Posts Tagged ‘temples’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Malayalees pay homage to legendary king through Onam

August 27th, 2007
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


source

By ESTHER CHANDRAN

Labour of love: 85-year-old Sreedharan Nair is responsible for making the family's serving of Payasam

THE month of Chingam in the Malayalam calendar brings about lots of merrymaking for the people of Kerala, India as they celebrate the Thiru Onam festival. Chingam is the first month of the Malayalam calendar. 

The 10-day long celebration is marked with gaiety with plenty to eat, boat racing, singing and dancing, squeals of laughter and shouts of merriment. Many traditional art forms like Kathakali, Kaikottikali, Kummattikali, Pulikali and Theyya-tam are showcased at the Onam celebration especially in Kerala. 

The celebration is pretty much scaled down in Malaysia but the spirit of Onam is very much alive in each Malayalee home. Malayalees in Malaysia celebrate Onam today and for most of them, it is about feasting on an elaborate meal (Onasadya) of 16 vegetarian dishes, getting together with family and friends and donning on new clothes. 

The celebration begins with a refreshing bath in the morning and accepting new clothes from the eldest member of the family.  Some offer prayers in the morning or pay a visit to the temple. 

For the Nair family in Taman Sungai Jelok, Kajang, it’s 85-year-old Sreedharan Nair who distributed new clothes to his family. 

The Malayalee women wear the Settu Mundu – a two-piece off white clothing that looks very much like a saree when tied.  The body of the Settu Mundu is off white and is enhanced with a colourful border that can be green, red, maroon or gold.  The blouse is sewn to match the border of the Settu Mundu.  Once dressed in their new clothes, everyone sat down to enjoy breakfast which varied from one home to the other but Subhadra Sreedharan Nair, 75 stuck to preparing tosai or idli for her hungry kin.  Some families go to the trouble of preparing the Pookalam, a flower carpet fashioned entirely out of colourful flowers at the entrance of the home. 

 
Renu Nair of the Hulu Langat Malayalee Sanghadana said Onam is celebrated following a popular legend of King Mahabali. 

“It was said that King Mahabali ruled Kerala for a long time. “He was a good king who looked after his subjects. “The people believe that during Onam, the King returns to Kerala to pay a visit to his people,” Renu said. 

“Onam is also a harvest festival and we celebrate the bountiful harvest the land gives to the farmers,” she said. 

Onam, Renu said was a festival that helped maintain traditions, instil cultural values and beliefs in the younger generation.  “The peace, happiness and bond that we feel during Onam certainly upholds our identity and connects us back to our roots,” she said.

Comments Off on Malayalees pay homage to legendary king through Onam »

Posted in Indian

Tags:

biggest asset for Indians are temples says Datuk Subra

August 24th, 2007
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


i think temple managements are also starting to realise this. those located in housing areas or near townships/schools tend to organise many events like yoga classes, religious classes/talks, cultural competitions, seminars etc. The involvement of local residents, PTAs etc can help improve the use of temples.
 
Use temples to bring change, Indians told

TEMPLES should not only be places of worship but also where the community gathers and effects changes. By organising various religious and cultural activities, temples can bring change to the community, reported Tamil Nesan . 

MIC secretary-general and Housing and Local Government Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam said this when attending the Thirumurai recital contest organised by the Asahan Hindu Youth Organisation at the Asahan Tamil School hall on Wednesday. 

He said the biggest asset for Indians in the country were the temples.

Comments Off on biggest asset for Indians are temples says Datuk Subra »

Posted in Indian

Tags:

Samy says Indians are doing well

August 24th, 2007
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


i'm not sure if "Malaysian Indians have shed their rubber tapper image for one of a community comprising the educated and urbanised" as claimed. Perhaps about 20 % fit the bill, while the rest may be either educated (another 20%) or urbanised (another 30%), or neither (the balance). Remember that 63% of malaysian are as said to be living in urban areas according to latest statistics. Anyway, being urbanised does not mean life is a bed of roses. Instead it will be a nightmare trying to live on a salary of RM800 in a town as compared in a kampung or estate surrounding.
 
Now, lets look a a bigger picture. nearly every country in the world reports healthy progress in terms of education, living standards etc, except for those ravaged by war or severe famine etc. The question is, are we on par with the rest? if not, why is it so? our fault – being lazy, complain but not intiative, begging for help; or the systems fault – discrimination, prohibitive policies, lack of opportunities etc. ?
 
And why keep harping on being rubber tappers? It is those jobs that helped the country and the descendents to prosper.
 
For MIC to gain back its name, it has to furnish statistics on all fields concerned to dispel or counter HINDRAF's claims. These statistics have to be back by its sources so that an independent body can choose to investigate if neccessary.
 
