They consist of
three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves are made of limestone
and 400 meters long and 100 meter high. They were discovered in 1892. The main
cave, which can be reached by climbing up 272 steps, houses the shrine of the
Hindu deity lord Subramaniam. Other traditional Indian figures are carved on the
walls. A number of smaller caverns, inhabited by indigenous wild monkeys, are
also found in the Batu
Cave
area.
Photo. The Batu main cave near Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia is
a multicultural society, with Malays, Chinese and Indians living side by side.
Here you find plenty of religions, and good opportunity for spiritual healing.
Or just admire the fantastic art in the incredible number of temples.
When I visited
the city in July1987, I was delighted to see the colourful diversity of the
life. Kuala
Lumpur is the capital in
Malaysia and
Asian tiger that roars: in 130 years. Many things have happened since I was
there. Today Kuala
Lumpur is one of the world's most modern cities. It is has grown
from nothing to a modern, busy and blooming city of almost two million
people. Here it is possible to view the world's tallest building: twin
Petronas Towers
. This building is definitely on one
of the main attractions in the
city.
The name
"Kuala
Lumpur" means "muddy river" and was given to the city by the
miners, who made a settlement
around 1860. The miners and merchants were in search of pewter and built their
houses on the banks of the Gombak
River and the
Klang river. There both rivers meet. Today the Jame Mosque is situated on this
place.
It`s recommended
to stay in a hotel in the Golden Triangle of the city if you can afford it. Then
you are close to the shopping centres of Sungei Wang, Bukit Bintang,
Lot 10
and Imbi
Plaza. And you're
within walking distance of the famous Petronas
Towers (as mentioned the
highest building in the world) with its shopping centre Suria.
One of my
greatest experiences was the Batu
Temple, which is
built into a cave. As a contrast to the modern life in the city centre, I took
my time to explore the Batu
Caves. These
caves are located approximately 13 km out of the city centre of
Kuala
Lumpur. When I arrived I become
greeted by lots of monkeys. I was really eager to explore the religious and
magnificent Batu
Caves.
Once a year they
celebrate the Thaipusam festival in the Batu
Caves. It's a
celebration for the son of Shiva (Subramaniam) and the becoming "one" of
Pusan and the
Brihaspati stars. Every year, on 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. By doing this penance they
want expect some favours from their Gods. The festival is held in the tenth
month of the Hindu calendar (mostly the end of January).
Every day there
is a little celebration of a group of Hindus in the
Batu
Caves. Every time
it's an imposing event, although there's no self torture.
Temple
Cave or
Cathedral
Cave is he best
known and biggest of the caves. It's visited by many devotees. The ceiling is
100 m above ground and this huge chamber is lighted by daylight from several
holes in the ceiling.
Photo. Gate at Batu
Cave.
The 272-step
stairway up to the entrance of the cave gave me a hard time in the heat. That
was my torture and sacrifice to the Gods. In addition I had to take extra good
care of my belongings. There where long-tailed macaque monkeys everywhere who
tried to grab everything they could come over - not only peanuts.
Photo. My travel Geir companion liked to play with the monkeys.
There is another
cave called the "Dark
Cave" in the Batu
site. The adventure tour involves a crawl through a muddy, narrow aperture at
the end of the cave, and climbing up a rock face to get out. Here you can have
the pleasure to encounter thousands of bats, non-poisonous cave racer snakes,
cockroaches, crickets, spiders, beetles, centipedes and other assorted critters.
For they who can overlook such creatures, can experience an environment of
astounding stalagmites and stalactites. The cave formation dates back to over
100 million years ago.
