Greatness of Lord Muruga | Greatness of Lord Subramanya / Karthikeya - Tamil Kadavul Murugan

About Lord Murugan / Karthikeya:

Lord Murugan,the younger son of Lord Shiva and Mother Parvathi and the brother of Lord Ganesh is the Hindu god well known for his youth,beauty,courage and knowledge. He is known as a Hindu 'God of War'. This name was given to him because, he was the commander in chief of army of Devas. He is also known as 'Tamil Kadavul'. He has large number of devotees from South India especially Tamils. He is worshiped not only in India, especially South India but also worshiped in parts of the world. Countries like Srilanka,Singapore,Malaysia,Mauritius and Reunion islands.
In Tamilnadu, Lord Murugan has six abodes called 'Arupadaiveedu' each having interesting stories behind them. Lord Murugan has several names which are Senthilvelan, Kumaran, Karthikeyan, Swaminathan, Saravanan, Arumugan, Shanmuganathan, Dhandapani, Guhan, Subramaniyan, Malmarugan, Kandhan etc.,

Vedas about Lord Murugan:

The Atharva veda describes Lord Murugan as 'Agnibuh' as he is a form of 'Agni' (Fire god) and the Agni holded Kumaran in his hand when he was born. The most ancient Tamil literature called 'Tholkappiyam' mention Lord Murugan as Seyon. Extant sangam works, glorified Lord Murugan as the red god seated on the blue peacock who is ever young and resplendent and the favourite god of the Tamils. Lord Murugan is also known as the god hill region (Kurinji - Malaiyum Malai Sarndha Idamum in Tamil). Several sangam works that portray Lord Murugan includes Paripaadal, Agananuru and Purananuru. In many Shiva temples and Devi temples of Tamilnadu, Lord Murugan is installed on the left side of the main deity. In Tamilnadu, Lord Murugan continued to be popular with all classes of society right since the sangam age. the Kacchiyappa Sivachariyar of Kumara Kottam was a scholar in Tamil literature have written 'Skanda Purana' which covers the greatness of Lord Murugan.

Born History:

Once Devas were slaved by Soorapadman(Demon) who had been granted boons that only Lord Shiva could kill him.The Continuous problems given by the demons made Devas to seek help from Lord Shiva for help. Lord Shiva decide to take action against Soorapadman's increasing conceit. So Lord Shiva frowned and his third eye - Eye of knowledge started releasing sparks. These sparks were six sparks in total. Agni had the reponsibility to take them to Saravana Lake. As he was carrying them, sparks were growing hotter and hotter even Lord of Fire could not withstand the heat. Lord Murugan

was born on a Lotus in Saravana lake with six faces, giving name 'Arumugan'. Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati visited and tears of joy started flowing as they witnessed most handsome child. The responsibility of taking care of the child was given to six Krithika sisters. Lord Murugan grew up to be a most handsome,intelligent,powerful,cleveryouth. Lord Murugan escorted Devas and led the army of devas to victory against demons. Many of the major events in Lord Murugan's life took place during his youth and legends surrounding his birth are popular. This encouraged the worship of Lord Murugan as child god. He was married to two wives named Valli and Deivanai.

Symbols:

Lord Muruga symbols are based on weapons.The Vel, divine spear which he carries was given by his mother for power declining the evils. When Soorapadman was split into two halves in the war,each half was granted by Lord Murugan into Peacock, his mount and the Rooster, his flag. The divine spear symbolizes his purification of human ills. The peacock mount symbolizes his destruction of ego. Six heads represents six siddhis bestowed upon yogis over the course of their spiritual development.

Special Occasions:

Lord Murugan's special day is Tuesday. Six day period of fast and prayer in Tamil month of Aippasi known as Skanda Shashti is celebrated in all the temples of Murugan. Thaipusam in the month of January - Februray is grandly celebrated in the temples by Tamils where the Vel was given by his Mother to vanquish the demons. Karthigai signifies his birth. Tuesday is the day for Murugan connoting Mangala, the God of Planet Mars and War.

Worshiping in other parts:

Lord Murugan is also worshiped in some parts of North India like Haryana,Bengal and Odisha as Karthikeya.Famous temple complex in Delhi called Malai Mandir has the shrine for Lord Karthikeya. Not only in India, also in Srilanka, he is adored by both Tamil Hindus and Sinhalese Buddhists. Numerous temples exists in this island. The Kathirkamam temple of Murugan is famous in Srilanka. Besides Tamil Hindus, Buddhists also worship here. Almost all the Buddhist temples house a shrine room for Kataragama deviyo (Murugan) reflecting the significance of Lord Murugan in Sinhala Buddhism. Lord Murugan is one of the important deity worshiped by the Tamil Hindus of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Thaipoosam celebrated in Batu caves Subramaniya Temple of Malaysia is awesome and grand which drew a large number of crowd all over the world. The 140ft high statue of Lord Murugan in the entrance of Batu caves is the tallest statue in the world.

Famous temples of Lord Murugan:

The famous temples of Lord Murugan in Tamilnadu are Arupadaiveedu (Six Abodes). This includes Thiruchendur, Swamimalai, Pazhamudhircholai, Thiruparangundram, Pazhani and Thiruthani. The other important shrines are Mayilam, Sikkal, Marudhamalai, Kundrathur, Vadapalani, Kandhakottam, Thiruporur, Vallakottai, Vayalur, Thirumalaikovil, Pachaimalai, Pavalamalai. In North India, Malai Mandir in Delhi, Pehowa in Haryana are popular. Subramanya temple in Haripad, Payyannur Subramanya temple in Kerala and Kukke Subramanya temple at Karnataka are popular temples. The famous temples of abroad includes Highgate hill Murugan temple in UK which is one of the oldest and most famous Hindu temple. In Australia, Sydney Murugan temple, Mandogalup Bala Murugan, Kundrathu Kumara temple in Rockbank, Melbourne are the famous temples of Lord Murugan. Sri Siva Subramaniyar temple in Sihl Valley in Adhiswil is the famous and largest Hindu temple in Switzerland. In Toronto, Kandasamy temple is well known among many Hindus in Canada. Thus, Lord Murugan's greatness and power is spread all over the world.