KUALA LUMPUR: The silver chariot carrying Lord Muruga and his consorts Valli and Theivana with thousands of Hindu devotees leaves the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Jalan HS Lee tonight.
The 7.3 metre chariot will make its way to the Sri Subramaniar Swamy Temple in Batu Caves, and is expected to reach at 2.30pm (Saturday).
Along the way, the chariot will stop at several points to receive and offer prayers to devotees.
The routes affected by the Silver Chariot procession will be Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, Jalan Sultan, Jalan Pudu, Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Leboh Ampang, Jalan Ampang, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Jalan Dang Wangi, Sogo Shopping Complex, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Sri Amar, Jalan Tun Razak (u-turn in front of the Fire and Rescue Department), Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Jalan Kovil Hilir, Lorong Kovil Hulu, Jalan Perhentian, Batu 5 and Batu Caves.
The chariot will make its return journey to Sri Maha Mariamman Temple on Jan 25 (Monday), at midnight.
Thaipusam which takes place on Sunday is to commemorate the event where Lord Murugan received the sacred spear from his mother Goddess Parvati, to eliminate the evil demon, Soorapadman, and restore prosperity and human well-being.
In conjunction with the festival tomorrow, Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd is providing special service to enable commuters to visit Batu Caves.
A total of 17 buses will be provided from Batu Caves to the Central Market and three buses from Shell Batu Caves to LRT Gombak with intervals of 15 and 25 minutes starting from 5.30 am until 12 midnight.
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad will also began providing round the clock KTM Komuter services for four days from yesterday.
A total of 953 additional services would be provided on the Batu Caves-Seremban and Rawang-Port Klang routes.
KTM Komuter services would be provided after the operation hours of the existing services, that is from midnight to 5.30am at 60-minute intervals on Friday and today.
The frequency would be increased to every 20 minutes on Sunday and Monday.
Meanwhile, Astro Ulagam will carry this year’s Thaipusam celebration to audiences worldwide with a 50-hour non-stop live broadcast on its Astro Ulagam website and Facebook page.
The coverage of the festivalw will not only in Malaysia (Batu Caves-Kuala Lumpur, Thanneermalai-Penang and Kallumalai-Ipoh), but also in Sri Lanka (Nallur, Innuvil and Kathirkamam) and India (Palani).
The broadcast coverage will be carried by the channel until Sunday.