Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur

The Sri Maha Mariamman Temple is the oldest Hindu Temple in Kuala Lumpur. It was founded by K. Thamboosamy Pillai as a private family shrine in 1873 at another location before it was moved to its present location in High Street in 1885. (High Street was later renamed Jalan Bandar and subsequently to its present name of Jalan Tun H.S.Lee.)

Thamboosamy was a prominent businessman, money-lender, tin-miner and government contractor of Tamil origin. Born in Singapore in 1850, he became an acknowledged leader of the Tamil community in Kuala Lumpur. Besides this Sri Mahamariamman temple, it is also said that he founded the Temple at the Batu Caves in 1891.

Thamboosamy passed away in 1902 in Singapore, and his family eventually opened the family shrine to the public in the late 20's. The management of the temple was subsequently handed over to a Board of Trustees.

The original temple at High Street that Thamboosamy built was a simple attap structure, which was demolished and rebuilt out of brick in 1887. That structure was also demolished and rebuilt in 1968, which is the current temple building. The highlight of the temple, the ornately decorated gateway or gopuram was added in 1972.

The Sri Maha Mariamman temple.

A gopuram is a monumental tower at the entrance of a temple and functions as a gateway into a temple through walls that usually surround the temple complex. They are usually the most prominent feature of temples of the Dravidian or South Indian style. 

The Sri Maha Mariamman temple's gopuram is 75 feet high and made up of 5 tiers fully adorned with miniature sculptures of 228 hindu deities. The entrance of the temple faces east, and the on plan, the temple is arranged in the form of a human body, with the gopuram symbolising the feet.

The five tiered Gopuram.

The shoe deposit counter.

Shoes and other footwear are not allowed within the temple premises. On the left of the gopuram is a shoe deposit counter, where you can store your shoes for the princely sum of 20 cents per pair. You then walk in barefoot into the gopuram over the ornately carved timber threshold and through the massive timber doors. As a working temple, there are no fees or charges to enter.

Timber threshold.

The threshold represents the division between the material and spiritual worlds.

View of the Gopuram from within the temple.

Inside the complex, you will see that it is a courtyard surrounded with other modern buildings with the Main Prayer Hall sitting in the centre of the open space. Around the Main Prayer Hall are four smaller shrines dedicated to other deities.

The shrine on the right of the Main Prayer Hall.

The shrine on the right is decorated with a chariot pulled by 7 horses on the roof of the shrine.

Inside the shrine.

View of the Main Prayer Hall from the side.

A relief on the side of the Main Prayer Hall.

Another shrine at the rear of the temple complex.

At the rear of the courtyard, is another shrine, this one decorated with an onion-shaped roof and images of lions.

Pigeons among the decorated lions.

Icon

Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles.

The shrine on the left.

A line up of deities.

The Main Prayer Hall.

The Prayer Hall is decorated in bright gaudy colours.

The Sanctum Sanctorum with the deity Mariamman within its closed doors. 

The Sanctum Sanctorum is the head of the temple, and it houses a statue of the patron deity of the temple Mariamman. Mariamman is a Tamil folk goddess, predominantly worshipped in pre-Vedic times in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu in India. She is now commonly associated with Hindu deities such as Parvati, Kali and Durga.

The name "Mari" means "rain" and "Amman" is "mother"; hence Mariamman is the Mother of Rain or in other words the Mother Goddess. As the bringer of rain, she is associated with fertility and prosperity, as to the rural farmers, an abundance of rain means an abundant crop and prosperity.

Final look at the Gopuram before exiting.

The temple is busy during the Festival of Deepavali, as well as Thaipusam. During Thaipusam, the silver chariot and procession starts its journey to the Batu Caves from here.


Sri Maha Mariamman Temple

Address: Jalan Tun H. S. Lee, 50050 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Telephone: + (604) 263 4941

Opening Hours: 6:00am to 8:30pm (times may vary, extended hours on Friday and Saturday)

Kek Look Tong, Perak

Kek Look Tong is situated in the natural and picturesque area of Gunung Rapat in the south of Ipoh, the capital of Perak state in west Malaysia. It is a large cave located within a limestone hill that is made up of light grey to white crystalline Kinta limestone interceded with about 5mm- 1cm thick argillaceous material bands. Primary iron can still be seen to this day within the limestone hills.

