Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). Pusam refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. Therefore, Thaipusam will bring the meaning of the star will be at the highest point during the month of January or February and mark the celebration of this festival. The festival commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (lance) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadam.
Thaipusam is an annual Hindu festival which draws the largest gathering in multi-racial Malaysia - nearly a million people in 2000. Thaipusam is a Hindu festival that is celebrated on the tenth month in the Hindu calendar. This festival combines the celebration of Lord Subramaniam, the youngest son of Hindu god Shiva and the union of Pusan and Brihaspati stars. This festival of faith and endurance is celebrated in Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, and South Africa. One of the biggest and most famous celebration is at Batu Caves, Malaysia. When it's celebrated in Malaysia it's a dynamic, colourful, happy yet devotional event which can stretch for 3 or 4 days.
Thaipusam is a time for Hindus of all castes and cultures to say thank you and show their appreciation to one of their Gods, Lord Murugan, a son of Shiva. The festival of Thaipusam was brought to Malaysia in the 1800s, when Indian immigrants started to work on the Malaysian rubber estates and the government offices. It was first celebrated at the Batu Caves in 1888. Since then it's become an important expression of cultural and religious identity to Malaysians of Tamil Indian origin, and it's now the largest and most significant Hindu public display in the country.
Thaipusam is held in the last week of January or the beginning of February, depending on the alignment of the sun, moon and planets, and takes place 13 kilometres outside the Malaysian capital city, Kuala Lumpur in a sacred Hindu shrine called the Batu Caves. There are plenty stories about what Thaipusam is about. Among the most popular is that it commemorates the day Lord Siva's consort, the powerful goddess Parvathi, gives her son, Murugan, the vel (lance) to vanquish three demons and their large army which were plaguing the world. Thaipusam falls on a full moon day in the auspicious 10th Tamil month of Thai when the constellation of Pusam, the star of well-being, rises over the eastern horizon.
Before the festival day itself there's an early morning chariot procession. Even before the sun rises tens of thousands line the streets to see a silver plated chariot of carved wood containing a statue of Lord Murugan making its way to the respective temple such as the famous Batu Caves where is to stay temporarily. Devotees approach the chariot with bowls of fruit and even hold babies up to be blessed. Groups of musicians and drummers add to the carnival feel, and pilgrims follow in procession. Drums beat out trance-inducing rhythms and long wooden pipes, known as nathaswaram, croon devotional tunes in a loud carnival atmosphere.
Hundreds break coconuts and offer fruits to the God all along the chariot's meandering route. This is a colourful event. Women wear Jasmine flowers in their hair. Yellow and orange, the colours of Murugan, dominate. Orange is also a colour of renunciation, and is worn by those whose pilgrimage is a temporary path of asceticism.
On the day of Thaipusam itself devotees go to different lengths to show their devotion. Some simply join the crowds processing in the intense heat to the Batu Caves and climb 272 steep steps to say prayers to Lord Murugan at his shrine. Some carry pots of milk or "paal kudam" on their heads as a show of devotion and love to the god. Others carry elaborate frameworks on their shoulders called "kavadis", which have long chains hanging down with hooks at the end which are pushed into their backs. (Kavadis can be carried in honour of other deities as well as Murugan.).
Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting. On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common. The most spectacular practice is the vel kavadi, essentially a portable altar up to two meters tall, decorated with peacock feathers and attached to the devotee through 108 vels pierced into the skin on the chest and back. Fire walking and flagellation may also be practiced. It is claimed that devotees are able to enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars left behind. However, some of the more extreme masochistic practices have been criticized as dangerous and contrary to the spirit and intention of Hinduism.
Many of these pilgrims are pierced with two skewers (or 'vels' - symbolic spears); one through the tongue, and one through the cheeks. Still others go even further and pull heavy chariots fastened to metal hooks in the skin of their backs. The skin tugs as they go, and they grunt and growl. The devotees who go to these extremes say they don't feel any pain because they are in a spiritual and devotional trance which brings them closer to Lord Murugan. The trance can be induced by chanting, drumming and incense. Over the years, curious British, American and Australian medical experts have come to observe and speculate. Some think the white ash smeared on the body, the juice squeezed from the yellow lime fruit or the milk poured on the pierced areas may help to numb the skin. But most admit they have no answer.
Each kavadi carrier has a group of chanting helpers who support and encourage them throughout the pilgrimage. The helpers protect them from the crowds and form a protective ring around the kavadi so that the wearer can dance freely, reflecting Murugan's role as Lord of the Dance. Once the devotees have climbed the steep steps to the Batu Caves they have reached the climax of the pilgrimage. Inside the shrine, the devotees go into a final dance before an image of the deity - that is when the energies are exchanged: "you perceive the god, but you are aware that the god is also perceiving you." Now the devotees can unhook their kavadis, perform final rituals to the deity and say their prayers. They hope to return to their usual lives refreshed and invigorated, ready to consolidate and live out the lessons learned through kavadi worship.