Siewdass Sadhu's Temple in The Sea

Trinidad and Tobago / San Juan-Laventville / San Juan /
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A well known site of worship for Hindus and a tourist attraction, the Waterloo temple was built by Sewdass Sadhu, an indentured labourer who came to Trinidad in 1907.

The story is well-known: Sadhu built his first temple in 1947 on lands owned by the sugar cane company, Tate and Lyle. It was broken down and Sadhu was charged with trespassing and fined £100 or 14 days in prison.

Declaring that if he couldn’t build his temple on the land then he would build it in the sea, Sadhu began the work that would realise his dream. With two buckets and an old lady’s bicycle with a carrier at the back, Sadhu began the laborious and painstaking task of building the temple in the sea.

Five hundred feet into the quiet waters of the Gulf of Paria, it today continues to stand on the very spot Sadhu first built it, if not in the same condition since repair works were carried out with help from the State and private business in 1994.

Over the years, Hindu devotees and tourists alike have made the journey to the Temple-in-the-Sea, once described as the first of its kind in the western world by Dharmacharya Pundit Krishna Maharaj.

The Waterloo Cremation Site is also next to the grounds of this Temple.
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Coordinates:   10°28'52"N   61°28'29"W

Comments

  • The location is Waterloo, not San Juan
  • What was really digraceful was that in 2007 the statue that depicted the hindu gods or murti were defaced by vandals. These marble structures are quite priceless and the temple had suffered a great loss spiritually. It was quite a sad time for the members of the temple since these murties that they had sumbolically worship had to be disposed religously into the sea.
  • The statues were not made of marble, these were traditional mortar on wire frame structure and smoothened with cement.
  • up to today if you go to the temple in the sea you could still see the murtis in the standing in the sea.....and it was not made of marble it was made of wire and cement.....but was replaced by marble murtis....
  • it is a sad day when you go to the temple in th sea and you see broken murtis in the water.....people please put the murtis to lie in the water soo it could be buried in the dirt or melted by the water...
  • what is the name of the temple
  • Was Mr.Sewdass Brahmin?
  • Mr.sewdass was indeed a Brahmin as his ancestors were held in the highest caste in Bharaat,India,The Purohit clan. His legacy continues to live in in his family throughout generations.
  • I doubt whether he was of a Higher caste.. They were not relegated To indentured servitude. There area my trinidadians that claim To be of the upper class (very much psychological as it makes one feel superior) the majority of indentured laborer were of a poor tribe as describe in "Tassa Thunder." I like to think of his feat as humanitarian and a fight for freedom of thought.
  • Where was Mr.Sadhu cremated?
  • Temple in the sea
  • No he wasnt , he was from lowest caste of hindus. His color was mostly deep brown/black. He belonged to SC caste of modern india. He was from benaras the holiest city of hindus and known as city of temples. why he built temple then?? well, he became sadhu and sadhus doent have any caste , if u will visit benaras u will find many sadhus there, many of whom would be of lower caste. But once u became sadhu u leave the love of all maternal things and focus only on god.
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This article was last modified 15 years ago