad and Tobago, and one of the five regions which form the Gulf of Paria coastline on Trinidad's West Coast. Its regional capital and commercial center is Couva. Couva–Tabaquite–Tal ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. Sewdass Sadhu, an indentured laborer from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, constructed the original temple in the

Gulf of Paria The Gulf of Paria ( ; ) is a shallow ( at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries by as little as at its narrowest and at its widest points. T ...

in 1952. The temple was reconstructed by Randolph Rampersad and reopened in 1995.

History

Between 1845 and 1917, through the establishment of a labour indentured system, many Indians migrated to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

and worked as indentured labourers in plantation sites across the country. In the 1930s, Sewdass Sadhu, an indentured labourer, built a ''sewalla'', a small temple dedicated to

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

, on an estate owned by The Tate and Lyle Sugar Company by facing the Gulf of Paria. Five years later, the estate management requested Sadhu to remove the temple because it was not his land, but he refused. Sadhu was sent to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

for 14 days and fined 100 pounds for refusing to remove the temple and it was destroyed. After his release from prison, Sadhu built the temple with the belief that colonial powers had no ownership of the sea. In 1947, Sadhu began riding a bicycle to transport stones, cement, and sand in his bag from the island and unloaded them at the coast of the island to extend the island borders offshore. After the creation of the rocky pathway, Sadhu built another temple in the Gulf of Paria. The rocky pathway into the gulf and the temple were completed in 1952.

Sewdass Sadhu

Sewdass Sadhu was born in 1901 in present-day

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

and was the original builder of the temple. He was the son of Boodhram and Bissoondayia, indentured labourers at the Waterloo Sugar Estate in

. Sadhu traveled to

on the SS ''Mutlah'' when he was 4 years old. He was a devout Hindu who chose to live as a ''

sadhu ''Sadhu'' (, IAST: ' (male), ''sādhvī'' or ''sādhvīne'' (female), also spelled ''saddhu'') is a religious ascetic, mendicant or any holy person in Hinduism and Jainism who has renounced the worldly life. They are sometimes alternatively ...

''. He died in 1970.

Reconstruction

After Sadhu's death in 1970, the temple deteriorated in the sea through high tides and a lack of maintenance from people.{{Cite web , last=Sahu , first=Arun Kumar , date=27 December 2020 , title=Trinidad & Tobago Diary Part II: Land Of 'Temple In The Sea' , url=https://odishabytes.com/trinidad-tobago-diary-land-of-temple-in-the-sea/ , website=DishaBytes The Hindu Prachar Kendra started to repair the land connecting the island to the temple. This effort was continued, and the temple was reconstructed and opened in 1995 under the direction of Randal Rampersad, a third generation Trinidadian of indentured Indian ancestry. The temple was opened in 1995 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first arrival of indentured labourers from India. Remnants of the original temple in the sea were used to create the roof of a ''sewalla'' that now stands in the same spot as the temple built by Sewdass Sadhu. The reconstructed temple is 100 yards further in the sea than the original temple that Sadhu built. Also in Waterloo is the Indian Caribbean Museum of Trinidad and Tobago. In the nearby community of Orangefield, that is also in Carapichaima, is the Dattatreya Temple and Karyasiddhi Hanuman statue, the tallest Hanuman statue outside of India. Both of these sites are often stops on tours to the Temple in the Sea.

Deities

The Idols of Shiva,

Ganesha Ganesha or Ganesh (, , ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva (Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions ...

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

Durga Durga (, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic ...

, and

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

are consecrated in the temple.

References

Shiva temples Hindu temples in Trinidad and Tobago 1950s establishments in Trinidad and Tobago Religious buildings and structures completed in 1952