Kuala Lumpur Deepavali, Thaipusam and Temple Guide

Temples

The Sri Mahamariamman Temple on Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, founded in 1873, is the oldest functioning Hindu temple in Malaysia, with a five-tier gopuram covered in 228 sculpted figures. North of the city, Batu Caves holds the cave temple of Lord Murugan, reached by 272 rainbow-painted steps beside a 42.7-metre golden statue of Murugan. Brickfields and other neighbourhoods have many more temples serving Malaysian Tamil, Telugu, Malayali, Sri Lankan Tamil and North Indian communities.

Little India, Brickfields

Brickfields, near KL Sentral, is Kuala Lumpur's Little India, with flower-garland stalls, sari shops, jewellers, spice shops and banana-leaf restaurants. Jalan Masjid India in the city centre is another traditional Indian shopping street.

Deepavali

Deepavali is a public holiday in Malaysia, and Kuala Lumpur celebrates it in style: Brickfields is lit up and crowded with bazaars in the weeks before, families keep "open house" for friends of every community, and kolam (rangoli) and oil lamps decorate homes and temples.

Thaipusam

Thaipusam, in the Tamil month of Thai (January or February), is Kuala Lumpur's most spectacular Hindu festival. The silver chariot of Lord Murugan leaves the Sri Mahamariamman Temple the night before and travels to Batu Caves, where devotees carry kavadis and pots of milk up the steps in fulfilment of vows. Thaipusam is a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur and several Malaysian states.

Timings

Malaysia keeps the same time all year (UTC+8, two and a half hours ahead of India). Use the Kuala Lumpur panchang for local tithi and sunrise times.