Sea Voi Yune Leong Futh Church, Kolkata加尔各答会宁会馆庙

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

India · West Bengal · Kolkata · 17 Black Burn Lane, Kolkata 700012; a red, circular building

First built

1908 · Founded by a community of immigrants from Xinhui (Se-Wui), Guangdong; the smallest of the temples in the old Chinatown

Overview

Sea Voi Yune Leong Futh Church stands at 17 Black Burn Lane, founded in 1908 by immigrants from Xinhui (Se-Wui) in Guangdong; the building is a red, circular structure, and is the smallest of the temples in the old Chinatown. The composition of its enshrined deities is unusual: the principal deities are Ruan Ziyu and Liang Cineng, both regarded within the temple as manifestations of the Buddha, with Lu Ban and Tong Achew also enshrined. Tong Achew is a key figure in the history of Kolkata's Chinese community: tradition holds that he was among the earliest Chinese to reach Bengal, in the late eighteenth century, that he established a sugar mill near Kolkata and recruited fellow villagers, and that later Chinese communities venerated him as their founding ancestor; his enshrinement in the temple is an instance of overseas Chinese communities deifying the pioneers of their settlement, a pattern paralleled by the cults of Bentou Gong and Tua Pek Kong found throughout Southeast Asia. It should be honestly noted: the pantheon of this temple is a composite, localized form blending Buddhist and Daoist elements with the veneration of a pioneer figure, and should not be simplistically classed as Daoism.

Highlights

• Founded in 1908 by immigrants from Xinhui (Se-Wui)
• A red, circular building, the smallest of the temples
• Principal deities Ruan Ziyu and Liang Cineng, regarded as manifestations of the Buddha
• Enshrines Lu Ban and the founding pioneer Tong Achew
• Deification of a pioneer, paralleling the cult of Bentou Gong