Shing Yin Temple, Tangra, Kolkata加尔各答塔坝声音寺

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

India · West Bengal · Tangra, Kolkata · 82/1B, Tangra, Kolkata 700046; open one hour each at 7am and 5pm daily

First built

Late twentieth century · No reliable record of the exact founding year; the building is relatively new

Overview

The Shing Yin Temple is located at 82/1B, Tangra; the building is relatively new and the site is Buddhist, chiefly venerating the Buddha, open daily for one hour each in the morning at seven and in the evening at five. It should be honestly noted that this is a Buddhist temple, not a Daoist temple. It is included here alongside the Hsuan Tsang Chinese Buddhist Temple and Monastery and the Calcutta Chinese Buddhist Temple in order to present a complete picture of the range of Chinese religious sites in Kolkata: the association temples of the old Chinatown were mostly founded from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century as popular-religion sites centred on Guandi and Mazu, whereas those newly built from the mid-twentieth century onward are mostly Buddhist temples. This shift is related to changes in community structure: after the Sino-Indian conflict, large numbers of Chinese emigrated, and those who remained, along with the new generation, relied less on native-place associations, so that religious needs shifted from the native-place association temples toward the more universal Buddhist temples — a common trajectory in the generational turnover of overseas Chinese religious sites.

Highlights

• A Buddhist site in the new Chinatown of Tangra
• A relatively new building, open only two hours daily
• A Buddhist temple, not a Daoist temple
• Reflects the generational shift from association temples to Buddhist temples
• No reliable record of the founding year