Lord Murugan is the Hindu god of war. He
is the Commander-in-Chief of the army of all devas. Lord Murugan is primary
deity of Kaumaram sect of Hinduism.
Murugan has several other names. He is
called by different names in different regions. He referred as
Karthikeya,Skanda and Subramaniyam swamy. He is worshiped primarily in Tamil
Nadu. He also worshiped in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia and
Singapore. His six most important shrines in India are the Six Abodes of
Murugan also known Arupadaiveedu.
Lord Murugan History
References to Murugan can be traced back
to the first millennium BCE. There are references to Murugan in Kautilya’s
Arthashastra, in the works of Patanjali, in Kalidasa’s epic poem the
Kumarasambhava.
The Kushan Empire struck coins bearing
the image of Skanda. The deity was venerated also by the Ikshvakus, an Andhra
dynasty, and the Gupta Empire. The worship of Kumara was one of the 6 principal
sects of Hinduism at the time of Adi Shankara. The Shanmata system propagated
by him included this sect. In many Shiva and Devi temples of Tamil Nadu,
Murugan is installed on the left of the main deity.
Story Of Lord Murugan
Lord Shiva accredited with the term
Universal Guru in the form of Dakshinamurthy (the South-facing deity) is widely
recognized in Vedic traditions. None of us can deny the fact that Shiva is the
most superior to all the Gurus.
Ironically, Muruga, the son of Shiva, is
one-up not only in terms of the number of heads (Muruga has six heads, while
Shiva is normally depicted with five heads), but is also renowned as Swaminatha
Swami (Guru of the Universal Guru Shiva).
The legend goes that once, owing to a
curse, Shiva forgot the knowledge of the Supreme Primordial Sound ‘Om’. He
requested his son Muruga to teach him the secrets of Om.
The child Muruga immediately asked over
Shiva to accept him as his Guru. Shiva readily accepted. He placed Muruga on
his lap and joyously received the wisdom of Om in his ears. This happened in
Swami Malai (Hill of the Lord) — Muruga’s powerful shrine in Kumbakonam, South
India.
The six faces of Lord Muruga symbolize
the manifestation of the supreme self in the execution of its five principal
functions including creation, preservation, destruction, involution or veiling
and anugraham (grace). The 6th face symbolizes Pranava Om (the primal source of
wisdom or communion in silence).
According to some, the 6 syllables
express six different attributes including purity, bounty, light,
auspiciousness, splendor and infinite power. Lord Murugan is married to Valli
and Deivayani and carries a vel, each representing the force of desire, action
and wisdom respectively. He possesses all the 6 divine attributes including
wisdom, dispassion, strength, fame, wealth and divine powers.
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