Hindu Festival at the
caves
Thaipoosam, a
Hindu festival dedicated to Lord Subramaniam (popularly called Lord Maruga) the
spiritual son, of the deity, Shiva and his consort Parvati. Each year, over
800,000 pilgrims flock to the Batu
Temple Cave, many of
them carrying palanquins (kavadi) decked with flowers, peacock feathers and
brass bells, or brass vessels filled with milk, as offerings to the deity. As a
measure of penance, kavadi bearers insert spears (vel) through their tongues or
cheeks, and skewer their flesh with steel hooks. They then dance in a
trance-like state in procession, to the sound of drums and ritual chanting, all
the way to the cave shrine.
My holy
experience
Finally after I
have crawled up the long stairway, I could look deep in to the sacred cave, but
there were more steps to walk. It was like taking a step in to another world.
Photo. Stalactites in the Batu cave.
Inside the cave
I could cool down. The cavern was filled with the acridity of bat guano and the
odour of damp vegetation. The religion behind all the figures and symbols in the
cave were very fascinating. The mythological gods and goddesses adorning small
shrines were shown on the walls of the main cave. As mentioned the temple is
dedicated to Lord Subramaniam. There is a trinity in Hinduism: Bhrama, Vishnu, and Shiva. Bhrama is
the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer and re-creator. To
Hindus, the three gods are all part of the one god, just as in Christianity,
only Hindus take the concept one step further with their other gods. On one cave
wall were 10 statues of Vishnu in his 10 incarnations, the 10th one coming in
the future. The Hindus believe that the world is created and recreated over in
cycles, each lasting millions of years. Each cycle is divided into four
eras.
All the strange things
created a unique atmosphere in the cave. I walked around there for hours and
looked at the beautiful art. There were traditional Indian figures carved on the
walls which had a strong symbolic effect. For me it was an experience of an
"dream world", and a good healing for my soul.
Stein Morten Lund, 25 April 2004
Additional information
Facts about
Malaysia:
Formal country
name: Federation of Malaysia.
Area: 329,750 sq
km.
Population: 23
million.
People: 50%
Malay, 33% Chinese, 9% Indian, plus indigenous tribes such as Orang Asli and
Iban.
Language: Malay,
English, Tamil.
Religion: 52%
Muslim, 17% Buddhist, 12% Taoist, 8% Christian, 8% Hindu, 2% tribal.
Government:
constitutional monarchy.
For more
information:
Malaysia
Tourism Promotion Board, or Tourism Malaysia: tourism.gov.my
Malaysia
Tourism Centre (MTC)
109, Jalan
Ampang,
50450
Kuala
Lumpur
Tel : 03- 2163
3664/2164 3929
Fax : 03- 2162
1149
www.mtc.gov.my
Source:
World Heritage
Centre
UNESCO,
Paris
(July
2003)
Malaysia has
two places listed on the World's Heritage list:
Kinabalu
Park (N
ii, iv/ 2000):
Kinabalu
Park, in the
State of Sabah on the northern
end of the island of
Borneo, is
dominated by Mount
Kinabalu (4,095
m), the highest mountain between the Himalayas and
New
Guinea. It has a very
wide range of habitats, from rich tropical lowland and hill rainforest to
tropical mountain forest, sub-alpine forest and scrub on the higher elevations.
It has been designated as a Centre of Plant Diversity for
Southeast Asia and is exceptionally rich in species with examples of flora from the
Himalayas, China,
Australia,
Malaysia, as
well as pan-tropical flora.
Gunung
Mulu
National
Park (N i, ii, iii,
iv/ 2000):
Important both
for its high biodiversity and for its karst features,
Gunung
Mulu National
Park, on the
island of
Borneo in the
State of Sarawak, is the most
studied tropical karst area in the world. The 52,864-ha park contains 17
vegetation zones, exhibiting some 3,500 species of vascular plants. Its palm
species are exceptionally rich, with 109 species in 20 genera noted. The park is
dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 m-high sandstone pinnacle. At least 295 km of
explored caves provide a spectacular sight and are home to millions of cave
swiftlets and bats. The Sarawak Chamber, 600 m by 415 m and 80 m high, is the
largest known cave chamber in the world.
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