When modern medical science was yet to set its foot on the yesteryear Tamil society, it was the temple that played the role of a hospital and God the role of a medical practitioner. If not so, Bala Devaraya Swamigal, a devotional poet, who lived in the 19th century, would not have composed the bhakti literary piece Kanda Shasti Kavacham, seeking his favourite deity Muruga's help to protect every part of the human body.
Coimbatore: In a period even over a century ago, it seems that there were no hospitals and qualified physicians to treat patients. When modern medical science was yet to set its foot on the yesteryear Tamil society, it was the temple that played the role of a hospital and God the role of a medical practitioner. If not so, Bala Devaraya Swamigal, a devotional poet, who lived in the 19th century, would not have composed the bhakti literary piece Kanda Shasti Kavacham, seeking his favourite deity Muruga's help to protect every part of the human body. Furthermore, of all the deities worshiped in Coimbatore, it is Lord Muruga that held a multitude of devotees spellbound by His smiling beauty and appearance, holding a lance in His hand and enthroned on His vehicle- a peacock proudly displaying its plumage. Had this God not been so charming, He would not have lived even in the names of many Coimbatoreans after His hill shrine Marudhamalai.
Thousands of devotees from different parts of the state throng Marudhamalai on festive occasions like Thaipoosam. But very few know that the Sanskrit mantras chanted by the priests on such occasions were in praise of Lord Subhramania and not of Lord Muruga!
The history of the hill chieftain Muruga was shrouded in myths, and in a later period, he was renamed as Kandha, Karthikeya, Shanmuga, and Subramaniya.
Nevertheless In several songs of the Sangam literature, the deity Muruga is depicted as the chieftain of the mountainous region called
Kurinji. The monumental classic Tolkapiyam throws light on the divisions of land as Kurinji (Mountainous region), Mullai (Forests), Marudham (Cropland), Neythal ( Seashore) and Paalai ( Dried-up land) based on the geographical features in the Tamil country of yore.
In Coimbatore, Muruga had been worshiped by the aboriginal Irulars with their offerings of forest wealth like honey and millet, which they carried on their ‘Kavadis’ (A decorated pole of wood with an arch over it). The tribal people prayed to God to keep them hale and hearty. The aborigines of Coimbatore had even practised the custom of sacrificing animals to Him, as read from the book Ithuvo Engal Kovai by Kovai Kizhar C.M. Ramachandran Chettiar, the first historian of Coimbatore.
Though the deity of the hill is mentioned as Seyon or Muruga Kadavul in many pieces of Tamil Literature, His unwritten history of being a hill chieftain was suppressed. Later on, devotional writers created new myths on His birth and named Him differently as Kandha, Karthikeya, Shanmuga, and Subramanya.
According to the Shaivite devotional literature Kanthapuranam, Lord Shiva gave birth to his son Subhramanya as six infants in the river Ganges, where some six women, who came there to bathe breastfed the little ones respectively. Hence the new-born deity came to be called as ‘Arumuga’ or ‘Shanmuga’ (God of six faces). Legend also has it that Lord Siva created His son after accepting a prayer by other minor Gods in His abode at Kailash to annihilate the cruel Asuras - Surapadma and Singamuha, who were repeatedly torturing them.
However, the spiritual connection of Coimbatoreans with Lord Muruga can be felt in their christening of their boys as ‘Maruthasalam’ after Marudhamalai. With ‘Marudham’ referring to a kind of tree (Terminalia elliptica) and ‘Asalam’ meaning 'mountain' in Sanskrit, Marudhamalai is literally a hill which abounds in ‘Marutham’ trees.
The available history of Marudhamalai dates back to 12th century AD, as read from the two inscriptions found at the Thirumuruganatheeswarar Temple at Thirumurugan Poondi near Avinashi, which is one of the seven celebrated Siva shrines of Kongunadu. The inscriptions ensure that christening children after Marudhamalai had been in vogue in Coimbatore even before 800 years, as the epigraphs record that a chieftain by the name ‘ Marudhan Malayan’ had donated a valuable gold coin to Thirumuruganatheeswarar Temple to meet the expenses of burning a ‘Sandhya Deepam’ (Evening lamp).
Besides this history of Marudhamalai, the history of Kongunadu opens another page on Chennimalai Murugan Temple at an appropriate hour.
With Kanda Shasti Kavacham being the topic of the day in politics today, the devotional literature was, for the first time, staged at the Chennimalai Murugan Temple, a hill shrine at Chennimalai in the present-day Erode district of the Kongu region. A hymn in the literature also mentions the hill Chennimalai as 'Sira Giri'
"God is dead" is a famous quote from the writings of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. But in India, God continues living and never dies. God has different names as belief, fate, diplomacy, discrimination, politics, and power. He was one yesterday, is another today and will be some other tomorrow!