Built in the 19th century, a Tamil Temple, Mariamman temple now has ethnic Chinese, Khmer & Vietnamese among its worshippers.

Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is officially called has booming metropolis in southern Vietnam, that has got recognition over decades as the communist country adopt changes. Heritage buildings have made way for skyscrapers. In Ben Thanh, there are still a few cultural relics of a bygone era. Country’s colonial French past are in Saigon Opera House, Saigon Central Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral.

The heart of Saigon, District 1, has a house of worship that dates back to the time when thriving Tamil merchants lived here. Standing out near the Ben Thanh is a 12-metre high Raja Gopuram of the Mariamman Temple. At 10 AM, a Khmer priest starts the daily pooja to the goddess of rain. Devotees believe this cures diseases & brings prosperity. The puja is done by ethnic Chinese, Khmer and Vietnamese worshippers who have deep faith in the goddess. For the first three quarters of the 20th century, Mariamman Temple was the centre of the Tamil Hindu community of Saigon.

A Hindu community spot

In the early 1880s, a member of the Tamil community in Saigon built a small house where he kept an idol of Mariamman, a makeshift temple for the Tamils of the city, and by the middle of the decade the community decided to collect money for a proper temple. Later they had craftsmen, enough funds, sculptors and workers from Madras Presidency in India to construct an authentic Dravidian-style temple. Tamils and non-Tamils started worshiping here. Historic Vietnamese accounts mention the enthusiasm with which the yearly procession of Simha Vahanam was taken across Saigon. The festival of Mariamman is celebrated on October 6, and a feast is organised for devotees.

“It was at this temple, that the most lively interactions between local Cochinchinese and overseas Indians occurred,” In early 20th century it was known among both Vietnamese and Khmer.” Till date, the Vietnamese consider Mariamman as Ba Den (Black Lady), brings good health and prosperity. Vietnamese absorption of Khmer practises of Hinduism provided a link with Ba Den and Mariamman.

Local lore in Saigon is replete with stories of how misunderstandings were common between Tamils and Vietnamese when it came to Hindu traditions. The Vietnamese know Hindu concept of the sanctum sanctorum as well as the rules prohibiting the entry into the temple. Devotees from various ethnic backgrounds began to throng the temple. It is now a tradition for Vietnamese to make offerings of jasmine garlands, lilies, rice, noodles, moong dal, incense sticks, coconuts and local oils.

The structure was renovated over three years in the late 1940s. There is little distinction between a typical Mariamman temple in Tamil Nadu and Mariamman Temple, it has lingam, idols of Murugan and Ganesha. The mandapam and outer sanctum has Bhairavi, Parvathy and Chamundi, each one a form of Mariamman. One of the feature of the temple is the green Vietnamese shutter windows. There is no Tamil signage in the temple.

Tamil immigration in Indochina

Cultural ties existed for centuries between the ruling Tamil dynasties & dynasties in Indochina, but after French invasions of 1860s, Vietnam did not have a Tamil community. A few decades after the French control of Cochinchina, Vietnam’s southern part, Tamils from Karikal and Pondicherry were welcomed to work and settle.

The Pondicherry Decree of September 1881 gave Indians in the French colony a right to renounce their personal status via a declaration to the local mayor’s office. They would then be subject to the French civil code, effectively making them French citizens. These French educated assets governed Indochina. French-speaking Tamils were also keen to live on equal footing with their coloniser, and sought a better life in Cochinchina. However, the French in Saigon were reluctant to treat one set of colonised people on par with the rulers in another colony.

“In legal principle, Indians held the same rights and principles as French citizens of metropolitan origin,” Natasha Pairaudeau wrote in the Fall 2010 edition of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies. “They had fought vehement battles with the authorities in Cochinchina in the late 19th century for exercising their electoral and civil rights.

Even though there were continued efforts on the part of authorities in Cochinchina to undermine renouncer status, these rights were firmly recognised in the metropole by the 1900s.” The status that Tamils enjoyed in Vietnam created great degree of resentment among masses who felt they were higher up in the racial hierarchy.

After the Tamil renouncers moved to Vietnam as administrators, clerks, police officers and judges, another group of Tamils began to see lucrative opportunities – the Nattukottai Chettiars. These community set up shop in Saigon in the last few decades of the 19th century and spread out across the French colonies in Indochina, by lending businesses by the Mekong. Along with the Chettiars, Tamil Muslim traders gave stiff competition to the Vietnamese. Tamils had their own newspapers in French that would highlight its issues.

After French

In the Second World War, the Japanese took over Vietnam, as a base to attack China. Given that the Tamils have numbered a few thousand, there is very little information about them during this period. It is safe to assume, however, that most Indian-origin renouncers would have left with the French. After the war ended, the French returned, but only for a brief while. There was a series of long-drawn battles that resulted in a French defeat.

In 1954, France relinquished territorial claims in Indochina. At that time, Vietnam was divided between communist North & South Vietnam. Chettiar and Tamil Muslims stayed in Southern Vietnam. In 1975, when Saigon went under North Vietnamese occupation, Tamils left as the new government took over administration and transfered Mariamman Temple to a People’s Committee, which immediately banned any direct payments to the priests. Devotees put contributions in boxes from where the money was paid to priests.

The last surviving Tamil priest of the temple adopted two Khmer boys and taught them Hindu rituals. The current priests are believed to be their children. Since the mid-1990s, the Chettiars in Southeast Asia, as well as wealthy Tamils in Malaysia and Singapore have been generous with their financial contributions to the temple.

With money coming both from abroad and from devotees in one of Asia’s fastest growing economies, the temple distributes prasad in Saigon. Along with Saigon’s Sri Thendayuthapani and Subramaniam temples, the Mariamman temple is one of the major links between Tamil Nadu and the booming city. With more economic opportunities opening up in Vietnam, there is a opportunity for reviving old links between these two parts of the world.