KANDHA PURANAM
THE STORY
AS TOLD BY
KACHCHIYAPPA SIVACHARYAR OF KANCHI
PART III
TIRUPPARANGUNRAM MURUGAN
In Vaikuntam, the abode of Vishnu, there were two damsels.
They were born form the eyes of UpEndra - a form of Vishnu.
They were named Amirthavalli and Saundaryavalli. Both of them wanted
to marry Murugan. So they performed Tapas. Murugan appeared before
them and promised them that he will marry them.
Amirthavalli would be the daughter of Indra. Saundaryavalli would become
the daughter of Sivamunivar. Murugan would marry them when the time came.
Murugan made a visit to His parents. They sat him between themselves
and blessed the worlds with a special appearance as SOmaaskandha Muurthi.
It is usually as the SOmaaskandhaMuurthi shrine which is taken out as the
uRchava muurthi in Siva temples.
The dEvas who wanted freedom from the torment of the asuras came
to Siva during that time and worshipped Them in that thirukkOlam and
asked Siva to destroy the enemies of the dEvas.
So, Siva told Murugan to destroy Suurapadman, Singgamukan, and
Thaarakkan together with all the asura hosts.
Siva gave Murugan all the war equipment.
To this effect Siva gave Murugan, the NavaViiras under Viira Bahu.
These Nava Viiras were nine in number. They were born from the anklet gems
of Uma. The nine types of gems - maanikkam, maragatham, vairam, vaiduuriyam, muththu, niilam, pushparaagam, pavalzam, and gOmEdhakam - each gave rise to each of the Nine Warriors.
You can find their sannidhi in ThirupparanggunRam.
Viira Bahu was the Supreme Commander of Murugan.
Siva gave Murugan, 2000 fully armed armies of Devas with
108 generals; 100,000 Bhutha Gana warriors with 108 Bhutha leaders.
Twelve powerful weapons and other equipment for each of Murugan's twelve arms; 11 powerful asthras derived from the Ekadasa Rudras. There asthras were known as the 'Raudra asthras'.
He also gave the invincible and never-failing VEl.
The VEl is an amsam of Shakthi Herself.
Hence it is known as 'Shakthi VEl'.
Apart from striking, it also dispels Aggyana and Maya and Bayam;
hence it is known as 'Gnyana VEl'.
It destroys inimical forces. Hence the name - 'Sathru Samhaara VEl'.
He also gave the invincible and never-failing VEl.
The VEl is an amsam of Shakthi Herself. Hence it is known as 'Shakthi VEl'.
Apart from striking, it also dispels Ajgnyana and Maya and Bayam; hence it is known as 'Gnyana VEl'.
It destroys inimical forces. Hence the name - 'Sathru Samhaara VEl'.
It has to be stressed that DEvaRaaya SwamigaL, has invoked the VEl in his Kandhar Shashti Kavacam. AruNaGiriNaadhar has dedicated 'VEl Viruththam' and 'VEl Vaguppu' and 'VEl Vaaggu Vaguppu' to VEl.
In the 'kavacam for the body' section, the VEl is given epithets
such as:
alzagu VEl,
punidha VEl,
kadhir VEl,
nalVEl,
peruVEl,
munaiVEl,
sevVEl,
iniyaVEl,
irathna Vel,
vadiVEl,
thiruvEl,
peruVEl,
aruLVEl,
paruVEl,
veRRiVEl,
ayilVEl,
valVEl,
karuNaiVEl,
muraNVEl,
edirVEl,
kanagaVEl,
vajraVEl,
anaiyaVEl,
sadhurVEl.
In the next section on the Black Arts and denizens of the Under World and Evil and Inimical Forces, again the VEl is implored and begged to go and destroy them all.
At the beginning itself, we see 'Shashtiyai nOkka saravaDabavanaar
sishtarukudhavum senggadhir VElOn.....'
Murugan is invoked as 'The Weilder of VEl'.
The VEl plays such an important role in this Kavacam worship.
