HOMENEW8

“SHANMATHAM- KAUMARAM”

Let us now turn our attention on the second religious stream – Kaumaram – whose primordial deity is Muruga or Subrahmanya – the Commander in chief of the Divine army.
Muruga is known by numerous names in ancient and medieval texts of the Indian culture. Most common among these are Karthikeya, Kumara and Skanda. Others include Aaiyyan, Cheyyon, Senthil, Vēlaṇ, Swaminatha (“ruler of the gods”), Saravaṇabhava (“born amongst the reeds”), Arumugam or Shaṇmukha (“six- faced”), Dandapani (“wielder of the mace”), Guha (cave, secret) or Guruguha (cave- teacher), Kadhirvelan, and Kandhan.
He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, brother of Ganesha, and a god whose life story has many versions in Hinduism. An important deity around South Asia since ancient times, Muruga is particularly popular and predominantly worshipped in South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.
Kartikeya is an ancient god, traceable to the Vedic era. Archaeological evidence from 1st-century CE and earlier, where he is found with Hindu God Agni (fire), suggest that he was a significant deity in early Hinduism. He is found in many medieval temples all over India, such as at the Ellora Caves and Elephanta Caves.

*From the Vedas*
The Atharva Veda describes Muruga as ‘Agnibhuh’ or son of Agni, the fire god. The Satapatha Brahmana refers to him as the son of Rudra and the ninth form of Agni. The Taittiriya Aranyaka contains the Gayatri mantra for Shanmukha:

*Om Thatpurushaya Vidhmahe Maha Senaya Dhimahi Thanno Shanmukha Prachodhayath*

The Chandogya Upanishad refers to Skanda as the way that leads to wisdom. The Baudhayana Dharmasutra mentions Skanda as ‘Mahasena’ and ‘Subrahmanya.’ The Aranya Parva canto of the Mahabharata relates the legend of Kartikeya Skanda in considerable detail. In the Bhagavad Gita (Ch.10, Verse 24), Krishna, while explaining his omnipresence, names the most perfect being, mortal or divine, in each of several categories. While doing so, he says: “Among generals, I am Skanda, the Lord of war.”

*The legend of Muruga*

According to mythology, the very purpose of birth of Muruga was to annihilate the two demons Tarakasura and his brother Surapadma. Muruga

was born out of the sparks that emanated from Lord Shiva’s third eye when he opened it to burn Manmatha who tried to disturb Shiva’s meditation. As the sparks were unbearable, the fire was transported by the river Ganges to a forest of reeds (saravanam), where the sparks became six children.

They were raised by the six Krittikas or Karthika, the stars that make up the Pleiades, earning the name Karthikeya. The six Krittikas are Śiva, Sambhūti, Prīti, Sannati, Anasūya and Kṣamā. Parvati combined the six babies into one with six faces, Shanmukha or Arumugan, Sathpurusham, Vamadevam, Agoram, Sathyojatham and Adhomugam. Since he was born in the Saravana forest, he is also called ‘Saravanabhava’.

As per legend, he was a brilliant captivating boy with an underlying streak of playfulness bordering on mischief, somewhat resembling Krishna’s character. Interestingly, both were brought up by surrogate mothers – in the present case six of them! The boy grew up into a handsome youth well versed in archery and warfare. He expectedly became the general of the demi gods – Devasenapathy – and prepared to fight the demons.
In Skanda Purana, it is stated that a terrible fight between Skanda and demon Tāraka at Māyāpuri, the capital of the latter near the Krauñcha Hill in the Hemakūta region of the Himalayas, resulted in the destruction of Tāraka and the shattering of Krauñcha,.Soon after, the divine architect Vishvakarmā constructed a grand city named Devagiri for the victorious Skanda.

After some time, Skanda wished to worship at the sacred shrines in India dedicated to God Shiva. In pursuance of this wish, he left Devagiri with his troupe by an aerial path, towards the South. He visited many temples and reached Māyūram. Skanda passed on to a place called Śentipura where too a grand edifice was constructed for him and where he established himself. This place has, later, become renowned as Tiruchendur being one of the most important centres of the Skanda cult in Tamilnadu.

A detailed study of textual references from the Vedas, Puranas and Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhavam and other literature brings out the gradual evolution of the Skanda persona into one of the popular and prominent members of the Hindu pantheon. In addition, research on the visual images, sculptures and archaeological evidences point to the initial development of the Skanda cult in North India and later losing ground to the growing popularity of the Ganesha phenomenon.
Simultaneously, in the southern parts of the country, Muruga was growing in importance as a God in his own right. This has led to the present scenario with Skanda worship almost being forgotten in the North (except perhaps by south Indians) and Murugan cult very strong in Tamil Nadu where he is regarded as “Tamil Kadavul”
*Six Abodes of Muruga*
Muruga (as he is known in Tamil Nadu) was born to kill the asura Soorapadma .As the senapathi of his army of demi-gods, he led them to victory against the asuras. The six sites at which he sojourned while leading his armies against Soorapadma collectively came to be known as “Arupadai Veedu” meaning the six battle camps of the Lord – Swamimalai, Pazhani, Pazhamudhircholai, Thiruchendur, Thiruparankundram and Thiruthani. Each of them has various legends associated with it, said to represent different stages in Muruga’s life.

*Murugan and His Consorts:*
Devayani and Valli are the two consorts of Muruga:
Devayani is the daughter of Indra, the King of the Devas and Valli, a beautiful tribal girl. According to another legend, Devayani and Valli are believed to be Lord Vishnu’s daughters. Lord Vishnu is regarded as Muruga’s maternal uncle and hence by his marriage Muruga acts as a link between the two sects – the Vaishnavites and the Saivites.