Thaipusam: Vanquished the evil demon

Wrong - if you think Thaipusam is all about devotees fulling their vows by means of mortification of the flesh, piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers.

Thaipusam 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 Soorapadman, so says the wiki.

Two days ago, with some LensaMalaysia shutterbugs, I went for my first ever Thaipusam photography trip to feel the silent emotions amidst the dramatic colours of this festival that symbolise the good claiming triumphs over the evil in the Hindu belief system.

We virtually camped there, starting from 6.30pm on January 31, and didn't leave until 11.30am the next day, and put in another three hours for the train rides to-and-fro Subang Jaya. We managed to catch some three hours of catnap at the railway station compound and missed the arrival of the chariot from Jalan Bandar. But it was well worth the tired legs and aching body due to the equipment weights and the long walk. Some of my photo-essays are available here, here and here.

LensaMalaysia photographers, who have done a tireless round to promote VMY2007 and Eye On Malaysia, and the recent Floral Fest at Putrajaya, again have started to chronicle this year's Thaipusam through their diverse, colourful depiction through their lenses.

Good triumphs over evil

There were so many topical features of Thaipusam that make excellent elements for photography. I was looking, as an insider, at the devotees who prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and cleansing. After observing days of fasting, they shave their heads before they take the yearly pilgrimage to the temple at Batu Caves, engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi, which signifies the carrying of burdens.

The kavadi ranges from the simplest form of one carrying a pot of milk, to the daunting types that involve the mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers. And I saw non-Chinese devotees performing this kavadi-bearing, though I failed to locate the Caucasians. who have been known to return to Batu Caves to fulfil their kavadi-bearing vows in the recent years.

I love the Hinduism themes of Good vanquishing the Evil. In Deepavali, Light triumphs over Darkness. In Thaipusam, Murugan triumphed over evil demon Soorapadman by using the lance his mother gave him.

The Good defeating the Evil seems to be a universal value, cutting across different belief systems of the world.

In the oft quoted battle of David vs. Goliath, the giant was the Philistine warrior who vanquished in the hand of David, the young Israelite boy who would later be chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to become the King of Israel. The account of David vs Goliath is so well-known that it was given significant mention in the Hebrew Bible and in the Qur'an. My Christian friend told me it was also mentioned in Bible 1 Samuel 17.

This universal value should change not, or else the world will suffer.

Let's pray for the country

P/S: As I stood at the foot of the 272 steps towards the cave, or the congested road towards the riverine, or even queuing for the gents, there were total strangers who identified my face and greeted me so warmly. We have never met each other, but they know what I blog for all these years. These Hindu devotees told me: "Jeff, tell Rocky, we will walk with you!"
I have nothing in particular to reciprocate their warm friendship, perhaps this photo that I took will suffice till we meet again. I believe you, too, can feel the silent emotion I had intended to capture in the image.