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Almost in the center of Mauritius you will find the Sri Shiv Subramanya Temple. It is also called the Mountain Temple because of the location at the slopes of a mountain. A hundred steps are leading to this beautiful Dravidian style temple. It is seen as divine architectral wonder, dedicated to Lord Murugan, the Hindu god of war. It's an important pilgrimage site on the island. The location of the temple is on the mountain side of the Corps de Garde mountain. Not only is the temple beatiful and a great example of South Indian architecture, but the panoramic view is breathtaking. It is definitly worth the walk up the stairs to enjoy the view.

To get here, I took the metro from Port Louis to Quatre-Bornes. From the metro station it's a few kilometer walk. Before I started to up the stairs I noteced other buildings. There were quite a lot of people working around the entrance. They were cleaning, setting up tents, chairs ets. I supposed they are preparing for an event to be celebrated here.

I decided to go up to the main temple first. I met quite a few Indians on their way up or down the stairs. The couple I met at the entrance told me that the priest was at the temple. It was a hot day, even though the sun did disappear now and then. On my way I did stop a couple of times to enjoy the view before I reached the entrance. Then I removed my shoes and took a walk around the temple itself and enjoying the vivid colors and the figures. I did look into the temple for a few minutes. (photographing not permitted).

This beautiful temple was built in 1907 based on the wish of an Indian worker. He had a wish to built the temple on this particulary mountain side. All of the important festivals of Hinduism are also celebrated here. But the Thaipoosam Cavadee festival is maybe the one that is most important to the temple. It was here that the first festival on the island was held. Lots of people come to the temple to pray during the days of the festival. But it's not the only festival that are celebratet here.
Devotees will climb these steps during the festival to worship Lord Murugan, making the temple a significant pilgrimage site.

Lord Murugan in the middle

The history of the temple

It all started when a devotee desided to build a shrine. In order to get the money to buy the property, he had to spend all of his earnings. This man who was called Velamurugan (1852-1913) had immigrated from India. I think he might have come to Mauritius as an indentured labourer, because I have red that he setled in Quatre Bornes when his contracted ended. Usually the indentured laboures were supposed to return at the end of their contract, but I think many must have stayed. Around 60 percent of the population in Mauritius are Indian origin.

The temple has experienced problems caused by erosion. The result of all the work involved to find a solution, was to pull down the original structure and instead built a new. The decition was made in 2000 and the work started a year later. What they have done about the erotion is not clear to me. But they must have done something, because the new structure is built at the same place as the original one. This one is also larger than the original, but otherwise many of the items from the original temple are placed here.

After a tour of the temple, I went down to the base and spend some time looking at two of the other buildings. I tried to get a good view of the temple and the mountain top, but vegetation is in the way. Instead I looked at two of the other buildings. I was here on the 30th of April and now I found out why there were so much going on at the yard near the entrance! They were preparing for next day event, Sittirai Cavadee.

At the entrance there is a very small building.There were noone here, except a woman who placed the insence sticks here and then she left. I think the figure on the back of it is Lord Murugan. I left the temple with a last look at the mountain. I have had this visit planned for last year. Now I am glad I finally made it.