More than a million Hindus yesterday thronged temples throughout Malaysia to celebrate Thaipusam, a colorful annual religious festival in which many display their devotion by piercing their bodies with hooks and skewers.
Celebrations in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, centered, as they have for 125 years, on the spectacular Batu Caves complex on the city’s outskirts, which many Hindus walked up to 10 hours to reach in an annual pilgrimage.
Bearing gifts for the Hindu deity Murugan, countless yellow-robed devotees carried milk pots or coconuts — the latter of which are smashed as offerings.
Photo: Reuters
Others took part in the 15km procession of a silver chariot from a temple in the city center to the caves — an important religious site for Tamil Hindus — capped by the final 272-step climb to a temple in the limestone outcropping.
Celebrated also in India, Singapore and other areas with significant Hindu Tamil communities, the festival is marked with particular relish in multi-cultural Malaysia.
Many show their fervor by bearing the elaborately decorated frames called kavadi that can weigh as much as 100kg and are typically affixed to a person’s body using sharp metal spikes dug into their flesh in a form of penance.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s my first time carrying a kavadi,” said Arulvendhan, a 30-year-old teacher, as he prepared to pray before hoisting the burden onto his body. “I made a vow that I would do this if my father’s health got better and if my family had more peace. My dad is much better than before.”
About 1.6 million people were expected to visit the Batu Caves yesterday.
Some pilgrims swayed trance-like to throbbing drumbeats and religious songs as friends and relatives cheered them on. Others danced in deep trance-like states.
Thaipusam commemorates the day when, according to Hindu mythology, the goddess Parvati gave her son Lord Murugan a lance to slay evil demons.
Prior to Thaipusam, devotees will typically hold daily prayer sessions, abstain from sex and stick to a strict vegetarian diet for weeks.
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