Thaipusam: Climb 272 Stairs in a Trance with Pierced Bodies

Extraordinary forms of sacrifice to win God’s grace

A devotee with hooks in his back during Thaipusam festival (Source: Canva)

Smiling people with hooks in their back are marching in scorching heat for hours in ecstasy; many are even dancing. Hundreds of thousands of people gather from several countries to give an offering in different ways to the Hindu God, Lord Muruga. It is the Thaipusam Festival: an incredible and shocking event in Malaysia.

The Hindu festival has been celebrated mainly by Tamil people in South India since 1892 during the “Thai” month of the Tamil calendar somewhere between 14th January and 15th February each year. Tamils ​​are an ethnic group native in South India and northeast Sri Lanka, but several Tamils settled in Malaysia and Singapore as well. Besides Malaysian Hindus, Indian, Australian, and Singaporean Hindu pilgrims also attend the festival at the Batu Caves near the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

For over a hundred years, the main cave has served as a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Muruga that you can reach by climbing 272 stairs.

Muruga’s impressive 42-meter statue greets the visitors at the foot of the stairs.

What is Thaipusam about?

Muruga is the God of poetry and the Tamil language. He is the son of the Hindu…