July 3, 2024

Temple Tracks (Berghahn Books, 2023) by Professor Vineeta Sinha (NUS Sociology and Anthropology) is an insightful blend of historical and ethnographic study that focuses on the interlinked narratives of railway construction, Indian labor migration, and religious development in the regions once known as Malaya.

Her research, spanning decades and dating back to 1885, encompasses archival studies and ethnographic fieldwork in Malaysia and Singapore, with a focus on the National Malayan Railways, otherwise known as the Keretapi Tanah Melayu. Utilizing a novel approach she aptly coins ‘tracking’, Prof Sinha interweaves her family’s railway history with a broader discussion of labor, religion, and the Hindu diaspora in Malaysia and Singapore.

Prof Sinha explores complex ties between labor practices and religious processes, revealing the intertwined nature of the sacred and secular within colonial industrial-capitalism. Temple Tracks also illuminates the demographic makeup of early Indian migrants to Malaya, who were predominantly from the lower castes, as having influenced the development of popular Hinduism in Malaysia and Singapore.

Using the ‘tracing’ method as an ethnographic tool, Prof Sinha discusses the enduring impact of railway-related temples and the lives of laborers, grounding her research in both historical and contemporary contexts. The book hence uncovers the footprints left behind by these railway-related temples, and endeavours to give due recognition to the everyday labouring and non-labouring lives of railway workers. In so doing, she posits that railway construction and temple building are interwoven threads that ultimately shaped the sacred Hindu landscapes of Singapore and Malaysia.

Finally, Temple Tracks discusses the shift in temple custodianship in urban Singapore, where deities have become akin to ‘refugee gods’ displaced by urban and railway developments. The transition to cyberspace has given these temples new visibility and longevity, connecting dispersed temple communities.

An ode to the railway tracks that ran through Malaya throughout the 20^th century and the individuals who sustained them, Temple Tracks offers a unique perspective on the intersections of colonial history, labor dynamics, and religious transformation, making it a valuable contribution to the understanding of religion and the Hindu diaspora in Singapore.

Read the book here.