Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Temple gears up for special prayers
By BAVANI M
THE 80-year-old Sri Sakthi Vinayagar Temple in Jalan Berhala Brickfileds, Kuala Lumpur will be holding special prayers to celebrate Vinayagar Chathurthi – the celebration of the birthday of Lord Ganesh (the Elephant headed deity) tomorrow.
Temple president S.K.K. Naidu said the festival is one of the most important Hindu festivals and is celebrated worldwide on a grand scale.
“The common practice is to decorate clay figures of the deity which is worshipped for ten days prior to the festival and at the end of the festival the idols will be submerged into rivers and the sea,” he said.
“In Malaysia this practice is not popular but temples here will be conducting special poojas (prayers) and hold chariot procession around temple premises and neighbourhood,” he said.
Naidu said the Sri Sakthi Vinayagar Temple would be holding prayers all through the day starting from 3am to 7.30pm.
“At 3am we will have a 1008 Valampuri Sanga abishegam (special prayers with conch shells), at 4am paal kodum abishegam (milk pots) for Lord Ganesh, and at 7am the main prayers will be conducted,” he said.
”At noon the temple will be distributing free vegetarian food for some 3000 people and later on in the evening there will be a chariot procession around Brickfields,” Naidu said.
Food outlets in the neighbourhood will also be distributing free food for those involved in the procession.
This year, the temple is using a special metal chariot decorated with lights and flowers for the procession.
“During the procession there will be about 25 dancers who will follow the chariot while performing traditional dances such as the peacock dance, the stick dance and others,” he said.
For details, call 03-2274 8624.
