Lord Muruga is considered essentially as the Tamil God (Tamizh Kadavul Tamil Sangam Literature (early centuries CE) mentions Murugu as a nature spirit worshipped with animal sacrifices and associated with a non-Brahmanical priest known as a Velan , a name later used to refer to the deity himself. The worship of Murugu often occurred in the woods or in an open field, with no particular associated structure. The rituals practiced included the Veriyaattu, a form of ritual-trance-dancing, which is still a common part of Murugan worship in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Malaysia. Murugu was believed to hold power over the chaotic and could be appeased by sacrifices and Veriyaattu to bring order and prosperity. Tolkappiyam, possibly the most ancient of the extant Sangam works, glorified Murugan, " the red god seated on the blue peacock, who is ever young and resplendent," as " the favoured god of the Tamils." The Sangam poetry divided space and Tamil land into five allegorical areas (tinai) and according to the Tirumurugarruppatai ( circa 400-450 CE) attributed to the great Sangam poet Nakkiirar, Murugan was the presiding diety the Kurinci region (hilly area). (Tirumurugaruppatai is a deeply devotional poem included in the ten idylls (Pattupattu) of the age of the third Sangam). The other Sangam era works in Tamil that refer to Murugan in detail include the Paripaatal, the Akananuru and the Purananuru The work of Thirumurukattruppadai devoted entirely to the extolling of Murugan, is attributed to Nakkirar, a celebrated bard of the early period and the poems in the Paripadal which are exclusively in praise of Chevvel (The Red One) are the earliest and best works available which enable us to study the worship of Muruga. Murugan is hailed as "Thamizh kadavul" - the Lord of Tamils by poets and Tamil cultural exponents who take pride in the uniqueness of Tamil culture. Murugan is a popular deity widely worshiped in Tamil Nadu and also in Kerala, Karnataka and Srilanka. Worship of Karthigeya or Subramanya (other names of Muruga) are at the best sporadic in other parts and linguistic segments of India. Worship of Subramanya (or Shiva Kumar, the son of Lord Shiva) was in fact one of the formal religious sects recognized and sanctified by Shri Shankaracharya and this sect was known as Koumaram. As Shri Sankaracharya hails from Kerala, it is quite obvious that he was quite familiar with the tradition of worship of Muruga, existing all along in the Hindu culture of the south). . Muruku in Tamil denotes divineness, handsomeness, youthfulness, happiness, fragrance and sweetness. The Lord is the very manifestation of handsomeness, robust youthfulness, masculinity, fragrance and unmatched valour and the abode of happiness. Murugan is seen as a bachelor. Most of the major events in Murugan's life take place during his youth, and legends surrounding his birth are popular. Consequently, Murugan is often worshiped as a child-God, very similar to the worship of the Krishna in north India. Other Hindu myths have him married to two wives, Valli and Devayani. The worship of Murugan as a youth (Kumara) was one of the six principal sects of Hinduism at the time of Adi Shankara. The Shanmata system propagated by Shankara included this sect thereby illustrating its historical importance. Muruga contains in Himself the three divine eternal functions -- creation (sristi), protection (sthithi) and destruction (samhara) as evidenced by the three first letters in His name: MU -- Mukundan (Vishnu), RU -- Rudra (Siva) and KA -- Kamalan (Brahma)

• published: 30 Nov 2014
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