The name "Kek Look Tong" can be roughly translated as the "Cavern of Ultimate Bliss" or "Cave of Great Happiness", whichever you prefer.

The cave was used as early as 1920 as a place of worship. In 1960, the cave became part of an iron mining site operated by the late Mr. Chooi Ah Kee. The mining operation used excavators to enlarge the cave entrance to allow lorries access through the cave to transport loads laden with iron ore. At that time it was known as "Tien Hou Gong" and not "Kek Look Tong".

In 1982, Ah Kee's son handed over the cave over to a non-profit charitable foundation called the "Kek Look Seah". The caves were then renamed the "Kek Look Tong" and turned into a cave temple as well as a tourist attraction. The Kek Look Tong complex now comprises a central altar featuring a number of Buddhist figures as well as various deities of the Chinese pantheon.

What is unique about the caves is that it is actually a tunnel which exits on the other side of the limestone hill where you emerge into a secret valley with a landscaped garden. The award winning landscape garden features a jogging path circling two lakes and one of the longest reflexology footpaths in Ipoh.

To get to Kek Look Tong is confusing if you do not have proper directions. You will actually have to drive through the housing estates of Rapat Setia in order to get there from the main road of Jalan Raja Musa Mahadi. Follow the yellow directional signage through Jalan Usaha, Lebuh Semangat 2, Persiaran Sepakat 3, Persiaran Sepakat 8 then take the unnamed road from the corner of Persiaran Sepakat 8 past the muslim cemetery until you come to the archway of Kek Look Tong. 

The Kek Look cave.

There is ample free open air parking at the site. Park your car and admire the greenery of the surrounding limestone hills. You will see the huge opening of the Kek Look cave entrance with steps leading up into it. This is apparently the rear entrance of the cave.

This hole in the limestone hill.

Before entering the cave though, take a stroll outside. Looking up to the right of the cave entrance, you will notice a hole at the top of one of the limestone hills.

Turtle pond.

To the right of the carparking area, you will find a turtle pond. Immediately adjacent to the steps leading up to the cave is an ornamental koi pond and a mini-waterfall. A statue of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy stands in the middle of the pond.

Goddess of Mercy.

As you finally walk up the steps to the cave, you will notice various miniature sculptures on pedestals lining both sides of the steps.

Sculptures.

Steps lead up to the cave.

Once inside the cave mouth, you will notice how large the cavern is. This cavern is apparently the rear entrance and supposedly if you look at a plan of the entire cave system; on plan it is supposed to look like a carp, with this hind cavern as the tail. Personally, I can't see it, but perhaps these split double stairs were built to form the shape of a tail.

The huge cavern.

The entire cavern floor has been resurfaced with concrete and some of the walls have been covered by marble; but as a whole the side and roof of the cavern has been left untouched.

Concrete floor with marble planters and walls at the base of the cavern.

The roof of the cavern has been left in its natural state.

There is no entrance fee to enter the Kek Look Tong, as it is a temple; however there is a counter where you can purchase candles or fish food for devotional purposes or merit-making.

No entrance fee, but you can purchase candles or fish food.

Behind the counter there are steps leading down to a small side-chamber with a Taoist deity statue and another staircase leading up to another statue.

Deity at the bottom of the one of the side chambers.

View back to the entrance of the cavern from the inside.

As you go further into the belly of the fish, you can look back at the cave entrance and see how large the cavern is.

Staircase leading further inside.

You will see the main staircase leading up into the cave, but first go to the small chamber to the side of the staircase where you will see a statue of the Buddha as well as three Taoist deities.

Statue of the Buddha at the back of the main cavern.

The three main Taoist deities or the Three Pure Ones.

You can worship here, and then go up a tiny staircase at the back of this small chamber or go back up to the main staircase and climb up. The main staircase is the "throat" of the fish, connecting the head to the belly.

Tunnel leading to the "front" cavern.

