The Hindu festival of Thaipusam at Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur has become the largest single gathering of any religious festival in Malaysia, and is believed to be the most significant Hindu festival to be held outside India.
MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME
Wednesday, 1 March 2017 – At the seminar and book launch of Thaipusam in Malaysia: A Hindu Festival in the Tamil Diaspora author of the book Dr Carl Vadivella Belle, an independent scholar and former Australian diplomat, presented a lecture on various aspects of Thaipusam in Malaysia.
Dr Belle pointed out that although Indians comprised about 7.4% of the total population, they made up almost 84.1% of the country’s Hindu population. Importantly, the Thaipusam celebration at Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur has become the largest single gathering of any religious festival in Malaysia, and is believed to be the most significant Hindu festival to be held outside India.
Dr Belle argued that while the Thaipusam festival in Malaysia is sui generis, it nevertheless must be understood in relation to the wider Tamil diaspora and to its long established Indian cultural and religious traditions, in particular those of divine kingship and the rituals of Hindu pilgrimage. Within the Malaysian context, Thaipusam is not only a continuing political and social assertion of Hindu identity, but as a festival sends a variety of signals, some agonistic, to a range of audiences both within Malaysia and beyond.
At the conclusion of the seminar, Mr K Kesavapany, former Director of ISEAS, launched the book Thaipusam in Malaysia: A Hindu Festival in the Tamil Diaspora.