Murugan at Batu Cave Malaysia

[atanu]

Murugan at Batu cave

[Kumar_Das]

I love Lord Murugan/Skanda/Kartikeyya alot. Even though I'm North Indian and no one in my family worships him, I took him as my ishta-devata.

I dont know why whenever I worship Skanda I feel protected.

Yes I've been to that place when I visited malaysia as a kid. It was a great experience.

I want to go there again during thaipusam.:)

[ScottMalaysia]

I've been to the Batu Caves at Thaipusam (in fact that's the only time I've been there). The place is so crowded! Over a million people come there for the festival. It took us ages to climb the stairs as there were so many people going up. I saw people carrying kavadi (portable altars to Lord Murugan) on their shoulders, but I didn't see any people with hooks in their backs or spears through their cheeks.

You can see some of my pictures of Thaipusam at the Batu Caves in my Picasa Hindu Temples album (http://picasaweb.google.com/scottymalaysia/HinduTemples#).

[TatTvamAsi]

Murugan at Batu cave

Wow! That is truly beautiful!

I heard the Malaysian government was demolishing Hindu temples a while back and there were several protests(?).

I am glad there are so many devout Hindus in a volatile land (of muslims).

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Malaysian government remains very anti-Hindu. Perhaps there has been some movement lately. Perhaps Scott knows more.

http://www.sanghparivar.org/hindus-abandoned-in-malaysia-nepal-india-and-elsewhere-m

Aum Namasivaya

[ScottMalaysia]

Wow! That is truly beautiful!

I heard the Malaysian government was demolishing Hindu temples a while back and there were several protests(?).

I am glad there are so many devout Hindus in a volatile land (of muslims).

Yes, what you have heard is true. The majority Muslim Malaysian government has demolished quite a few Hindu temples. The excuse they give is that the temples are squatting on goverment land. However, many of them are over 100 years old and were registered in the time when the British were ruling Malaya. When the Malaysian government was formed in 1957, the temples were not registered with the new government (I don't know if it was accidental or deliberate).

A Malay Muslim posted on another forum that the temples were on prime commercial land and that is why they were destroyed. However, I seriously doubt it. Idolatry is prohibited in Islam and the worst sin is worshipping anyone besides Allah. I think that this is the real reason the temples were destroyed.