At the top of the main staircase, you will walk through a passage and see natural light filtering from the other side. This cavern is the "head" of the fish. You will then realise that Kek Look Tong is actually a tunnel through the limestone hill.

Bronze Buddha Statues.

This front cavern is decorated with even more statues of the Buddha. The three centre bronzes are of Samantabhadra, the Buddha-to-be, on his 6-tusked elephant; the Vairocana Buddha sitting cross legged on a lotus leaf and the Manjushri Bodhisattva sitting on a blue lion.

The walls and roof of this front cavern have been left in its natural state, with artificial lighting highlighting the cave formations.

Dripstones.

Stalactites and cave pillars.

These supposedly represent the gills of the fish.

You can walk up staircases on each side of the head chamber to admire the natural formations of the cave. The staircase on the left leads up to a small chamber with beautiful stalactites, stalagmites, pillars and dripstones. You can also look back down onto the chamber below.

Does this look like a man with a walking stick to you?

Dripstones.

Beautiful.

After viewing the natural formations, you can walk back down to the head chamber of the Bronze Buddhas and take the other staircase up to another chamber.

The three Bronze Buddhas in the centre of the head chamber.

This chamber has a small altar with Three Holy Mothers, the Golden Flower Lady, Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven and Mazu (a.k.a. Kuan Yin).

The other chamber has these deities, where you can worship.

Another view.

There is also a cave column with a very phallic appearance up here in this chamber. From this chamber you can also look back into the rear cavern or the belly of the fish.

The phallic looking cave column.

Looking back into the belly of the fish.

A pleasant place to sit, as the wind blows through the cavern and provides a cooling environment. Once you are finished here, you can either return to the belly of the fish via the small staircase that leads back to the chamber of the Three Pure Ones.

Otherwise return back to the head of the fish of the bronze statues.

Back to the head of the fish.

The Bronze Buddhas dwarf the visitors.

Walk pass the three Bronze Buddhas to the mouth of the cave, where you will another two bronze Buddha statues. The Skanda Bodhisattva looks back into the cave towards the other three bronze buddhas; and the Maitreya Bodhisattva or Laughing Buddha looks outwards to the mouth of the cave and enjoying the view beyond.

The Laughing Buddha looking out the cave, the Skanda Bodhisattva looking inwards.

As you exit the cave mouth, you will notice a circular koi pond. You will notice splashes in the water, as the limestone water drips down from the stalactites above the pond.

The Koi Pond.

Droplets of water drip down from the stalactites above.

Looking back into the cave from the mouth.

A stunning view of a secret garden greets you at the entrance of the cave. You can imagine the unspoilt beauty of the place before some unknown bureaucrat decided to put an electrical transmission tower right smack in the middle and another gave a permit for a quarry to carry out quarrying work.

The secret garden.

The gate to the garden closes at 6:30pm.

Looking back at the mouth of the cave from the garden. This was originally the main entrance to the cave.

A pleasant view amidst the greenery.

The garden consists of two main lakes, and a walking path that encircles the lake. A reflexology walkway divides the two lakes apart.

There is a lake in front of the cave.

Plenty of fish in the pond.

As well as these shady characters.

You can actually circumnavigate around the lake via the walkway.

A troop of long tailed macaques also make the garden their home.

These guys seem quite docile, and not so aggressive.

Expert climbers.

The limestone hills have been carved into weird shapes by wind and water.

The second lake is filled with lotus plants.

Not many flowers when we visited.

At the base of the limestone hills, there is a natural pool of water.

The electrical pylon smack dab in the middle of the park. To be fair it was probably here first before the park.

At the end of the property is an ex-mining pool.

The water is quite still and calm.

A tree growing on a rocky outcrop.

No idea what this is.

Sculpture.

View across the lotus lake towards the cave.

The cave viewed from afar.

The secret garden is a pleasant surprise to end the visit to the Kek Look Tong. You cannot exit from this side, hence you need to go back through the cave to leave.

There are many cave temples located in and around Ipoh; but Kek Look Tong is probably the nicest of the bunch. 

Kek Look Tong

Address: Off Persiaran Sepakat 8, 31350 Ipoh, Perak.

Opening Hours: 7.00 am - 6.00 pm