Nagore Durgha Shrine

Next Stop Nagore Durgha Shrine!

Along the Telok Ayer Street, is the Nagore Dugha with more than 180 years of history. It is an Indian Muslim shrine built by two brothers, Mohammed and Haja Mohideen from chulias of the Coromandel Coast between 1828 and 1830 in memory of Shahul Hamid , a Muslim holy man who came from Durgha in Southern India, and whose tomb is located within the building. It is quite similar to the nearby Jamae Mosque but considered as a keramat or holy place as compared to an actual mosque. Early Chulia immigrants would visit the shrine before they set sail to the Straits Settlements to pray for safe journey. It was originally called Shahul Hamid Dargah which was renamed to Nagore Dargah up till today. Unfortunately, the shrine is closed when we visited. Thus, we are not able to see the main hall of the shrine.

While its form is somewhat reminiscent of the nearby Jamae Mosque, it is regarded more as a keramat or holy place than an actual mosque.The shrine is similar to the original shrine in India which contains no bodily relic of the holy man to whom the shrine is dedicated. In the year 1820, a large number of Chulias migrated to Singapore and settled around Telok Ayer Street, a location for important business and residential area for the Chinese as compared to the area along the Singapore River laid out in Sir Stamford Raffles's 1822 Town Plan.

The architectural features of the shrine combines a mixture of East and West, similarly to Jamae Mosque. Furthermore, it was built on a piece of land that was originally franted to a man named Kaderpillai, on the condition that it will not be used for a wood or attap building. 

Today, at the entrance of the shrine, you will be able to see fluted Corinthian pillars, which brings out a characteristics of a classical street-level facade with an elaborate Islamic balustrade pierced with mihrab-shaped niches. Its pointy minaret-like towers extending over its flat roof represent the elements of the traditional Islamic architecture. Furthermore, the corners of the building are built with 14-level square minarets topped with onion domes and spires. The inner part of the shrine lies a square enclosure that consists of an outer hall, a main hall and two keramats (Malay for shrines) which are lined with heavy Doric columns. Whereas the side of the building consists of large French windows topped with glass fanlights. The eaves of the building are maintained with a Euopean-influenced system of cast brackets.

Thinking Hard ...

The shrine was announced as a national monument in 19th November 1974  and was converted into the Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim Heritage Centre later in 2011 which present the Indian Muslim culture and heritage and now under the care of Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS).

Based on the Straits Times dated 7th January 2015, the Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim heritage Centre launched a new gallery which emphasize on the history of the Indian-Muslim diaspora. It includes stories of how the Indian-Muslim merchants set sailed from one port to another to trade betel and gold in the past. Furthermore, the article also consists of the architecture and process of building the Nagore Dargah Shrine. The community also went to India to consult on the Nagore Dargah management of the dining area set up in the center by Halal food chain operator which eventually shut down in 2012.