Seng Ong Beow Temple of the City Protector, Jelutong, George Town
Seng Ong Beow, also written Seng Hong Below, or Temple of the City Protector and Chief Magistrate of Hades, is located at Sandilands Road in the inner city of George Town. I photographed it when I was and documenting the sights in Jelutong, on the eastern coast of Penang Island for Penang Travel Tips and AsiaExplorers. It is similar in nature to the Seng Wong Beo, the City God Temple, in Singapore, which is famous for its "ghost marriages".
Seng Ong is the Chief Magistrate of Hades is the judge for the afterlife (or underworld), making him the patron of government officers and the police. Fortunately for the guilty, the officials of Hades are known to accept opium as bribe. For a small donation, the Seng Ong Beow temple attendant will smear opium on the hanging tongues of these guards of the underworld, Tua Pek and Jee Pek (Grand Uncle and Second Uncle), effectively sealing their mouth from disclosing any wrong doing, thus the belief.
Recently (in 2002), some 300 ancient Taoist manuscripts were uncovered at the Seng Ong Beow by Chinese academician Ong Seng Huat. These manuscripts were said to have been brought from China over a hundred years ago and are believed to be about 400 years old.
When Seng Ong Beow was first built, it was surrounded by a mangrove swamp (much of George Town was indeed a mangrove swamp), which has since been cleared and developed. Although Seng Ong Beow is just a small temple within George Town, it was very influential during its heyday, especially to the Hokkien community.
According to Ong Seng Huat, while there could be many temples to the same deity in a town, there could only be one dedicated to Seng Ong, because Seng Ong is the spiritual personification of the town. The site chosen for the temple on the southern part of the Praigin River symbolizes the settlement and expansion of the immigrant Hokkiens.
For the local community, Seng Ong Beow is also known as the "ghost temple". This is due to its mystical function - the venue to exorcise evil spirits and demons that haunt the mangrove swamp on which the new settlement was carved out. It was also where captured demons were kept. At the time Seng Ong Beow was constructed, the sea came right up to its front. At that time, the temple was not built on solid ground, but on a raised platform that bobble according to the tide. Hence, the Seng Ong Beow was also called the "floating lotus on a pond".
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