Lord Murugan rules......

February 1st 2007 is the Federal Territory Day in Kuala Lumpur. For 2007, it is also a day for celebrating Hindu's Thaipusam. In Malaysia, the grand event for Thaipusam celebration is at Batu Cave Hindu Temple, Kuala Lumpur.

The temple management is expecting more than 1.5 million Hindu and non-Hindu devotees to climb the 272 steep steps to reach the hill top temple at Batu Cave this year to pay respect and devotion to the Hindu God, Lord Murugan ( also known as Lord Subramanian). For Hindu devotees, it is part of their annual pilgrimage of carrying offerings to the hill top temple to repent and seek forgiveness for past deeds and to thank Lord Murugan for their wishes granted.

One of the most interesting feature of Thaipusam celebration is the carrying of "Kavadi" and pulling of chariots, where skewers and hooks are pierced into the tongues, cheeks, backs, and chests of the "Kavadi" carriers, usually males. Thaipusam is one of the biggest religious celebration in Malaysia. The faiths of these Kavadi carriers are so strong that it defied logics to note that they felt no pains and no bloods are dripped during the process of piercing and unpiercing into the various parts of the body of the carriers. The women usually carries Jug of milk on their head on their journey to hill top temple.

Thaipusam is celebrated mostly by the Malaysia's Tamil community during the Tamil Month of Thai ( the tenth month of Tamil calender, which usually falls between Jan 15th and Feb 15th). "Pusam" refers to a star which is at its brightest during the period of the celebration. The celebration is to honour the birthday of Lord Murugan, the youngest son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. It is also to celebrate the day when Goddess Parvati bestowed upon her son, Lord Murugan, the “vel” or lance to defeat the evil demon, Soorapadam. Another interesting fact is, quite a significant number of Malaysian Chinese are also beginning to celebrate and fulfilling their vows during Thaipusam.

Vel, Vel....... May the spirits of Lord Murugan be in the hearts of all Hindu. May all evils be defeated, and may mankinds be blessed with good health, hapiness, and prosperity.