MuruganвЂ™s anthropomorphism was now complete Tamils had thoroughly humanised him. The hills, or the kurinchi tracts, belonged to Murugan, also known as Guhan, the cave-dweller-a skilled hunter who falls in love with and marries a tribal girl, Valli. Over time, as the Tamil country came to be tenanted by lakhs of gods, only the most popular among them retained lordship of the landscapes. His symbols-the cock that is his insignia, the peacock he sits atop, and the spear or the vel that is his weapon-are ancient totems that have been found at megalithic sites, including Adichanallur in southern Tamil Nadu. He is Seyyon, or Sevvel, the Red One, hailed in Sangam age poetry as a god of beauty, youth and valour. Originating in the penumbra of prehistory, when people believed in the mysticism of the world around them, Murugan, or Murugu, is a spirit with both positive and negative valences that can possess humans, make them break into frenzied dance, cure illnesses and predict the future. How far this campaign to unite the Hindu factions against the Muslim invaders was successful is debatable,вЂ™ says A Subramanian, a veteran folklorist.Дespite attempts to plug Murugan into the mainstream Brahminical pantheon, his cult in Tamil Nadu draws its life from the soil, like a natural growth. вЂPost-13th century, Murugan gained prominence as the middle ground between Tamil Saivas and Vaishnavas, who had been at loggerheads. While Kartikeya did not make a big splash up north, Murugan remains an unbounded and immortal presence across Tamil Nadu, capable of inspiring a filial devotion in non-believers and Tamils of other faiths.ДЄ primordial folk deity of the hills worshipped even before the Sangam age (BCE 600-300), MuruganвЂ™s renown was such that Saiva texts written after 600 CE, such as the Thevaram, began to identify him as SivaвЂ™s son, and Vaishnava texts accorded him pride of place as VishnuвЂ™s nephew. If Katchiappa SivachariarвЂ™s 12th century Tamil recension of the Skanda Purana never gained popular acceptance-except in Sri Lanka-it is because Tamil NaduвЂ™s relationship with Skanda, or Murugan, predates it.

A century and a quarter ago, Hara Prasad Shastri and Cecil Bendall discovered a palm-leaf manuscript of the Skanda Purana in a Kathmandu library and dated it to 800 CE, making it one of the oldest manuscripts found in Nepal. When that is the position, this Court is unable to understand as to how the scripture written in another language was brought from Nepal and later, it was translated in Tamil,вЂ™ the court order read. вЂLord Muruga is considered to be the Tamil God and his six abodes are located at Tamil Nadu and except in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, other parts of India are not having any temple for Lord Muruga.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court acceded to the petition on November 19th, clarifying that the Tiruchendur Murugan temple authorities intended to conduct the ceremony on the shore as per tradition, albeit without the usual throng of devotees, but it did take umbrage at the submission that вЂthe ancient scripture Skandapurana was brought from Nepal and it was translated in Tamil by Katchiappa SivachariarвЂ™. A HEAD OF THE annual Kanda Shashti festival in Tamil Nadu in November, a petitioner asking for the ceremony of Soorasamharam-a mythic tradition recreated at the Murugan temple in Tiruchendur, Thoothukudi district, where he is believed to have vanquished the demon Soorapadman-to be held on the seashore in the presence of media crews, made an error of judgement.

Murugan god