My traveling part 16 🇲🇾 : Colorful architecture and iconic sculptures at Batu Caves
Hello Steemian friends! On this occasion, I invite you to enjoy a wonderful trip with me to one of the popular places in Malaysia, Batu Caves.
Batu Caves is a limestone cave complex located in Selangor, Malaysia. It has long been a must-visit tourist icon, as it is one of the largest and most important places of worship for Hindus outside of India.
🚩 Complete address, Gombak, 68100 Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia. Google map
🌍 website : https://www.mps.gov.my/en/batucaves
🗓️ Visit time : February 6, 2025
🎫 Ticket price : Free
⏰ Opening hours : The Batu Caves area is open every day from 06:00 to 22:00.
Location on Steem Atlas map : [//]:# (!steematlas 3.23756346 lat 101.68394387 long Batu Caves d3scr)
My interest in visiting this place stems from the many travel documentation of Indonesian tourists that I have seen on various social media. The splendor of the towering golden statue of Lord Murugan, as well as the colorful temples that adorn the cave complex, made me curious and wanted to see it in person.
My journey to Batu Caves began by booking an online taxi from the condotel where I was staying in Kuala Lumpur. For an affordable fee of around 20 Malaysian Ringgit or around 31 Steem (Calculated based on prices on Thursday, March 6, 2025). I arrived at the location. However, the taxi driver dropped me off at the left side entrance instead of the main entrance.
From this left-side entrance, I walked straight through the place. From here, I saw a blue Hanuman statue standing majestically near a colorful temple. The presence of this statue and shrine adds to the attraction, although I don't know the deep meaning of every detail.
If we look at the shape of the statue, we can see that it resembles an ape. It wears a crown on its head, which makes me wonder if it is a king. In addition, the statue stands firmly with a large and manly body. He seemed to be tearing out his heart, and inside his heart were two small statues. Honestly, I wondered what meaning and message this statue was trying to convey.
Right on the right side of this statue, there is a passage or entrance to the temple called Sri Ramayana Cave. To get there, it looks like a ticket is required. However, since we noticed that only people in yellow clothes or Hindus enter the location, we canceled our intention to enter.
After admiring the beauty of the temple and the statue of Lord Hanuman, I headed towards the golden statue of Lord Murugan which was our main objective. However, before arriving in front of the statue of Lord Murugan, we were able to notice a taller temple, and behind the temple was a bird-shaped statue. However, at this temple we didn't see any activity.
| The temple is quiet and behind it there is a large bird statue, does anyone know what bird this is? |  |
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We continued our journey to the next corner. In the distance, we started to see the golden yellow statue of Lord Murugan. However, again I came across a temple in which I noticed that there were many people on the move. In addition, around this area I began to find many Hindus wearing all-yellow clothes.
Some Hindus walk around this location without using sandals or footwear, this makes me curious why they walk barefoot. But I believe this is a form of respect for God when they are at the location of the place of worship.
The most interesting thing I noticed was that some Hindus deliberately shaved their heads until there was no hair left, then sprinkled yellow flour on their heads. Shaving the hair is similar to tahalul performed in Islam, but the meaning of tahlul in Islam itself is a symbol of the completion of worship.
I was curious about the contents of the temple I mentioned earlier. I saw that there were also many statues of gods inside. The place was also clean and colorful. I was interested in going inside to get a detailed look at the atmosphere and contents. However, as there were no foreign tourists inside, I decided against it.
| Out of curiosity, I peeked through the empty gap, so I could get a sense of the atmosphere inside the temple. |  |
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Then, from the right side of the temple, we can find a large courtyard. From here, we can notice a large golden-yellow statue that is truly mesmerizing. This statue is known as the statue of Lord Murugan. On the right side of this courtyard, we can also see a shrine that is just as large as the previous one, but there is not much activity inside.
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In all, I have found as many as 4 temples around this place. I think the most interesting thing about these temples is that they are filled with colors, making them more beautiful and colorful. Also, in every corner of this temple, both in front and on top of it, there are tons of miniature statues of gods. Surely, these statues have their own meaning for Hindus.
Which made me curious, why was this statue made bigger than the other statues? Is it a statue of the most special god? Although there are a lot of Hindu people here, I was reluctant to ask them directly. Of course, I respect all religions and beliefs.
Right in this spacious main courtyard, my wife and I could see the beauty of the golden yellow statue of Lord Murugan quite clearly. In this place, my wife and I took some photos to capture the beautiful moments when we were in this place.
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In addition, what makes this place interesting is the presence of quite a lot of pigeons flying around this location. I couldn't count how many there were, but there were probably around 100s of pigeons flying around. Some Hindus have food that is distributed to the pigeons, so the pigeons when fed will gather in the area where there is food.
From a distance, my wife and I were tempted to climb the iconic colorful stairs on the left side of the statue of Lord Murugan, but we decided against it due to the number of steps we had to climb. The curiosity about the contents of the cave up there remained with me.
The visit to Batu Caves was a valuable experience for me. I was able to witness first-hand how Hindus conduct their worship, as well as marvel at the beauty of their architecture and religious symbolism. More interestingly, Batu Caves is open to the public and does not charge an entrance fee for tourists, so anyone can have a spiritual and cultural experience in this place.
Thus this article, hopefully useful and inspiring all who read it. Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to comment.
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