Some devotees in the annual Thaipusam festival pay homage to their deity Lord Muruga (Murugan) by lancing their backs with steel hooks and sliding skewers through their cheeks for the ascent to the Batu Caves, north of Kuala Lumpur.
The festival was brought to the Southeast Asian country during the British colonial era by 19th century immigrants from southern India.
The ritual is celebrated in cities throughout Malaysia, as well as in Singapore and Sri Lanka.
On the morning of Thaipusam, the most ardent participants place heavy “kavadi” – wooden or metal arches – on their shoulders, lavishly decorated with flowers, peacock feathers and huge pictures of Hindu deities.Most carrying kavadi have several parts of their bodies pierced, this is considered an act of faith.
Milk is poured on their pin-cushioned, reddened flesh. Cows are considered sacred by Hindus.”We celebrate Thaipusam every January on Thai month,” explains Thambi Thurai.”And then we take kavadi for Muraga and then take “paal kutam” (pots of milk) and then walk from the Mariamman Temple until Batu Caves.”
Thurai is leading the procession for this family. His cousin, Velan Ayuthurai, is the kavadi bearer, as an offering to improve his mother’s health.
Many of the celebrants at the Batu Caves have meditated and fasted for several days, others shave and take ritual baths.Participants swoon and sway ferociously as they walk to the foot of the hill and climb 272 steps to a temple inside a limestone cavern the size of a soccer field.There, the arches are taken off, the rods and needles withdrawn by priests and holy men.In Malaysia, Thaipusam is also a call of unity for ethnic Indians.
