Malaysian Indians were to commence celebrations at midnight tonight marking the start of the major three-day Hindu festival of Thaipusam.

Thousands of devotees were expected to escort the ceremonial Lord Muruga chariot from the Sri Maha Mariamman temple through the streets of Kuala Lumpur to the Batu Caves temple on the outskirts of the capital.

Some 7.6 percent of mainly Muslim Malaysia's 26 million people are Indians.

The procession is the official start of the Thaipusam festival, which commemorates the day when Goddess Pavarthi gave her son Lord Muruga an invincible lance with which he destroyed evil demons.

The five-ton silver chariot bears the image of Lord Muruga and will be pulled by three bulls as devotees smash coconuts on the ground around it.

Giving thanks

The chariot will return to the temple Sunday, a day after Hindu devotees skewer themselves with sharp objects as a means of giving thanks for fulfillment of their vows.

Thaipusam is celebrated by some two million ethnic Indians in several places in Malaysia but the centrepiece is at Batu Caves, a limestone cavern which attracts up to 1.5 million devotees and tourists.

Worshippers pierced with hooks and skewers in their tongues, cheeks, chests and backs shoulder heavy structures called kavadis as they walk barefoot up the temple's 272 steps in a form of penance.