Skip to main content

Translate

Batu Caves



It was nearly three weeks of me being in Malaysia but had not left my office city of Cyberjaya. The first break came with the plan of going to Kuala Lampur (popularly known as KL). Me and my friend decided to visit the famous Hindu Cave temple “Batu Caves”. This temple is located at the exterior of KL. We started with the route analysis to reach as both of us were new to KL and have just little knowledge that we have gained from listening to people around our work place.
A little notes about Batu Caves.  Batu Caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in the Gombak district, 13 kilometers (8 mi) north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu (Batu River), which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, and is dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. Rising almost 100 m above the ground, the Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. To reach it, visitors must climb a steep flight of 272 steps. At the base of the hill are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings. This complex was renovated and opened as the Cave Villa in 2008. Many of the shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan's victory over the demon Soorapadam. An audio tour is available to visitors. The Ramayana Cave is situated to the extreme left as one faces the sheer wall of the hill. On the way to the Ramayana Cave, there is a 15 m (50 ft) tall statue of Hanuman and a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman, devotee and aide of Lord Rama. The consecration ceremony of the temple was held in November 2001.The Ramayana Cave depicts the story of Rama in a chronicle manner along the irregular walls of the cave. A 42.7-metre (140 ft) high statue of Lord Murugan was unveiled in January 2006, having taken 3 years to construct. It is the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world.
At around 10am we left our hotel room and took a bus to Putrajaya from Cyberjaya. The bus condition was good and very few people were sitting. We have initially planned to take bus from Putrajaya to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center) and from there will take metro to KL Sentral and from KL Sentral will take another metro to Batu Cave. KTM line is direct to Batu Cave with Batu Cave station as its terminal. When we reached Putrajaya we found to our disappointment that there is a lot rush for the bus and the bus will leave after 40 minutes. It was our first encounter with Malaysian bus system. We have heard of its bad condition and now have witnessed one too. Anyway we immediately switched plan and took KLIA transit train from Putrajaya to KL Sentral. The KLIA transit is the fastest means to travel. The condition of metro is very good and the speed of its travel is mind blowing. In less than 20 minutes we reached KL Sentral. We took KTM line and in 45 minutes reached Batu Cave station.

There was a lot of rush at Batu Cave entrance for two reasons that we understood. Firstly it was weekend and secondly only 1 gate was open which was used for both entering and exit from the temple. We waited patiently in the queue to enter the temple. The cave can be seen from very far. The hill itself looks very beautiful.  
At our arrival we were greeted by lots of monkeys. They are going for your peanuts and banana's, which we can buy downstairs in several shops, before we climb up to the caves. We climbed 272 steps, which lead us to the religious and magnificent Batu Caves. We were very exhausted after reaching top so took few minutes rest and then started our exploration to the place of devotion and natural beauty. The ceiling is 100 m above the ground and this huge chamber is lighted by daylight from several holes in the ceiling. At the end of the caves you can see the bright sky, when you look above you. I prayed at different temples present inside the cave. After paying homage to several Hindu Gods and taking lot of pictures of the cave from different angles we started climbing down the stairs.

At the base of the hill there are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings. This complex was renovated and opened as the Cave Villa in 2008. Many of the shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan's victory over the demon Soorapadam. The Ramayana Cave is situated to the extreme left as one faces the sheer wall of the hill. On the way to the Ramayana Cave, there is a 15 meter tall statue of Hanuman and a temple dedicated to Hanuman, the noble monkey devotee and aide of Lord Ram.
After having few snacks at the vegetarian restaurants at the cave complex we took our return route to Cyberjaya by following the same pattern i.e. KTM transit to KL Sentral and from there KLIA transit to Putrajaya and from Putrajaya to Cyberjaya by bus.
We were very tired after the whole journey. I took a fast nap to recover my energy. The trip was wonderful with my first homage to God outside my own country.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cyberjaya Lake

Very well said words by someone about weekend, "Creativity can release you from the limitations that the world has constructed around you; the everyday, mundane, 9-5 jail cell where everybody is waiting for the weekend to party so they can get outside of their head." Weekends are for fun and enjoyment. But this is not always true when you are in new country and don’t know anyone not the place. With few days of working in Malaysia and becoming friendly to the environment the most awaited day for everyone finally came. It was my first weekend in Malaysia. With very few friends and very little knowledge of the place I was not having any special plan for the weekend. Just to eat and remain in my apartment room watching TV or some good movie. It was about 2 pm and I was very comfortable in my bed watching movie on TV when one of my friend who have also came to Malaysia nearly the same time as of me called me. “Hello Harshit. Are you free today evening?” I replied in positive...
Post a Comment
Read more

Exploring Phuket…

Phuket: The Arrival Recently I have traveled to  Phuket , Thailand. Although this is not my first city I have traveled in Thailand (earlier 2 years back traveled to Krabi) but this been a very special experience. I will share my experience on my complete trip. Phuket is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country’s largest island, and another 32 smaller islands off its coast. It lies off the west coast of Thailand in the  Andaman  Sea. The next nearest province is Krabi, to the east across Phang Nga Bay. Phuket is among the world’s finest  beach destinations , with fine white sands, nodding palm trees, glittering seas and lively towns. Without wasting time on description of Phuket let’s start our journey. The trip to Phuket was just a sudden decision of me and my wife while we were looking for something in budget(moreover for Indians Thai authority have  declared ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Before Leaving India

I recently got an offer from an MNC to work in Cyberjaya, one of the Malaysian IT hub (I like to mention that I am from India and here also I work with one of the biggest USA based MNC). It was really an excited time for me. I started dreaming of travelling to a foreign country. Although my excitement was faded once I told my parents about it. They were having concern of me of never returning back and leaving them alone in India. As everyone knows parent’s only happiness lies in their child happiness so they were later convinced with my promise to be always in touch with them and return back to India in few years. With the mind set of moving to Malaysia for work I started hunting for necessary information related to visit like visa procedure, things to do and don’t, life style, climate, culture, etc. Malaysia is a country of mix culture with people from round the globe. There are places where when can easily find of the things he want and eatables are also mind blowing. The first...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spirituality & Religion

Today while I was reading the newspaper I saw some post from one of the Religious Leader claiming that their Religion is more Spiritually related. I know every Religion claims to be based on Spirituality. Actually, Spirituality and Religion, both are very interconnected terms. Sometime one is for taken as the second. In earlier days the way to attain spirituality was through the following of the guidelines given in religion, but laterally it has derived itself apart from religion. I think this association of both in earlier days still misguide some. In the words of Yogi William Irwin Thompson, “Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization.” What is Spirituality? Everyone have their own answer for this although all of them lead to one common point, the point where one achieves a true peace of mind of oneself. Spirituality for me means an ultimate or immaterial reality, an inner path enabling a person to discover the ...
Post a Comment
Read more