{"id":22461,"date":"2025-10-11T03:03:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/?p=22461"},"modified":"2025-10-11T03:03:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:03:04","slug":"new-chariot-makes-grand-debut-for-navarathiri-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/2025\/10\/11\/new-chariot-makes-grand-debut-for-navarathiri-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"New Chariot Makes Grand Debut for Navarathiri Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>PENANG, MALAYSIA, October 5, 2025 (MSN): Penang Arulmigu Sri Maha Mariamman Temple\u2019s new chariot for the Navarathiri festival is being unveiled today. The 23.6 foot-high chariot bearing Goddess Durga will begin its processional journey from the temple in Queen Street, circle Little India and return to the temple. Designed specifically for this nine-day festival, it replaces the temple\u2019s 20-year-old wooden chariot which debuted in 2004. Temple committee chairman R. Arasu Pillai said chariot production began in April last year and was completed last month. \u201cThe old chariot was in very poor condition after decades of use. \u201cRepairing it repeatedly was costly, so we decided to commission a new one that could withstand the test of time,\u201d he said. It was made by temple chariot craftsmen in Karaikudi, India, and then shipped to Penang.<br><br>\u201cWhat you will see during Navarathiri is the result of meticulous craftsmanship and devotion,\u201d said Arasu. \u201cNearly 90% of the chariot is made of teak wood while the embellishments and fittings are made of other types of wood. \u201cAt 23.6 feet, it is taller than both our silver and golden chariots. \u201cThe silver chariot stands at about 20 feet while the golden chariot is 18 feet high. \u201cThe proportions were carefully considered to ensure it is both durable and elegant,\u201d he added. Based on available information, Arasu believes it is the tallest wooden processional chariot in Malaysia. Tonight, it is set to become the focus of devotees and visitors to Little India. The procession will start at 7.30pm from the temple in Queen Street.<br><br>More at source.<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-my\/news\/national\/new-chariot-makes-grand-debut-for-navarathiri-festival\/ar-AA1NHAkI\n\">https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-my\/news\/national\/new-chariot-makes-grand-debut-for-navarathiri-festival\/ar-AA1NHAkI<br><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PENANG, MALAYSIA, October 5, 2025 (MSN): Penang Arulmigu Sri Maha Mariamman Temple\u2019s new chariot for the Navarathiri festival is being,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22477,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22461\/revisions\/22477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}