Near the end of the Kavacam,
'Kandhar kai VElaam kavacaththadiyai
valziyaayk kaaNa meyyaay viLanggum,
vilziyaal kaaNa veruNdidum PEygaL,
pollaadhavaraip podip podiyaakkum,
nallOr ninaivil nadanam puriyum,
sarva saththuru sanggaathadi
aRindhenadhuLLam ashta latchumigaLil
viira latchumikku virundhuNavaaga
suurapadhmaavaith thuNiththa kaiayadhanaal'
Here again the VEl's important and vital role is seen.
There is a version which says that Uma took another form and this form changed Herself into VEl. This VEl was given to Murugan by Uma. The festival Thaipuusam is considered to be the day that Murugan received the VEl from Shakthi.
This event is celebrated in a Murugan Thalam called 'Sikkal'. 'Sikkal SinggaaraVElan' is the presiding deity of the Thalam.
In the second verse of VEl Viruththam, Arunagirinathar mentions this.
In addition to these, Siva gave Murugan, a huge sword, a chariot of 1 lakh horses, a navarathna chalice, and an quiver which was always full of arrows. He then embraced Murugan, kissed Him and gave His blesings. Uma also embraced Him and gave Her blessings.
Murugan together with His splendid army went to the Kandha Maadhana Parvatham Mountain.
The army then proceeded in formation from there to the HEmakUta Parvatham.
From there, they saw the awesome Kraunja Mountain and the formidable city, Mayapuri which was ruled by ThArakAsuran, the younger brother of SuuraPadhman.
At that time, the Celestial Sage Naradha appeared and told them the story of Kraunja.
Kraunja was actually a fearsome great asura who was molesting everyone who came across him. He would take the form of a big mountain with numerous tunnels and caves, and block people's path. They would enter the the mountain and would be overcome by the delusions of mind caused by Kraunja's maya and get into the caves and tunnels and get lost within and perish.
The Great Rishi Agasthya came to this area and was tricked into entering one of Kraunja's maya tunnels. When he found out that Kraunja was trying to entrap him, Agasthya got out and cursed Kraunja to remain as a mountain for the rest of his life.
Naradha beseeched Murugan to destroy Kraunja and Tharaka. Murugan resolved then and there to kill Kraunja and Tharaka and all his asura hosts, first.
To this effect, Murugan called forth ViiraBaahu and gave him orders to destroy Thaaraka and Kraunja together with his armies, generals, and ministers without delay. He gave him command over half of the army with 54 generals, and the 100,008 Bhuta division and its commanders.
In the meanwhile, there were bad signs and omens in all the
towns and cities of the asuras.
The Deva and Bhutha army besieged Maayaapuri.
Tharaka came forth with his asura hosts and joined battle with them. In the fierce battle that followed, Thaaraka lost much of his armies and weapons.
Thaaraka then entered into one of the pilam tunnels of the Mount Kraunja.
ViiraBaahu pursued him and entered likewise and soon got lost in its illusory mazes and passages. ViiraBaahu's brothers and the army went in search of ViiraBaahu and they also got themselves entrapped inside.
Thaaraka, then, came out of the mountain and started to destroy the other remaining half of the Deva army.
At this juncture, Murugan Himself came to fight Thaaraka.
Thaaraka stopped the war for a while and went towards Murugan.
He tried to make peace with Murugan.
He said that the Asuras and Devas were sworn enemies. Hence it was the duty of the asuras to fight them and conquer them.
The asuras were also ardent worshippers of Siva whom they
considered as the MahEswara - 'Supreme Lord'.
Since Murugan is a manifestation of Siva, they consider Murugan as being Siva, Himself.
They would give Murugan the same rank as they gave Siva and worship Him with equal respect and bhakthi.
But Murugan turned him down by saying that the asuras had already abused all their powers and have accrued a lot of sins by being very cruel and hence they do not deserve any kindness or mercy. Furthermore their times were over.
Seeing that such a parlor was unfruitful, Thaaraka went back to give battle.
