

In Delhi, Murugan temple is called malai mandir, which draws lot of devotees. In Andhra, the Murugan temples are at Pampanuru, Skandagiri, Biccavolu, Mopidevi and mallam etc., Kukke Subramanya temple in Karnataka has huge visitors. Besides these six exclusive temples, there are several temples in South India which can come under this category like Marudamalai, Mayilam, Kumarakottam in Kanchipuram, Thirupporur, Vadapalani, Viralimalai, Kangeyanallur, etc., Likewise Kerala has Murugan temples at Atiyambur in Kanhangad, Payyanur, Panmana, Haripad and Kilimarathukavu, to name a few. For eg., in Swamimalai, Murugan becomes the Guru for his father Siva. for worshipping Murugan has a unique history and different reason to worship Lord Murugan. Thirumurugatrupadai, written by Nakkeerar and in Thirupugal, written by Arunagirinathar mentions about six abodes of Murugan – [ Arupadai Veedugal, Tiruttani, Swamimalai, Palani, pazhamudircholai, Tirupparankunram and Tiruchendur }all in Tamil Nadu. He is considered the God of Tamil language and is mentioned a lot in Tamil Sangam literature. He is also considered as the patron of the Tamil language and a major deity among the Hindus of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and wherever they migrate. Kalidasa made the birth of Kumara the subject of a lyrical epic, the Kumarasambhava. Kartikeya youth, beauty and bravery was much celebrated in Sanskrit works like the Kathasaritsagara. Many of the major events in Murugans life take place during his youth, and legends surrounding his birth are popular in Tamil Nadu. Tamil legends he has two consorts, Valli and Devasena.

Religious texts containing over 81,000 verses. Of these, the Skanda Purana is the largest Mahāpurāṇa, a genre of eighteen Hindu His victory over evil, and the temples dedicated to him in the hilly regions. Tirumurukāṟtruuppaṭai, refers him as Murugu with six faces each with a function, twelve arms, Kartikeya ends the argument by growing five more heads to have a total of six heads so he can look at all six mothers, and let them each nurse one.The Tolkāppiyam, one of the most ancient texts of the Tamil literature, mentions a lot of Murugan and his mother Kotravai. These six mothers all want to take care of him and nurse baby Kartikeya. After he appears on the banks of the pond Gowrikund, he is seen by the six of the seven brightest stars cluster in the night sky called Krittikas in Hindu texts (called Pleiades in Greek texts). This epithet is also linked to his birth. Agni received the seed and dropped it into a pond near Mount Kailash, where Skanda was born. After many years of abstinence, Shiva’s seed was so strong that the gods, fearing the result, sent agni, the god of fire, to interrupt Shiva’s amorous play. Shiva, however, was lost in meditation and was not attracted to Parvati until he was struck by an arrow from the bow of Manmatha, the god of love, whom he immediately burned to ashes. They sent Parvati to induce Shiva to marry her. In Kalidasa’s epic poem Kumarasambhava (“The Birth of the War God” 5th century CE), as in most versions of the story, the gods wished for Skanda to be born in order to destroy the demon Taraka, who had been granted a boon that he could be killed only by a son of Shiva. Skanda is derived from skanḍr-, which means 'leaper or attacker'. Others include Aiyan, Cheyyon, Senthil Vēlaṇ, Swaminathan, Arumugam or ṣhaṇmukha, Dandapani ('wielder of the mace', from -pani hand), Guha (cave, secret) or Guruguha (cave-teacher), Kadhirvelan, Kandhan, Vishakha and Mahasena.

Most common among these are Murugan, Kumara, Skanda, and Subrahmanya. Kartikeya is known by numerous names in ancient and medieval texts of the Indian culture. Three of the six richest and busiest temples in Tamil Nadu are dedicated to him. Kartikeya is found as a primary deity in temples wherever communities of the Tamil people live worldwide, particularly in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Réunion. Kartikeya is an ancient god, traceable to the Vedic era for which there is lot of Archaeological evidence from 1st-century CE and earlier. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, brother of Ganesha, and a god whose life story has many versions in Hinduism.Īn important deity around South Asia since ancient times, Kartikeya is particularly popular and predominantly worshipped in South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia as Murugan.

Lord Kartikeya, also known as Murugan, Skanda, Kumara, and Subrahmanya, is the Hindu god of war.
