The oldest Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, with a five-tier gopuram covered in 228 painted deities, in the middle of Chinatown.
Founded in 1873 by K. Thamboosamy Pillai, a Tamil businessman and one of the significant figures in early Kuala Lumpur — he also founded Batu Caves as a temple site in 1891.
It began as a private shrine for his family and the workers on his estates, opened to the public in the 1920s, and moved to this site and this building in stages. The current temple largely dates from 1968.
It is the oldest functioning Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, and it is in the middle of Chinatown, which tells you something useful about how the city’s communities actually sit together.
The gopuram
The tower over the entrance on Jalan Tun H S Lee is 22.9 metres high, in five tiers, and is covered in 228 sculpted and painted Hindu deities, made by craftsmen brought from South India.
It was completed in 1972 and it is the most elaborate piece of South Indian temple architecture in Malaysia. Stand back across the road to see it properly.
Inside
Mariamman is the presiding deity — a South Indian mother goddess associated with rain, disease and protection, and the goddess who travelled with the Tamil diaspora across the Indian Ocean.
There are shrines to Ganesha, Murugan and others around the main hall, and the ceilings are painted.
The temple holds a silver chariot, elaborately worked, which is used at Thaipusam to carry the statue of Murugan from here to Batu Caves — a procession of some 15 kilometres that leaves in the small hours and is accompanied by an enormous crowd. If you are in Kuala Lumpur for Thaipusam, the departure from this temple is worth seeing as much as the caves themselves.
Visiting respectfully
It is a working temple with continuous worship, not a monument.
Shoes off at the entrance; there is a small paid rack.
Dress modestly — shoulders and knees covered.
Photography is generally permitted in the outer areas and not of the inner sanctum or of people at prayer. If in doubt, do not.
Do not step over or point your feet at offerings or people seated on the floor.
Puja times are morning and evening, with bells, and are the best time to be there.
Around it
Petaling Street and Central Market are two minutes away.
Guan Di Temple, a Taoist temple of 1888, is directly opposite — a Hindu temple and a Chinese temple facing each other across a Chinatown street, both busy.
Sze Ya Temple, founded by Yap Ah Loy himself in the 1860s, is tucked down an alley nearby and is the oldest Chinese temple in the city.
Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur’s Little India, is the other place to see this community, and it has its own large temples.
