Thaipusam in Malaysia: A Hindu Festival in the Tamil Diaspora

"Carl Vadivella Belle's book, Thaipusam in Malaysia: A Hindu Festival in the Tamil Diaspora, has a slightly misleading title. This reviewer expected a highly focused and Malaysia-centric study of an immensely popular Hindu religious festival, with perhaps some theological explication situating the Malaysian manifestation of this ritual vis-a-vis comparisons with the Tamil heartlands in India an…