Thus Spake the Divine - Kumaran

Thus Spake the Divine

Kumaran

In this chapter and till chapter 11, Poojyasri Maha Periyava highlights the eminence of Subrahmanya Swami, who is the Lovable Child of Parvati and Parameshvara.

Arunagirinathar is a great Tamil saint-poet, who lived during the 15 th Century in Tamil Nadu, India. He is an ardent devotee of Lord Muruga. He is also the composer of Tirupugazh, which contains thousands of verses in praise of Lord Muruga. In his Kandar Anubhoothi, he highlights the experience of Advaita conferred by Lord Subrahmanya Swami on him. All his Tirupugazh verses end with the word “Perumal-E”. Perumal denotes Vishnu. (If it is Shiva, it should be Peruman, the last alphabet being “n”). If people call a temple as Perumal temple, it is only the Vishnu temple.

If Subrahmanya Swami, the absolute light of wisdom, who emanated from Shiva-Shakti unification, is represented by the name of Perumal, it still sounds appropriate! Let us analyse the connotation of Perumal for Subrahmanya Swami.

In Tamil Nadu, generally, there is a close association between Vishnu and Subrahmanya. Subrahmanya is said to be the nephew of Maha Vishnu because His Mother Parvati is the sister of Maha Vishnu. He is also known as “Mal Marugan”. Here Mal means Vishnu and Marugan means son-in-law. Subrahmanya’s wives Valli and Devasana are believed to be daughters of Maha Vishnu in their earlier birth and thereby He becomes the son-in-law of Vishnu! Subrahmanya has the unique privilege of being the son of Shiva and son-in-law of Vishnu! May be that is why He is addressed as Perumal-E by Arunagirinathar!

In northern parts of India, the status of ‘son-in-law’ is not associated with Subrahmanya. The name Subrahmanya is not popular there. He is known in north more as Karthikeya, who practices eternal celibacy! In some places, women are not even permitted into His temples.

There emerged six flames from the eyes of Parameshvara, which transformed into six children. The Karthikai Devatas (six stars in the constellation) fed the children and thus, He came to be known as Karthikeya. Or else, they call him Kumaran, He being a child. To them, it is Kumaran who is the special child of Parvati and Parameshvara, and not Vinayagar. The great literary work of Kalidasa is also called as “Kumara Sambhavam”.

The phrase Kumara Sambhavam is also seen in Valmiki Ramayana. In Balakandam (During Ram’s childhood days) Vishwamithra, Guru of Ram, narrates the story of birth of Subrahmanya to Ram. At the end of the story, he highlights the benefit of listening to the story. He says, “Hey Ram! Hearing the sacred story of Kumara Sambhavam will grant you wealth and also Punya. In this world, if one espouses Bhakti to Karthikeya, then, he will be blessed with long life and virtuous children. At the end, he will reach His world (Skanda Loka – World of Skanda) and be with Him forever. (Balakandam 37 th Chapter, Shlokas 31- 32). Kalidasa has picked up the phrase “Kumara Sambhavam” only from the Ramayana and used it as the title for his work. From the word Kumaran emerged the worship of Subrahmanya, known as Kaumara Religion. We have already seen the Shan Matha established by Acharya in which Kaumara worship is quite popular.

I have mentioned a phrase “Skanda Loka”. Skanda is another popular name of Subrahmanya. Skanda means ‘expose’. As the lightening emerged from clouds following unification of Shiva and Shakti, six flames were exposed. Thus, He is called Skanda in Tamil; Skanda becomes Kandan. Subrahmanya, who is honoured as the son-in-law in Tamil Nadu, is honoured as the son in North India. Let us see the special qualities of Subrahmanya, who possesses the best attributes of a son.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.