The Sri Mariamman Temple on South Bridge Road has been Singapore's oldest Hindu temple since 1827, which means it predates most of Chinatown itself. Its founder, Naraina Pillai, arrived with Sir Stamford Raffles on his second visit to the island in 1819, making Pillai one of the very first Indian settlers in the colony.

Eight years later, Pillai built a simple wood-and-attap structure. The small deity of Mariamman that he installed is believed to be the same one still in the main shrine today. The temple is built in Dravidian style, its five-tiered Gopuram dense with carved figures of gods and demons. Every October it hosts the Theemithi fire-walking festival, in which devotees cross a bed of burning coals.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours stop here to trace the layered faiths of South Bridge Road, where a Hindu temple, a mosque and a Buddhist temple stand within a few hundred metres of each other.