Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur

About Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur

The Sri Maha Mariamman Temple on Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, at the edge of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown, is the oldest functioning Hindu temple in Malaysia. It is dedicated to Mariamman, the mother goddess worshipped widely in Tamil Nadu, and is regarded as part of the country's cultural and national heritage.

Its most striking feature is the five-tier raja gopuram, about 22.9 metres high, decorated with 228 sculpted figures of Hindu deities by artisans from South India led by sculptor S. T. Muniappa. The temple is laid out like a human body lying on its back: the gopuram corresponds to the feet and the sanctum, which houses Sri Maha Mariamman and faces east, to the head. Pillaiyar (Ganesha) and Murugan have shrines to the left and right, and eight figures of Ashta Lakshmi adorn the pillars of the main hall.

The temple keeps a silver chariot, built in India and assembled in Kuala Lumpur, which leads the great Thaipusam procession: every year it carries Lord Murugan and his consorts Valli and Deivanai from the temple through the city streets to Batu Caves. Deepavali is also celebrated here on a large scale.

History

The temple was founded in 1873 by K. Thamboosamy Pillai as a private shrine for his family, near the present Kuala Lumpur railway station. It moved to its current site in 1885, and the original attap structure was replaced by a brick building in 1887. The family opened the temple to the public in the late 1920s and later handed it to a board of trustees. The present building was completed in 1968, the gopuram in 1972, and the new temple was consecrated in 1973. In keeping with tradition, it is reconsecrated every twelve years.