Pantheon of the Gods in Batu Caves

Batu Caves first came to public attention in 1878 when American naturalist William Hornaday followed the smell of guano up a jungle track, and saw the huge natural limestone caves he described in his journals as “perfectly resembling St Peter’s in Rome”. The Batu Caves are situated thirteen kilometers (seven miles) north of the capital city of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur.

They are the sacred place for Hindus in Malaysia.

The area consists of three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves are made of limestone and are 400 meters long and 100 meters high. Shortly after Hornaday’s expedition, the site became a favourite among Hindu devotees, who set up a shrine to Lord Murugan.

Today, Batu Caves attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, many from India.

Batu Caves receives most attention during the Thaipusam festival, which celebrates two events: the birthday of the Hindu Lord Murugan (the son of the god Siva and his wife Parvati) and Lord Murugan’s defeat of the demon Soorapadman with the aid of a powerful lance given to him by his mother.

The Thaipusam festival

During Thaipusam, as many as 800,000 devotees and other visitors may throng the caves. As a form of penance or sacrifice, many of them carry kavadis (literally, “burden,” such as a pitcher or jug). These are large, brightly decorated frameworks, usually combined with various metal hooks and skewers which are used to pierce the skin, cheeks and tongue. (see the photo at the right!!)

By doing this penance they expect some favours from their Gods.

The festival is held in the tenth month of the Hindu calendar (mostly the end of January or early February).

Most visitors start off at ground level of the cave complex with a visit to the Art Gallery Cave located near the foot of the steps that takes you up to the skies. It showcases statues and pictures of Hindu gods as well as scenes from the Ramayana.

The main attraction is the Temple Cave, which lies at the top of a flight of 272 steep steps leading to the main cave entrance 100m above the ground. At the end of the climb, visitors find themselves dwarfed again by the cavern’s 100m high ceiling, awed by the exotic rock formations.

Visitors can rest, snack and drink at the hawker stalls before mounting another flight of steps to visit the main temple. As this is a place of worship, service times are clearly marked so as to allow devotees to pray without being disturbed by casual visitors.

As Hornaday pointed out over 100 years ago, there are few words that adequately describe this shrine in the sky: “gorgeous”, “stunning”, and “vast” simply don’t do it justice.