While I agree that not 3000 people attended the gathering as claim by HINDRAF, i am certain it is not 600 as claimed by Samy. I think it was more to about 1200 – 1600 people, as i counted the rows of people during the walk past the roundabout.
 
Also, even if the PM was there, would the people who gathered would have been entertained personally?
 
Its good that statistics on number of temples were furnished,(wonder what is the source of these figures). We have to assume that these are licensed temples. 24,000 temple for a population of 1.44 million (i assume 80% of indians are hindus) is about one temple for every 60 hindu. Quite a big number, but religion being a personal issue, a tree can also be a temple in hinduism.
 
I saw the speech  which he gave at the HYO's assembly which was attended by about 200 people (from i saw on TV3 news). He asked if Indians are backwards, would they be sitting there in the hall and listening to him. Those who attended are educated and doing well, which he imply represents indians in malaysia.
 
 
Indians today are ‘doing well’

By : June Ramli

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Indians have shed their rubber tapper image for one of a community comprising the educated and urbanised.

MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said this was the outcome of better educational facilities and jobs provided by the government over the past 50 years.

"Those who say the Indians are backwards are mad," he said during the Hindu Youth Organisation’s annual general assembly at the Shree Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Jalan Kasipillay yesterday.

The works minister said that if Indians were 50 years behind other communities, many would still be working as rubber tappers.

"But that is not the case. Today, all Indians are educ-ated with some doing very well."
Samy Vellu chided the opposition for sending a memorandum of protest to the Prime Minister’s office recently, alleging that the Indians had generally been ignored.

He lambasted them for claiming that 3,000 people had gathered at the Prime Minister’s office.

"First of all, there were only 600 people and not 3,000.

"And the best part is that they chose to protest on the day that the prime minister was away in Brunei on a working visit."

On the rationale behind the demolishing of several Hindu temples, Samy Vellu said this was done as they had not received approval from the authorities.

"As they have been built near drains and next to roads, these structures will definitely be brought down as they have not received approval from the authorities."

He said the number of temples had mushroomed from 17,600 in 1979 to 24,000 this year.

Comments Off on Samy says Indians are doing well »

Posted in Indian

Tags:

MHS Butterworth Thirumurai Recital Contest

August 22nd, 2007
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


source

By M. SIVANANTHA SHARMA north@thestar.com.my

HINDU temple committees building temples on private land should get approval from the local council and the landowner.  

Penang Health, Welfare and Ca-ring Society Committee chairman P.K. Subbaiyah said they had to adhere to the local by-laws and guidelines when building new temples.  

He said there were many cases of temples being built without prior approval from local authorities and they had to be torn down, he said.

“This creates unhappiness among the Hindu community,” Subbaiyah said at the Malaysia Hindu Sangam’s Butterworth Council 21st Thirumurai (Hindu religious hymns) Recital Contest recently. 

The event was held at SJK (Tamil) Mak Mandin, Butterworth. 

Present were MHS Butterworth Council chairman G. Shanmuganathan, MHS state chairman M. Perumal and event organising chairman D. Nalini Devi. 

 

Hymn recital: Subbaiyah (back row, second right) posing with the winners.

On the Thirmurai recital contest, he said he was happy to see a large turnout of 762 contestants.  

Praising parents for attending the event, he said their presence would motivate the children to perform better.  

Such involvement in spiritual events would help keep away the children from undesirable activities, he said. 

Earlier, Perumal in his speech thanked Subbaiyah for his allocation of RM10,000 to the Penang Malaysia Hindu Sangam.  

Comments Off on MHS Butterworth Thirumurai Recital Contest »

Posted in Indian

Tags:

Penang EXCO says get approval to build temples

August 22nd, 2007
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


source

By M. SIVANANTHA SHARMA north@thestar.com.my

HINDU temple committees building temples on private land should get approval from the local council and the landowner.  

Penang Health, Welfare and Ca-ring Society Committee chairman P.K. Subbaiyah said they had to adhere to the local by-laws and guidelines when building new temples.  

He said there were many cases of temples being built without prior approval from local authorities and they had to be torn down, he said.  

“This creates unhappiness among the Hindu community,” Subbaiyah said at the Malaysia Hindu Sangam’s Butterworth Council 21st Thirumurai (Hindu religious hymns) Recital Contest recently. 

He said there were cases where temples were demolished and new ones built without the knowledge of the landowners. 

Subbaiyah, who is also the state MIC liaison committee vice-chairman and Bagan Dalam assemblyman, said MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had instructed all Indian elected representatives nationwide to form a committee to look into the these matters.  

He added that these stubborn temple committees continued to disregard the advice and they come to seek MIC’s help when they were in trouble. 

“Some even went a step further by making illegal renovations and expansions without approval,” he said. 

Subbaiyah advised them to go through proper channels to avoid unnecessary problems. 

Comments Off on Penang EXCO says get approval to build temples »

Posted in Indian

Tags: