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Every year, over a million visitors come to this natural marvel for many reasons. For some it is spiritual while, for others it is to observe a place where culture takes root in the most primal manner. As Vatsala Devi explains, whatever the reason, Batu Caves is a place of wonderment.

Batu Caves is a limestone hill which has a series of caves and cave temples, located in the Gombak district, 13km north of Kuala Lumpur. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu, or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival, Thaipusam in Malaysia.

Rising high above the ground, the Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a 100m-high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. At the base of the hill are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings.

To reach it, visitors must climb a steep flight of 272 steps. At the base of the hill are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings. Many of the shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan’s victory over the demon Soorapadam. While the limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old, and Chinese settlers began excavating bat guano for fertilizing their vegetable patches as early as 1860, Batu Caves truly became famous only after the limestone hills were recorded by William Hornaday in 1878.

A Bit Of Background

The history of Batu Caves and how it has come to be known as a religious site to the Hindus in Malaysia can be traced back to 1891, when one of the pioneer leaders of the Indian community in colonial Malaya, K. Thamboosamy Pillai, who also founded the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Devasthanam in Kuala Lumpur, sent his close associates Sri Thiruvengadam Pillai and Sri Kanthapa Thevar to survey for an ideal ad suitable place of worship for Lord Sri Murugan.

Born in 1850 in Singapore and educated at the Raffles Institution, Mr. K. Thamboosamy Pillai gained popularity and prominence through the course of his work as an interpreter and assistant with the then-senior lawyer, JG Davidson. His work took him to Kuala Lumpur, and during this course, he discovered that a large number of Indians from South India had settled in the neighbouring state of Selangor. Being a Hindu devotee, he decided to build a small worship house for the Hindu deity of protection known as Mariamman, initially used as a private shrine by the Pillai family. In 1888, he transformed the attap temple into a brick building with the support from the local community and became the first “Stanigar” (founder) of the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Dhevasthanam in Malaysia. The family threw open the temple doors to the public in the late 1920s and eventually handed the management of the temple over to a board of trustees. This is the oldest functioning Hindu temple in Malaysia and is also reputed to be the richest in the country. The temple was originally sited somewhere near the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station. It shifted to its present location along Jalan Tun H.S. Lee (next to KL’s Chinatown) in 1885.

Pillai was also said to have discovered Batu Caves and was inspired to start a Hindu temple in devotion to Lord Murugan in 1888. In 1890, Pillai installed the murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Subramania Swamy in what is today known as the Temple Cave. Since 1891, the Thaipusam festival in the Tamil month of Thai (which falls in late January/ early February) has been celebrated there. Wooden steps leading up to the Temple Cave were initially built in 1920 and have since been replaced by 272 concrete steps. Today, both the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple and Sri Subramaniaswamy Temple Batu Caves are under the administration of the Board of Management of the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Dhevasthanam.

Religious Site

In 2006, a 43-metre tall concrete statue of Lord Murugan, with a giant chrysanthemum garland draped around his shoulders, was added at the foot of the stairs. The statue, reputedly among the world’s tallest, is made of 1,550 cubic metres of concrete, 250 tonnes of steel bars, and 300 litres of gold paint brought in from Thailand.

Halfway up the flight of stairs, tucked into a corner off the well-worn tourist trail, is the Dark Cave, a natural heritage site that is the habitat of a wildlife community dating back perhaps 100 million years. The Dark Cave, with its stalactites jutting from the cave’s ceiling and stalagmites rising from the floor to form intricate formations such as cave curtains, flow stones, cave pearls, and scallops, is also home to animal species which are not commonly found elsewhere. It is perhaps best-known as home to the trapdoor spider, Liphistius batuensis, said to be the world’s rarest arachnid. In 2010, the Malaysia Nature Society and the Cave Management Group took over conservation efforts in the Dark Cave. In the hope of finding a way to minimize human disturbances, carefully planned eco-tours of the section of the cave are now available.

Valluvar Kottam And Art Gallery Caves

The walk along a zigzag bridge over a pond teeming with fish, terrapin, and tortoises brings the visitor to Valluvar Kottam and Art Gallery Caves. Quaint cupolas at the angles of the zigzag bridge provide shade where visitors can stop to watch or feed the teeming aquatic life. The Art Gallery Cave, containing holy statues and wall paintings depicting Hindu mythology, is at the foothill. Access is via a concrete walkway over a small subterranean lake. Statues and wall paintings depicting Hindu deities and mythology are displayed here. The walk to the entrance is itself quite a pleasant experience, through a lake and ponds filled with hundreds of colourful fish. For this cave only, an entrance fee is charged.

The cave walls of the Valluvar Kottam are covered with statuary exhibits, murals, and inscriptions of the poet Valluvar’s couplets. The exhibits are used to illustrate relevant couplets from the Tirukkural, his entire works. Valluvar Kottam is so lit that the atmosphere of a silent cave is well preserved. Not to be missed is the statue of the five-legged bull. The owner of this freak, five-legged bull gave it away to the Batu Caves Temple soon after it was born. The fifth leg of the bull grew from the back near the bull’s hump. In all other respects the bull was healthy and roamed freely around the temple grounds as long as it lived among a harem of cows. It died a natural death after spending its entire life on the temple grounds.

To the far left of the Art Gallery Cave is the Ramayana Cave. To get to this cave you’ll pass the temple and magnificent statue of Hanuman, the noble monkey who stood beside Lord Rama as his eager servant. The Ramayana Cave depicts the story of Rama in a chronicle manner quite effectively, through paintings and statues. The Cave is well-lit and allows visitors to stroll leisurely, viewing the depictions along the irregular walls of the cave, and perhaps feeling they are wandering through the giant intestines of the mighty demon, Kumbhakarann, brother of King Ravana of Lanka.

Batu Caves, a 400-million-year-old limestone hill with beautiful stalactiteand stalagmite-dotted caves, is nature’s wonder. The massif and its caves shelter a variety of flora and fauna; indeed, some are so rare that they may only be found in this place. Even in the absence of worshippers and the frenzied Thaipusam mood, Batu Caves is a place to visit. Words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of this place and the only way to understand the wonder and appeal of this place is to experience it yourself by making a trip to Batu Caves.

Source: The Expat Magazine February 2014

Read more:

• Places of Interest at Brickfield’s Little India
• A Walk Through Little India & Chinatown
• Uncovering Kuala Lumpur’s Little India

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