Tharaka used all his most powerful asthras that he had in his possession and waged a very fearsome war. He used his powerful weapons very skillfully.
But all the weapons were neutralised and made useless by Murugan.
Earlier in his life, Thaaraka had done severe penances and made himself invincible.
He had a body that could not be injured.
In a previous battle, Vishnu had sent forth His Sudharsana Chakra. But it struck against the chest of Tharaka and was blunted by it. Tharaka had caught it and made it into a pendant that he wore around his neck.
Thaaraka launched the Paasupatha Asthra. It was an invincible asthra that cannot be stopped. It was a form of the power of Pasupathi Siva. But Murugan just caught it with His bare hand.
Finally, Thaaraka started to use his illusory powers and waged a very fearful war that was very devastating in its effects.
Whereupon, Murugan sent forth His VEl which destroyed all the Maayaa powers and the all the aspects of the illusory warfare.
It pierced the chest of Thaaraka. Thaaraka fell down dead.
The VEl destroyed his asura armies totally. It also split asunder the awful
Kraunja Mount and destroyed it.
ViiraBaahu and his brothers, together with the Deva armies and the Bhutha division emerged unscathed from the Kraunja Mount.
The Kandha PuraaNam describes the way in which the VEl took off and flew through the firmament and destroyed Thaaraka, Kraunja and the other Asura hosts.
Murugan, with great anger, sent forth the VEl. Within a split second, it rose into the sky and with its brilliance, lighted up all the 10 cardinal directions. It sent forth flames which emanated forth like the flames from Kaalaagni, the cataclysmic fire that devours everything at the end of time.
The flames of the VEl struck at the three logas.
The VEl was adorned with bells, chimes, and wings. It raised a great noise which resembled the great noise of myriads of thunders which roll from the millions and millions of clouds which would inundate the worlds with their downpour at the time of PraLaya - the Great Flood which submerges everything at the end of the great eras.
The VEl, launched from the hand of Murugan, and piercing Thaarakaa's chest, came out on the other side and as it did so, emitted the noise of the great tidal waves of great oceans.
Nobody could see it entering Thaaraka's chest and coming out of it.
Only when Thaaraka, whose chest was split, was seen to be in his death throes, that everyone realised it.
Murugan called forth ViiraBaahu and praised his valour. He presented him with the Paasupatha Asthra that He had earlier captured with His bare hands from Thaarakan.
The celestial architect, VisvaKarma built a splendid city in Deva Giri where Murugan and His army bivouaced. Wondrous temples were built where Murugan was worshipped by everyone. ViiraBaahu presented Murugan with a wonderful foot-wear which took Murugan to a magnificent throne where Murugan sat and blessed everyone. Prolonged pujais were preformed by everyone.
In the meanwhile, Tharakan's son Asurendran came back from where he had earlier gone, and performed the last rites for his father.
Then he collected whatever remained of his armies and went to see his uncle SuuraPadman, the eldest brother of Thaarakan. He told him about the debacle that had befallen his father.
Upon which, Suurapadman wanted to start a war with Murugan straightaway. But his wise ministers prevented him and advised him to send scouts and spies to find out the all the information about Murugan and His armies.
About this time, Murugan started on a war expedition towards SuuraPadman's territory. He stopped at all the important centers of Siva worship and offered worship there. VisvaKarma built another city called Kumarapuri which is now called as Thiru SEynyaluur.
Murugan performed the Akanta Vibhava Pasupatha Nonbu. Siva appeared with Shakthi and gave Him the Shankara Asthram, Raudra Asthram, Paasupatha Asthram and others. After obtaining the blessings of Siva, Murugan resumed His expedition.
They crossed a great desert and came to ThiruparangunRam where VisvaKarma again built a splendid city. Murugan bivouaced there. He sat upon a ratna simhasana and called forth the devas and asked them to recite the full history of SuuraPadman and the asuras.
VIDYALANKARA
DR.S.JAYABARATHI
JayBee
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