My arrival in Penang coincided with the great Tamil religious fest~ rival known as Thaipusam, I wondered why the trains were so crowded with such a gaily coloured bunch festive making people. I only covered on my arrival in Penang that the F, M. 8. Railways were: giving cheap fares to enable the: Tamils all over the peninsula to take advantage of the great festival.
The Tamils, like the Tibetans and the Chinese, no difficulty in combining religion and pleasure: to them a religious festival is a holiday, and as such they enjoy it, while paying their respects to the god Subramaniam. On the evening of January 14, the railway wharf at Penang was indeed a sight worth seeing, Tanuils, in all the colours of, the rainbow, were arriving from every direction, and with them were their wives and families, their belongings and presents, and religious fervour and holiday attire. You could see on their faces that they were prepared to miss anything but. not Thaipusam. 1 wondered if the word was Chinese tai-pu-so' namely, carrying the dol, but I understand it is Tamil and' is the name of the religious festival held wherever Tamils gather fon the 15th of the first moon. The Tamils are Hindus so the festival ig held in honour of the Hindu god Subramaniam, he is also called Kaliyugavarathan... According to the Hindu Shastras, Subramanian destroyed a giant named Sooran and ihn "Rond apd Jat anode the HANNA fay the ate ord, baer nen aod ote oer feast isdn if Hotel one poor fellow was] ihe Tiere ""rhe crowds on the the pleading little face of the poor CLY "Very impecunious vast was going through the better things, and on the other py° every impecunious poct=—" having large skewers stuck through No, not at all" the thymater cried different parts of his body. One was stuck right through his tongue and another through his cheeks and hundreds of silver needles were stuck through his skin all over the body, Several Tamils were holding him up and a friend was pouring water over his head and body. Now and then "he would completely collapse then he would rest awhile, the performance of piercing his body' with needles would continue. Whether the suffering was actual or pretended I do not know but the amount of skewers in some of the Tumils T saw must have given considerable pain. When the victims of this horrible torture neared the Chettyar Temple they became frenzied with excitement and it was with great difficulty they could be held by the friends who had stuck the needles and skewers all over them.
Later in the afternoon, Tamils carrying Kavadis could be seen coming in all directions and making for the Waterfall Temple, up the hill of which they struggled, with sharp spears piercing their bodies, while their followers called on the god to help them to fulfil their vow. On arrival at the waterfall Temple. the poor fellows had to make three circuits of the buildings and bow to the god, and then the spears were: extracted from the frame through. which they were held.
T saw one the Waterfall Temple hill and the sight was not easy to look at. I understand that someone had made a vow to Subramaniam and this little boy was called upon to fulfil it, He was carrying a half circle! made of heavy wood which had all the semblance of thorns stuck in it.
The evenings were given up_ to dancing and Europeans approaching. the scenes of the day's performance were surrounded by wild yelling Tamils who danced around them, eating: drums till the visitors gave: them money. The approaches to the Waterfall Temple were. crowded with Chinese and Indian beggars. Tt reminded me of many similar seenes in China, where the temples ave crowded with the lame, the halt, and the blind. During the three! days of the festival some 40,000) Tamil visitors were fed by the Chettyar community. The Chetties in Penang a¥e vic wealthy money changers and are the Shlyocks the Straits Settlements. But must have spent considerable sums} in feeding such an enormous, multi tude, About 2,000 could be fed at one time and the rabble in front of} the temple door almost baffies description. A huge Indian policeman was laying about him with a stout} whip and trying to bring law and whole, however, were very orderly and the British and Malay policemen had no serious trouble.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.