The temple’s volunteer electrician, P Ravichandran, said using LED lights could also help to reduce the amount of heat emitted.
“Previously, we used normal bulbs which emitted more than 90% of energy,” he said, adding that it took him three weeks to decorate the chariots with the LED lights.
The chariot procession will begin on Saturday at 10pm and is expected to reach the Batu Caves Sri Subramaniar Swamy temple at about 3pm on Sunday.
Sri Maha Mariamman temple trustee, K Kathirasan, said a diamond-shaped decorative light had also been fixed inside the 7.3-metre high chariot, which would create a unique lighting effect.
He said the first silver chariot procession had been on Jan 21, 1983. That procession had also gone from the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Jalan Tun HS Lee to Batu Caves.
“Before the silver chariot was introduced, the chariot was made of teak wood or ‘thekku maram’. We had a few thousand devotees joining the procession, but now we have many more following the chariot on foot for almost 16 hours,” he added.
On preparations for Thaipusam, Kathirasan said the temple needed to perform special prayers to get blessings from God before the chariot would be cleaned, polished and decorated.
“It takes about a month to complete the cleaning, polishing and decorating, and this will be followed by another prayer before the chariot leaves for Batu Caves this Saturday,” he said.
When the chariot reaches the Batu Caves temple on Sunday, he said, a flag with a picture of a rooster or ‘seval kodi’ will be hoisted by Batu Caves Sri Subramaniar Swamy temple chairman R Nadarajah. This will mark the beginning of the Thaipusam celebrations at the temple on Monday.
Thaipusam is observed by Hindus in the month of “Thai” in the Tamil calendar to commemorate the act of Goddess Parvathi presenting the “vel” (lance) to her son, Lord Muruga, as an embodiment of her “shakti” or power to vanquish the evil Soorapadman and restore peace and well-being.
During Thaipusam, Hindus fulfil their vows by carrying decorated kavadis and pots of milk as offerings to Lord Muruga.