Description of the attraction
The Shri Mahamariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, is also considered one of the most beautiful thanks to its richly ornamented facade.
The temple was built in 1873 by the leader of the Tamil diaspora in Kuala Lumpur. The vast majority of Tamil immigrants are from South India. Accordingly, the facade of the temple was made in the architectural style of the palaces of the South Indian provinces. The founder of the temple built it as a personal shrine for his family. But, sensing the need of compatriots for a place where they can worship the gods of their homeland, he opened the doors of the temple for everyone.
Twelve years later, the temple, located near the train station, was moved to the outskirts of Chinatown. It was taken apart by stones and reassembled in a new place in the same form. And 80 years later, in the same place, between two Buddhist shrines, a modern temple building arose. It has carefully preserved the original style, adding the most remarkable part - the tower above the entrance. This five-tiered and richly decorated structure rises 23 meters. And 228 sculptural images of Hindu gods for the tower were made by craftsmen from India. After restoration, in the sixties of the last century, the tower was additionally decorated with gold and precious stones.
The temple is dedicated to the goddess Mariamman, protector from diseases and epidemics. The worship of the mother goddess is four thousand years old. Like other Indian deities, she knows how to reincarnate and is known under the names Kali, Devi and Shakti. The inside of the temple is decorated with frescoes depicting these different guises of Mariamman. For the interior decoration of the temple, Italian and Spanish tiles and semi-precious stones were used.
Another valuable sculpture of the temple is the statue of the deity Subramaniam or Murugan, trimmed with gold and silver and adorned with emeralds and diamonds. During the annual Taipusam festival, this shrine is taken as the main attribute of the ritual procession to the Batu caves - on a silver chariot decorated with 240 bells.
Shri Mahamariamman Temple is the main Hindu temple of Kuala Lumpur and an architectural and historical monument of the capital of Malaysia.
