South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c9.s18: XXVII

South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c9.s18

Language: English

XXVII

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Skanda or Kumāra is another of Siva's sons known to Hindu mythology. He is represented with six faces (Sha-dānana) and as riding on a peacock. Being supposed to have been brought up by the six mothers, the Krittikas (Pleiades), he is known as Shānmātura and Kārttikēya. The Purānas state that he was born of the fiery energy of Siva in a forest of grass (sara-vana), became the commander of the army of the gods in their battle against the giant Tāraka, and that he rent asunder by his arrows the mountain Krauncha. The birth of Skanda-Kumāra is described at great length by the famous poet Kālidāsa in his well-known work Kumārasambhava. Skanda is also known by the name Subrahmanya in the Tantras. In some unexplained way there exists an intimate connexion between the worship of Subrahmanya and of the serpent. The common name Subba or Subbarāya found among the Telugu, Canarese and Tamil people is explained to be both a contraction of Subrahmanya and a synonym for serpent. The sixth day of a lunar month (shashthi) is held as peculiarly sacred to Subrahmanya, as to the serpent god. His riding on a peacock, his marriage with the forest maid Valliyamman, and the fact that his most famous temples are on hill tops, show that he is connected with the ancient tree-and-serpent-worship and the sylvan deities. The Silpasāra describes him under name Subbarāya as having six faces, three eyes, the peacock vehicle and the weapons sakti, thunderbolt, sword, etc. The Silpasangraha describes him as having two arms, the sacred thread, a tuft, girdle, kaupina and staff like the unmarried students of the Vēdas (brahmachārin). It may be noted that the day shashthi, sacred to serpent worship in Southern India, is celebrated by feeding brahmachārins and presenting cloths to them.

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The Kāsyapa-Silpa sets down that the image of Skanda may be made of two, four, six or twelve hands and may have either six faces or only one. The symbols generally are the sakti, arrow, sword, discus, noose, a bunch of peacock's feathers, shield, bow, plough, rosary and the postures abhaya and varada. When the image has two hands, the left hand holds a cock (kukkuta) and the right hand a sakti (the Tamil vēl)¹. Hēmādri speaks of him as wearing a red cloth and riding on a

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¹ The famous image of Subrahmanya on the Palni Hills, called Palani-Āndavar, has only two arms in one of which he holds the sakti, the other resting freely on the waist.

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SKANDA OR KUMĀRA.

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peacock. The illustration from Tiruvottiyūr (fig. 113) shows only four hands.

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SHADĀNANA-SUBRAHMANYA. The most common variety however is the six-faced Shadānana-Subrahmanya, showing in his twelve hands the symbols and weapons, sakti, arrow, sword, discus, noose and abhaya on the right and a kukttuta (cock), bow, shield, conch, plough and varada on the left. He rides on the peacock vehicle and may have on either side of him the attendants Jaya and Vijaya (fig. 114), or perhaps the goddesses Vallī and Dēvayānā or Dēvasēnā, “the army of gods.” A fine stone figure (fig. 115) of Kumāra on the peacock vehicle, with a single face and four arms and attended by the goddesses Vallī and Dēvayānā, comes from Samayapuram in the Trichinopoly district. A sketch from Chidambaram (fig. 116) shows Skanda with three visible faces, ten arms and the peacock vehicle fighting with giants—evidently Tāraka and his retinue. In four of his right hands he holds the weapons, sword, axe, arrow and club while the fifth is in the posture of pulling the bow string (missing in the illustration). The uppermost of his left arms shows the vismaya posture, and the four others hold the shield, bow, noose and bell. Subrahmanya may also be shown with one face and ten hands and riding on the peacock vehicle.

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The worship of Skanda in India has been very ancient. Dr. Bhandarkar in his work Vaishnavism, Saivism, etc., has put forth literary and inscriptional evidence to prove that Skanda was worshipped in the time of Patanjali and in the early centuries of the Christian era. Sūdraka, the author of the drama Mrichchhakatikā, introducing a thief as one of the characters in his drama, makes him, before starting on his profession, invoke the blessings of Skanda. The artisans of the present day also resort to Skanda as one of the chief deities who preside over their craft. In the south the worship of Skanda-Kumāra under the name Vēlāyudha, Muruga, etc., is most popular. All classes are equally devoted to him, the non-Brahmans being particularly so. It may be noted that the shrines sacred to Skanda are always situated on hills, as at Tiruttani, Palnis, Tirupparangunram, Kunnakudi or on the seashore as at Tiruchchendūr, etc. An ancient Tamil poem called Tirumurugārruppadai probably written in the early eighth century A.D. is devoted exclusively to describing the shrines of Subrahmanya in Southern India. The god has been included in Aryan theogony from very early ages. Like most Saiva gods he may be the outcome of the fusion of the ancient Aryan and Dravidian cults and this may account for the large number of devotees he claims among the non-Brahman classes of Southern India. Like the other Saiva attendants described above, who partake of the nature of Siva and are made of his substance, Skanda is also one of the leaders of the Saivite hosts (*ganas*). He is a guardian deity and is enshrined in almost every Siva temple of importance in Southern India. He is *par excellence* the god of youth, of energy and virility.

Linked texts (4)

Kāśyapaśilpa — Sanskrit
Mṛcchakaṭika — Śūdraka, Sanskrit
Kumārasaṃbhava — Kālidāsa, Sanskrit
Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai — Nakkīrar, Tamil