Thaipusam Possession @ Little India

The area around my school was exceptionally crowded today, as it coincides with the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. This is a very important religious festival for the Tamils, characterized by the carrying of Kavadi by the worshippers and parading on the road. On this day, faithful Hindu devotees who had previously prayed to Lord Murugan to avert some calamities and granted will make offerings to the Lord by carrying the Kavadi, a heavy burden with many spokes, and is to be carried on the shoulders of the devotees by piercing the spokes into the skin on the chest and back.



This is my first time observing a Thaipusam possession, not deliberately, but while waiting for my bus back home. It was an eye-opener for me; the devotees on Kavadi were accompanied by an entourage of people, probably members of their family, relatives or circle of friends, cheering and singing along to ferocious percussion beats. Being already in a trance-like state, these devotees were unable to feel the pain or bleed from the piercing. The Hindus attribute to this phenomenon to the power of their Lord, but I believe too that without the determination and perseverance of the devotees themselves, it would be very difficult to finish the whole route with that massive weight on their bodies. This to me is a rather moving scene.