Significance And Importance of Skanda Shashti Festival

Introduction:

The festival of Skanda Shashti is dedicated to Lord Muruga, the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. It is the birthday of Lord Muruga, when he was born from the sparks from Lord Shiva’s third eye. The sparks were too hot to handle and were immersed inside the water. The sparks later turned into children who were raised by foster mothers known as “Karthigai Pengal”. It was Goddess Parvati, who merged all the children into one child called Karthikeya, as he was raised by Karthigai Pengal. This is celebrated on the sixth day corresponding to Sashti Tithi or the Shukla paksha in the month of Karthika, which corresponds to the months of October – November, according to the Gregorian calendar. 

Significance of Lord Muruga:

Lord Muruga is known as the Commander-in-Chief of the great army of Devas. He is also known as “Thagappan Swamy”, the son who taught his father. Once, Lord Brahma was unable to tell the meaning of the “Pranava Mantram”. When he asked Lord Shiva, he was unable to give the meaning too. Thus, Muruga explained the meaning to his father and gained the unique reputation of being one of the learned scholarly sons. Once, the demon Soorapadman was troubling the people a lot by his demonic activities, which caused a lot of trouble. Lord Muruga, through his army, was able to crush the demon and save the people. He learned  warfare thoroughly and was gifted a lance by his mother. The Lance, or the “Vel”, is a highly powerful weapon. It has the power to destroy enemies without a trace.

Significant War:

The fierce battle was the result of the people’s request to Lord Brahma to protect them from the troubles of the demon, who was not only troubling them but was also a great source of disturbance to many saints, devas and the hermits. He did not spare even the Gods. It required a strong person to annihilate the demon Soorapadman, as a boon from Lord Shiva made him invincible.
The demon Soorapadman, along with his brothers, was destroyed. The body of the demon was torn, and two birds, a peacock and cock, emerged from his body. The peacock became Muruga’s animal mount and the cock took its position on Muruga’s flag to sing the praises of Lord Muruga.

Festival of Skanda Shashti:

The festival reminds the people about the universal fact that” Truth alone triumphs”. The victory is that of good against evil. It reassures the people that wherever the devotes suffer, the Lord will protect them as an amulet. 

Soorasamharam is celebrated on last day of the Skanda Shashti festival, which is celebrated in a grand manner, across all the temples of Lord Muruga. The worship and Vrata of Lord Muruga are highly intense and fierce, with many devotees doing body piercing, fire-walking or “Padayatra”, which involves walking by foot, covering the entire distance from their home to the temple. Many people would go to the temple and observe severe fasts and offer prayers.

Conclusion:

Lord Muruga is considered as highly benevolent, and he protects his devotees like an amulet. It is a common belief that “ Where there is Vel, there is no negativity”. Whenever anyone goes faces a grave problem, he rescues them. Thus, he is regarded as one of the greatest Gods of the Hindu pantheon. The worship of Lord Muruga has spread in many places across the globe like Malaysia, Srilanka, Singapore and Philippines.