Name : Murugan

Birth Place : Saravana pond

Date of birth Vaishaka month, Vishaga star

Father : Lord Shiva

Mother : Goddess Parvati

Brothers : Lord Ganapati and Lord Ayyappan

Wives : Valli, Devayani

Weapon : Shakti vel (spear)

Vehicle : Peacock

Flag : Cock

Aim of Incarnation : Destroying evil and saving Devotees

Place he resides : Devotees heart

'Murugu' means 'beauty'; hence 'Murugan' means 'Beautiful one'. Where there is beauty, love shines; where there is love, truth sparkles. When we seek the Truth, we get liberated.

It is said that Lord Muruga taught the Indian language Tamil to Saint Agasthiar. Lord Muruga Himself sat as the leader for the academy of poets (Tamil Sangam) in Madurai (Tamil Nadu) and the language flourished as a result. Accordingly, He is called the God of Tamil.

It is written in Kanda Puranam that Saint Vasistha has said that if one worships Lord Muruga on Friday and fasts on that day, all his wishes will get fulfilled. Lord Muruga was brought up by Karthigai maids. By worshipping Him on the Karthigai star day and observing a fast, one's problems will be removed and one will be liberated. This was a wish granted by Lord Shiva Himself to the Karthigai maids.

History of Lord Muruga's birth :

The birth (rather, appearance) of Muruga is narrated in the famous Sanskrit classic 'Kumara Sambhavam' of poet Kalidasa. The story of Daksha Yagam is very famous. Shiva's first wife Sati ended her life and was later re-born as Uma (Parvati) as Himavan (King of Himalayas)'s daughter.

Shiva plunges into meditation

Sati's death proved a trying experience to Shiva and He soon merged in deep meditation, totally oblivious of the external world around Him. Nobody in the three worlds dared to disturb His concentration.

Demons conquer the world

It was a common occurrence those days, as it is today: divine powers represented by gods (Devas) and evil forces represented by demons (Asuras) alternately gained control over the universe. Now it was the turn of the demons. It is a strange fact that even the demons got their powers through meditation. The horrible demons Tarakasura and his brother Surapadman thus wanted to conquer the whole universe. For this, they engaged themselves in intense austerities. Shiva, who was pleased with their devotion, granted their wish. After obtaining powerful boons from Shiva, the asura brothers and their innumerable companions devastated the Earth and tortured gods and good men. They soon imprisoned devas.

Devas strike on a scheme

Devas knew that it was Shiva's boons that made the demons almost invincible. Hence they deduced that only Shiva could find a way to free the world from their clutches. A heroic son to be born of Shiva alone could do bridle the wicked asuras. But how could that ever happen when Shiva was lost in meditation for ages? How long the devas and other holy beings should suffer? The gods thought hard and found the answer to their question: Shiva's meditation has to be disturbed, whatever may be its other consequences. Soon they devised a way to achieve this: It was really risky, but was worth a try. After all, anything was better than the destruction of all creation as a consequence of the chaos.

Kama Deva comes to the rescue

They knew Kama Deva could do the trick. His arrow consisting of five flowers would disturb any meditation. It was no ordinary arrow, but an arrow of love that would pierce any hard heart and create a feeling of love. When devas proposed the plan, Kama Deva shuddered at the thought:: what an idea! To distract the Great God's meditation and be a target of His wrath! He knew he was heading for a great disaster. The devas also knew the seriousness of the matter. Devas persisted upon the Cupid and on second thought, Kamadeva agreed to the proposal.

The critical moment

A drama was carefully enacted in the presence of Shiva. Kama Deva's wife Rati Devi came to help her husband. The moment was selected when Parvati came to Shiva's presence. All the god of Love had to do was to shoot his magical arrows: straight into Shiva's heart. The arrow did its job. But something horrible also happened: Shiva opened His Third eye to see what had disturbed His meditation: Fire itself came from the Third Eye and poor Kamadeva instantly turned into ashes. Rati, Kama Deva's wife, saw the shocking tragedy. Weeping bitterly, the goddess of love prayed to Shiva and asked His forgiveness for her husband's outrageous behaviour and begged for his life. Shiva granted her wish. To the great joy of Rati and the devas who were watching the drama with rapturous attention, Kama Deva was brought back to life: There was a slight problem though: He would be invisible to all except to his wife. This is the reason why even today Kama Deva is invisible to us, though anybody would vouch for his unseen presence!

Love blossoms

Kama Deva, who risked his own life for others did his job remarkably well. Soon the spring of love came back to Shiva's heart. Parvati, who was the person whom he chanced to see when he opened his eye, soon became the object of his love.

The six fiery sparks

Meanwhile, Shiva's Third eye, when it opened from the depths of meditation gave out six fiery sparks. It was too hot for even for Agni, the god of Fire. The sparks, when they reached the Sharavana lake at the Himalayas took the form of six cute babies. The local Kartika maidens were awestruck to see six beautiful baby boys on six huge lotuses in the lake. They lovingly brought up the babies. (Brought up by Kartika maidens, the boy Subrahmanya is also called Kartikeya). When the babies were a little older, the maidens brought them to Parvati. She immediately recognized them to be her own children. By sheer magic of maternal love, Parvati joined together all the babies and the result was: a cute six-faced baby! That was Kartikeya. Being six faced, he was called Shanmukha. Parvati named him Subrahmanya. Shiva and Parvati loved their offspring very much. He played with his elder brother, the elephant-faced Ganesh and grew up in Kailas as a darling of all! Devas silently bowed to him and knew the boy would one day release them from the atrocities of demons. It proved to be true in due course.

Later Ganga (the Name of the Ganges River deity) took them to Sarvana pond. The six fire sparks became six beautiful babies on six red lotus flowers. When Goddess Parvati hugged them together, they joined to become one form with six faces, twelve hands and was named Skandan (another name for Lord Muruga). Six ladies called Karthigai maids took care of Him. Hence, He was also called Karthigeyan. His other names include Kumaran, Mayilvaganan, Kaangeyan, Velayuthan, Gugan, Swaminathan, Subramanian, Saravanabavan, Vishagan, Devasenapathy, Vallimanallan, Soorasankaran, etc.

He performed several divine acts (leelas) when He was young. When Soorapadman's cruelty went to an extreme, Lord Shiva thought it was time for his destruction. He gave the eleven Rudras eleven weapons, and Parvathi gave the Vel weapon to Lord Muruga for the war. The Vel, or sacred spear, is the most powerful weapon in Lord Muruga's armory.

Lord Muruga stayed in Thiruchendur with His army. He fought for ten days and destroyed Soorapadman and his brothers. Soorapadman had such a big ego that he did not want to surrender to the Lord. He took the form of a big mango tree. Lord Muruga's spear split the tree and one part became a peacock and the other became a cock. Lord Muruga took the peacock as His vehicle and the cock as His flag. Soorpadman was so cruel and had such a big ego, yet he still reached such a good state -- to always be beside the Lord. Imagine what kind of state Lord Muruga's devotees would get!

Description of Six Faces :

Murugan is popularly depicted as having six faces and twelve arms. The poets like to address Him as "Arumugan" - Lord of Six Faces.

The sacred functions of Murugan as having six faces are described as thus :

* One face sheds rays of Light and removes the dense darkness shrouding the world

Other Descriptions of Murugan :

"the Child of Kottravi" - the Goddess of Victory (Durga)

Other Names of Murugan :