Shivalaay Shiva Temple, Makadara (Hindu Union of Mombasa)

The Shivalaay Shiva Temple at Makadara serves as the headquarters of the Hindu Union of Mombasa, an organization documented as having been formed in 1899 after a group of Gujarati Indian emigrants walked from village to village collecting funds to build a temple. Once enough money had been raised, a temple was built in central Mombasa and a Shiva lingam installed there, with further funds for the Makadara building specifically drawn from Mombasa’s various regional Gujarati samajas (community associations). The Union went on to adopt a formal written constitution and democratic governance structure in 1928, and long-serving chairman Suryakant B. Gor is credited with more than forty years of leadership in developing the temple and its associated properties; in 2018 the Makadara temple underwent major renovations carried out free of cost by Hasmukhbhai Patel of Mombasa Cement Ltd.

This built, urban Shiva temple in Makadara stands alongside the Hindu Union’s better-known Gombeshwar cave shrine in the Nyali area, both administered by the same Union but representing two distinct kinds of Shaiva worship site on Kenya’s coast - one a natural cave lingam discovered by local Hindu families, the other a constructed temple raised through organized community fundraising. Together they reflect the depth and continuity of Mombasa’s Gujarati Hindu community, active on the coast since the late nineteenth century.