3.1.13

Temple Tuesday: Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur

Temple Tuesday once again fell on an auspicious date for the common man, as we spent the first afternoon of 2013 on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur visiting the Batu Caves. These limestone caves are home to one of the largest Hindu shrines outside of India dedicated to the god Murugan. 

It seems in the world of religious shrines bigger is often better. Upon arrival at the train station we were greeted by an enormous statue of the monkey deity Hanuman (incidentally, almost my entire knowledge of Hindu gods comes from the 1992 animated marathon Ramayana I had to watch several times when I was sick in Fiji one week, Youtube for 170 minutes of occasional lols). A short stroll along and you are faced with a 42 metre high golden statue of Murugan himself, the largest in the world.

A mere 272 steps up the hill (avoiding the rapscallion monkeys and toppling over backwards) and you are rewarded with a nice view of KL, some cool caves and the opportunity to watch a Hindu service in action in a rather unique locale.

(Apologies for the crap quality of the pictures, was relying on the iPhone that day.)



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