[2] In the 1930s, Sewdass Sadhu, an indentured labourer, built a sewalla, a small temple dedicated to Shiva, on an estate owned by The Tate and Lyle Sugar Company by facing the Gulf of Paria.

[5] After his release from prison, Sadhu built the temple with the belief that colonial powers had no ownership of the sea.

[6] Sewdass Sadhu was born in 1901 in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India and was the original builder of the temple.

After Sadhu's death in 1970, the temple deteriorated in the sea through high tides and a lack of maintenance from people.

This effort was continued, and the temple was reconstructed and opened in 1995 under the direction of Randal Rampersad, a third generation Trinidadian of indentured Indian ancestry.