More than one million Hindu devotees flocked to a Malaysian cave temple Thursday to mark a colourful Hindu festival during which they pierce themselves with hooks and skewers.
The worshippers converged on the Batu Caves temple, a spectacular limestone cavern on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and the centrepiece of the annual three-day Thaipusam festival of thanksgiving and penance.
Thaipusam commemorates the day when the Hindu Goddess Pavarthi gave her son Lord Muruga an invincible lance with which he destroyed evil demons.
Devotees do penance by carrying heavy ornate structures called kavadis as they walk barefoot up 272 steps to the Batu Caves temple, while others have their tongues, cheeks and backs pierced with hooks and skewers.
Prime Minister Najib Razak hailed the festival, which also draws many tourists every year, as a celebration of Malaysia's multiculturalism.
"Hindu devotees from overseas as well as tourists come here to appreciate the wonderful diversity of our culture and the openness in which many different faiths are expressed and practiced," Najib wrote on his blog.
The festival is also celebrated in several other parts of Muslim-majority Malaysia. Ethnic Indians, most of whom are Hindus but also include Christians and Sikhs, make up less than 10 percent of Malaysia's 28 million population.
AP Photo
Hindu devotees with hooks embedded into their backs take part in a procession during the Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011. The festival is rooted in Hindu legend and was brought from southern India by 19th century immigrants who came to the Malaysian peninsula to work in rubber estates and government offices. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
AP Photo
A Hindu devotee, carrying a Kavadi offering cage, takes part in a procession during the Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011.
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