Thaipusam is a major Hindu religious celebration of Southern Indians particularly the Tamils, and Kuching, which has a small but vibrant Indian community also mark this festival with smaller scale processions.  The Sri Sreenevasagar Kaliamman Temple at Ban Hock Road undertakes the organization and coordination of the celebration annually on the full moon of the Tamil calendar month of Thai (usually Jan/Feb).

This festival celebrates the birthday of Lord Subramaniam, son of Shiva, a major Hindu god, and the occasion in which he was given a vel, a spear to vanquish the demons, thus it also represents the triumph of good over evil.  Devotees who had been praying to the gods for fulfillment of wishes, must upon such grants, undertake to carry “burden” or kavadi in street procession. Such wishes may be minor like getting a job or a life-or-death situation like healing of a serious illness, the former may entails carrying a pot of milk on one’s head while the latter may requires a more elaborate kavadi.

A kavadi is usually an elaborate semi-circle built of wood and clothes with wires and spikes, and decorated with peacock feathers and trinkets mounted on the shoulder of the carrier. It could be a makeshift “chariot” with all the decorative frills mounted on wheels and pull by ropes with hooks latched to the pullers’ bare backs. Then there are the skewers piercing through tongues and cheeks all without dripping a drop of blood!

Prospective kavadi bearers must cleanse themselves days before the actual event. They must fast and stick to vegetarian diet, forego all worldly pleasures and think only of their gods.

In Kuching, the procession begins at the bank of the Sarawak River and winds through busy streets and finally arriving at the Sri Mariammam Temple. Along the way, many kavadi bearers, especially those with elaborate and heavier load, fall into a trance, and seem not to feel the pain of the mortification as they gyrate wildly and barefooted to the blaring of the winded pipe played by musicians. Their guides, mostly their family members or friends will guide and help them along the way as they hobble, dance, whirl and even totter to near falls under the sheer weight and clumsiness of the kavadi on their shoulders. It is also quite common to see non-Indians carrying kavadi, reflecting the multi-ethnicity of Malaysia’s population.

Once inside the compound of the temples, more family and friends and spectators are waiting for their arrivals as temple musicians blare high pitch notes from their elongated pipes. Incense smokes swirl all around and the hubbub of conversation create an atmosphere of carnival. In the temple inner court near the altar, the women folks and children sit in their finest saris and costumes befitting the occasion.

As the procession arrives, the crowd moved to create an opening for them to move in. Then kavadi bearers circled the temple ground several times before their skewers and hooks were removed. Some collapse due to sheer exhaustion from the ordeal, while those with lighter load snap out of their trance by their guide are seen to be still in a daze but no more dancing and hobbling wildly.

Witnessing a Thaipusam is indeed a profound experience especially if one can watch it at close quarter. The unexplainable phenomenon of piercing and skewering of the bare flesh with hooks and sharp instruments and not drawing blood and the lack of pain on the kavadi bearers can only be understood by those whose who hold their faith in the highest esteem. It is worth while to time a visit to Malaysia during these times.

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