Sri Mahamariamman Temple

Sri Mahamariamman was founded in 1873, originally as a private shrine for the family of a Tamil contractor who had come with the labour brought in for the railways and plantations, and opened to the public later; the present building dates from the 1960s. The front is a five-tier gopuram covered in around two hundred and thirty sculpted deities in bright paint, which is the thing you see from the street, standing among shophouses in the middle of Chinatown. Inside are shrines to Mariamman and other deities, gold and silver work, and Italian and Spanish tiles in the floor. The temple's silver chariot carries the deity to Batu Caves for Thaipusam each year, which is when the place is at its most intense and when the procession leaves from here through the city at night.

History

K. Thamboosamy Pillai founded the temple in 1873 as his family's private shrine, near where Kuala Lumpur's railway station now stands; it moved to its present site beside Chinatown in 1885, and its first thatched shrine gave way to a brick building in 1887. The family opened its doors to the public in the late 1920s and later handed it to a board of trustees. The present temple was finished in 1968, its great gopuram in 1972, and it was consecrated in 1973; it is the oldest functioning Hindu temple in Malaysia (Wikipedia, Sri MahaMariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur).

What's there

• A five-tier gopuram - some 230 painted figures stacked over the entrance.
• The oldest Hindu temple in the city - founded 1873, rebuilt in the 1960s.
• Imported floor tiles - Italian and Spanish work laid through the interior.
• The Thaipusam chariot - which carries the deity to Batu Caves each year.

When to go

All year; Thaipusam in January or February for the procession. Half an hour.

Practical notes

It is an active temple - remove shoes, dress modestly and do not photograph worshippers. Small and quickly seen. Thaipusam brings enormous crowds and the surrounding streets close.

Nearby

Petaling Street and Sin Sze Si Ya temple are a few minutes' walk.

Key facts