Thaipusam vows and blessings

The Star

This year’s Thaipusam celebration saw thousands of Hindu devotees and tourists making their vows and experiencing the beauty of the festival at Batu Caves.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00The massive crowd did not deter thousands of Hindu devotees coming to Batu Caves to

00:09make their Taipusam vows. While many come here for the first time, others fulfil their

00:14religious devotion every year.

00:16I come here almost every year, since I was eight years old I guess. And mostly I have

00:24not any particular vows, it's just a belief that everything will go smooth as I'm doing

00:28it every year. So the experience today was a lot of people, unexpected, I came in at

00:33like 4.30 in the morning and I'm just leaving now. So it's quite a lot of people today,

00:37I have not expected this much of crowd. I think because of the arrangement, it's very

00:41well conducted, and the crowd is also more. You know everyone tries to get in as soon

00:45as possible, so nothing much.

00:50Last year, I vowed to bring her, once she's born, I vowed to bring her using the sugar

00:55cane with my husband, so today I fulfilled my vow with her. It was quite tiring, but

01:01the feeling is indescribable once I reach the top, yeah, with the crowd and all.

01:06This is my annual vow, every year I'll do it for my honour. I follow my grandfather,

01:11grand-grandfather, my father and myself.

01:13My hope, everything I surrender to him. We just surrender to him,

01:19banyakan sedekah, he will come back.

01:26Shaving of heads is one of the important rituals during Taipusam. Devotees do it as an act

01:31of self-purification, as well as humility, devotion and sacrifice to Lord Murugan.

01:37Barbers work day and night for seven days during the festival, shaving thousands of devotees' heads.

01:43Every time I come here, I shave my head. If it's just the head, it's RM20. If it's

01:51just the face, it's RM25.

01:58The Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Devastanam said around 1.8 million people had visited Batu

02:03Caves for the festival from February 1st until Taipusam day.

02:20For more information visit www.osho.com

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