With the shutters coming down early in the New Year on the landmark Bur Dubai Shiva temple complex in Dubai’s Meena Bazar area, devotees who have for decades thronged the complex, which also houses a gurdwara, are praying that authorities of the emirate will take steps to preserve the sanctity of the premises, by converting it into a museum complex for members of the faith.
Operations of the temple and gurdwara are being shifted to the Hindu temple Dubai in Jebel Ali village, and authorities of the Sindhi Guru Darbar temple complex, where the Bur Dubai Shiva temple is located, have put up notices to say operations will cease from 3 January 2024. The notice says: “This is to inform all our devotees with effect from Wednesday, January 3 2024, this temple will be shifted to our new Hindu Temple, Jebel Ali.”
This has provoked reactions from members of the Hindu and Sikh communities in the emirate who have been visiting the complex since the 1950s, and have a great sentimental attachment to it.
Many members of the community, while appreciating the construction of the grand complex at Jebel Ali, feel that the landmark Bur Dubai temple should be preserved in some form.
Local newspapers in Dubai have reported on the strong emotional ties of the Indian community with the Bur Dubai temple. The Khaleej Times quoted Punit Mehta, a long-time resident, as saying, “It has been 20 years since I have been coming to the Bur Dubai temple.” The visits, he said, are “engrained in my memory.”
Others echo these sentiments and point out that the Bur Dubai temple has been an intrinsic part of their personal and spiritual heritage. It is estimated that at least 5,000 people visit the temple every weekend, while the number of pilgrims goes up to 100,000 during festivals. The temple complex is also hugely popular with visitors from India to Dubai and they too are praying it will be preserved in some form.
The new Hindu temple at Jebel Ali was inaugurated in October 2022, and was built alongside a gurdwara which was opened in 2012.