This paper brings together two comparative contexts, situated in South and Southeast Asia, for the study of interactions between Indian and Chinese communities, particularly through the presence of Hindu spaces in the Chinatowns of Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) and Singapore. It locates the space of interaction in two Hindu temples in the Chinatowns – a Kali temple in Kolkata and the Mariamman Temple in Singapore – and analyses the history and practices of interaction between the communities in these spaces within two areas of wider theoretical concern.