Kuala Lumpur: Thaipusam Indian-Malaysian Hindu Festival

Little boy in training for carrying the Thaipusam burden,
in honor of God Murugan

Why the fruit and herbs attached?
Looks painful but they didn't seem in pain.

The little boy did not have to walk far and he seemed so proud. Many men were helping him along.

A man is holding onto these ropes attached to his skin

48 hours beforehand -- Shaved head, Purifying food eaten, Celibacy,
Long Pilgrimage for 24 hours carrying Thaipusam Burden

Carrying a very heavy burden and hooks in his skin

On right, man smoking something to help him along, having his back skin pulled by a man on the left

A tough balancing act

January 20, 2011

Let’s be clear, India has stopped the practice of self-torture on the Hindu holiday called Thaipusam. Only Malaysian Indians continue such seemingly barbaric practice. In fact, I was told Kuala Lumpur is the only place in the world where you can see any Indians practice self-torture on Thaipusam.

And, they probably wouldn’t call it self-torture, but I still was dreading seeing the skin-pulling and cutting practice live-in-bloody-action. I’d rather take a pass on that. But, every expat in KL told us we had to see it, but to see it without the kids. That means the white people recommended it. The Indian-Malaysians seemed leery about my seeing it, if not mildly concerned. I think they felt protective of me. So, I clearly had built up in my mind the Thaipusam procession before I ever arrived.

Some years ago I think I had also briefly glanced at and then away from videos of the Thaipusam skin-pulling rituals. Let me just say that skin-pulling looks much worse on video than live. You’d expect the opposite, I know. I can’t explain why. They just seem to be either okay with the pain or in a deep trance that keeps their attention away from the pain. Mostly, they seemed proud. They were the focus of much attention and awe.

Each self-tortured person either hung heavy items from hooks on their skin or had someone pulling ropes attached to hooks in their skin, pulling them like they were a team of horses who had to be reined in. They were surrounded by at least 3 or more people spotting them from falling, pouring water into their mouths, and dancing around them to boost their morale. It was an incredible bonding ritual, all moving like one long snake, one after another, weaving their way throughout the night from a Hindu temple in KL all the way to the Hindu holy site of Batu caves outside of KL.

You can see from the pictures that they are adorned and carry painfully huge, heavy decorated frames in honor of Hindu gods over their heads. Thaipusam is in honor of one goddess in particular – the Murugan goddess. And, they socialize their younger boys from a young age to carry such heavy items, with honor and lots of men helping them walk a shorter distance from the end of the procession to the Batu caves -- see photo above. Click HERE for a video of the young boy's Dad helping him balance his burden. The boy's clearly really excited to be a part of the procession.

I wondered if the Indian-Malaysians clung to this ritual, even when India had given it up as inhumane, as a bonding ritual for their smaller minority in Malaysia. Indian-Malaysians are seen as the bottom of the totem pole by Muslim Malaysians, especially. And, they are typically the most poor. Some speak English but for many of them, they only speak Tamil, because their schools never taught them English. The Muslim Malaysian government rarely gives opportunities for non-Muslims to rise, so the Indians have stayed down – think of them as the lowest caste in Malaysian society. They have held a couple protests against the government here. But, this ritual is a day of spectacle and spiritual, public commitment to their clan.

Click HERE and HERE for videos of men dancing in procession carrying burden. Click HERE to watch the musicians getting pumped up for the procession.