As the world passes by....

These 3 monkeys were watching the world past by.  Taken at Batu Caves.

Happy Thaipusam

It is Thaipusam celebration for Hindus in Malaysia today. Once again, I joined some photo enthusiast from our community forum for a photo outing to Batu Caves to join in the fascinating celebration. These are some of the photos that I took today. We was already awake at 4am and we hit the road by 4.30am and only finished at 1pm. It was a tiring day but no regret that I went to Batu Caves again this year.

I am slacking in my photo posting lately. My apologies to all. For the next few days, I will try to post more photos from the Thaipusam celebration in Batu Caves. If you are ever in town during Thaipusam, try your best to visit Batu Caves. Even though this year it's the 2nd time I joined in the celebration, it didn't cease to amaze me! Hope you enjoy the photos.

Thaipusam Celebration at Batu Caves

Last Saturday, the Hindus in Malaysia celebrated Thaipusam. In the states of Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor, Thaipusam is a public holiday.

Thaipusam is a festival to celebrate the event when Lord Murugan received the Vel (Holy Spear) from His Mother, Goddess Parvathi.

The Vel, a symbol of light and wisdom was used by Lord Murugan to rid the world of the three asuras (demonic beings) and bring peace and balance back to the Heavens and Earth. Thus, the Vel is the protecting and purifying force of Lord Murugan and Thaipusam is a celebration of these forces.

Thaipusam is also a time to beseech Lord Murugan's blessing to lessen the burden of bad karmas from wrong doings and to make lives more positive. Therefore, Thaipusam is a festival that is marked by acts of penance such as carrying the kavadi. Carrying kavadi is a practice of penance or prayaschittam.

The tradition of carrying kavadi was started by a great devotee of Lord Muruga, Idumban, who worshipped Lord Murugan at the Palani Hills temple in Tamil Nadu state, India. He created the first kavadi. It was a simple structure that consisted of a straight horizontal branch of a tree with two small pots of milk tied at either end and decorated by a wooden arch, flowers and peacocks tail feathers. Idumban also pierced a small vel shaped skewer across his cheeks. Idumban carried the kavadi from the foothills of Palani to Lord Murugans Palani Andavan temple at the summit of the hills and offered the milk for Lord Palanis (the form of Lord Murugan as a renunciate monk) abishegam (abhishegam: is the bathing of a deity during the puja ceremony. Many natural substances such as milk, honey, rose water and sacraments are used to bathe the deity. Abishegam is a gesture of appreciation of God).

This photo that I took on last Saturday in Batu Caves, showed the piercing of a man's back with hooks. This is an act of penance by a fellow devotee. The video below showed how this man was put into a trance before the piercing was carried out. It's amazing to see there's no blood shed nor pain when the hooks were pierced now when the rope tied to these hooks were pulled by someone from the back. For those who have not experienced Thaipusam celebration, it's an eye-opening and fascinating experience that no words can described. I am looking forward to another visit to Batu Caves next year.

My World Tues - Batu Caves

Recently I have been visiting Batu Caves very often for photo outing. Batu Caves has 3 caves. Two caves are located high up on the hill. One has to conquered 272 steps to reach the biggest cave, called Temple Cave. The smaller cave is about 200 steps above ground. I love the challenge of climbing up all the steps without taking a short break in between!! Ha ha...I know that is rather challenging. However, after visiting it 2 times, the 3rd time was much easier!

The huge golden statue of Lord Murugan at the ground level is the biggest in the world. The statue can easily be seen as one drove past Batu Caves along the highway. Lord Murugan is widely worshipped by Hindus in Malaysia who hailed from southern India.

There are many beautiful photography opportunities at Batu Caves. It is a favourite site especially during Thaipusam celebration. A fellow photography enthusiast from Subang Jaya, Paul Choo, whom I met at one of our USJ.com photo outing, had posted some beautiful photos taken during Thaipusam in 2008 & 2009. Hope you would visit his blog and view those breathtaking shots and experience what Thaipusam in Batu Caves is like!

Please visit That's My World Tuesday portal to view photos posted around the world!