MahaShivaratri Celebration in Taiping, Malaysia
Om Namah Shivay "Śhiva is a god of ambiguity and paradox," Whose attributes include opposing themes. The ambivalent nature of this deity is apparent in some of his names and the stories told about him and also the various forms and shapes in which he is represented and worshipped. To see these various attributes, I travelled to Taiping on 20 th February 2012, to celebrate MahaShivratri in Sri Navaneetha Krishna Temple, which was built by the Federated Malay states Railway employees in 1883. It is one of the oldest and biggest temples in the district of Larut Matang and Selama. It’s unique architecture is unlike the temple structures in other parts in Malaysia or even in India. The temple structure is a Ceyloni structure from SriLanka, built by the workers recruited from SriLanka to built the first railway line from Taiping to Port Welda (Kuala Sepatang). Apart from anthropomorphic images of Shiva, the worship of Shiva is done in the form of a lingam , or lin...