KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — A sea of color lit up Malaysia’s landmark Batu Caves outside the capital Sunday, as hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees gathered to celebrate Thaipusam, one of the religion’s most revered festivals.

Thaipusam is marked with particular zest in multicultural Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation where ethnic Indians make up about seven percent of the 34 million population.

Many pilgrims pierced their bodies with ornate hooks and skewers, while others presented milk offerings to commemorate the day, according to Hindu mythology, when the goddess Parvathi gave her son Lord Murugan a powerful lance to fight evil demons.

The festival is also celebrated in India, Singapore and other areas with large Hindu Tamil communities.

Celebrations centered, as they have for more than a century, on the Batu Caves complex.

The site, home to a towering 43-meter (141-foot) Murugan statue — one of the world’s largest — is expected to draw 2.5 million visitors over the course of the celebrations, according to local news reports.

The 272 colorful steps leading to the temple, where rites are performed, drew crowds of visitors alongside worshippers.

Devotees bearing offerings such as milk pots or carrying elaborate and heavy metal frames called “kavadis” walked barefoot up 272 steps to reach the temple.

Kavadis can weigh as much as 100 kilograms and are typically affixed to a person’s body using sharp metal spikes dug into their flesh.

Those bearing the structures often gyrate to the beat provided by percussionists alongside religious chants and devotional folk songs.

“Today I came at 3 a.m. to the temple. I have been coming for Thaipusam for the past 30 years,” S. Jeyasangar, 39, from Klang, Selangor, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Shema Nanthini, 26, from nearby Petaling Jaya, Selangor, said the festival holds deep personal meaning.

“Thaipusam is important to me because I have gone through so much, and I’m successful today because of Lord Muruga,” she told AFP.  

“Every day I pray for a better future, so today I came to thank Lord Muruga,” Shema said.