Sri Mahamariamman temple
Visiting Malaysia, you will feel like shooting two rabbits with one shot, it feels like two different cultures and countries in it, cleaved in half by the South China Sea, lived by two, Chinese and Indians, hosting wild jungles, peaks and tribes. It’s colorful, smiley and simply amazing, multicultural and very warm. Every year Malaysians wait for the biggest festival, Hindu festival, Thaipusam, celebrated in heart of Kuala Lumpur, at the Sri Mahamariamman temple.It’s spectacular and very attended, beloved and one of country’s favorites, dating back in Malaysia’s roots, when Lord Shiva’s son, Murugan, was given a lance to vanquish three demons. It’s a wild orgy of hideous body piercings, might get painful to look at all the piercing art on someones body, but once you have the first look and understand how happy this festival is, all you will be thinking about, will be, Celebrate it! The brightest of all Hindu festivals is here, its drama and colour typically attracts more than a million devotees from across the country, in fact, last year it was exactly 1.6 million visitors from all over the planet.
For all the Hindus, Thaipusam is the day of penance and thanksgiving to the Hindu god Lord Murugan, who git rid of the demons, it’s honored annually with an elaborate procession beginning at the famous Sri Mahamariamman temple. All the procession actually is a key of the celebrations, the 8 tonne statue of Lord Murugan will be brought to Batu Caves, it will be 15 kilometre long journey, placed on a silver chariot.
Batu Caves is beloved tourist destination cos of the focal point of Thaipusam celebrations for more than 120 years, the complex has three caves with Hindu shrines and temples, being pretty expressive. On the way devotees will carry kavadis, men with pierced body will balance the statue on their shoulders. This year Malaysians expect 2 million visitors, this way helping country’s economy, they say, it’s not much but we can pull it out once a year, something for our god’s sake. All they need is a lot of rice, sugar and bananas…
Batu Caves Temple has 272 steps, that you can easily climb up, with the monkeys scaling the towering limestone outcrop, finally reaching the golden statue of Murugan.
