The god also harmonises with man who has six cakras and is a microcosm. Each of the faces symbolizes one of the six qualities of the god: felicity, fullness, immortal youth, endless energy, protection from evil, and spiritual splendour.

Murukan is associated with the number six, having six faces, six parents, and six pilgrimage centres. Murukan has become enormously popular because he attracts all levels of people and because he represents Tamil antiquity and identity and unites so much of the symbolism of Tamil religion (Clothey in Eliade, Vol 14, 260). Clothey describes Tamil religion in the modern era as 'neo-bhakti' with numbers at festivals and on pilgrimages increasing dramatically, temples being renovated and welcoming all strata of society from the 1920's. In the seventeenth century came the Tamil version of the Skanda Purana with all his Tamil background.ДЇrom the nineteenth century there has been a Tamil renaissance prompted by the discovery of Tamil culture by Western scholars. From 1550 to 1750 temples to Murukan proliferated, especially in the west of the region, and were the settings for marriages and great festivals such as the Cittarai festival in Madurai. The Tamil bhakti (devotional) poets from the seventh century reaffirmed early Tamil religion and Murukan was praised by Arunakirinatha in the fifteenth century and Kacciyapaciva in the seventeenth. Murukan became identified with Skanda, son of Ељiva. In the hills maidens with garlands danced intoxicated with the priests of Murukan.ДЄfter three centuries - the fourth to the seventh - of Buddhist and Jain dominance came Hinduization with the Tamil land - southernmost India - as the main centre of Hindu civilization. The most important religious experience was possession by the god in an ecstasy. Murukan was a god of the hills and hunting, who fought evil in the hills, especially the cur who seeks to possess girls. These are Palani, Tiruchendur, Tiruttani, Tirupparankunram, SwДЃmimalai, and the sixth is Kunratal, 'every hill on which the god dances,' that is, every other Murukan shrine.Д®arly Tamil religion was celebratory with an aura of sacral immanence, seeing the sacred in vegetation, fertility, and the colour of the land. Of great doctrinal importance are the six pilgrimage centres which are 'topocosms' that 'sacralize' Tamil Nadu. And he teaches his father Ељiva the meaning of the sacred sound om. Murukan's two consorts, the heavenly Devasena and the earthly Valli, fuse Saiva and Vaishnava motifs, and with them on the celestial mountain of Kanta Matanam he protects the universe. It has even been suggested there is a link with the Dionysian cult coming into India with Alexander.

The word muruku means honey, beauty, fragrance, divine music, eternal youth. He combines the Sanskrit and Tamil polarities of creation and destruction, symbolizes eternality, is the Lord of Time, and is closely related to the moon. Murukan is called tami l kadavul, the 'god of Tamil.' His mythology is based on Tamil Nadu. The Tamil renaissance has continued this form of worship. The religion of Saiva Siddhanta and Tamil bhakti is more to be experienced than metaphysical, thus affirming the early Tamil religion. Such works combined the Sanskrit and Tamil elements. Of these the Ељivanyana Potam by Meykanta Teva and the Ељivanana Siddhiyar of Arulnanti ЕљivДЃcДЃrya are the clearest expositions. With the development of Saivism in South India the school of Saiva Siddhanta emerged and this philosophy has been summarized in the fourteen Siddhanta sastras in Tamil. Indeed, the contemporary mythology of Murukan caters for all human needs and emotions. Other Tamil terms to describe him range from the abstract to his concrete symbols. Murukan is a manifestation of teyvam, Tamil for the Divine, for his devotees. The history of Murukan is the history of South India.

He is also known by the names of KumДЃra, Subramanya, KДЃrttikeya, and Velan. He is a Tamil hill god that spread to the coast and the towns and then became the son of Ељiva as Skanda. On a basis of Tamil religion he has integrated Saiva and Vaishnava attributes. Murukan is not the god of a single culture. Worship of Murukan is an eclectic cult reflecting centuries of cultural synthesis. Behind Him dawns the rising sun symbolising the awakened mind ( bodhi). ЕљrД« JГ±ДЃna Pandita: Murugan as Expositor of GГ±osis with His symbols the VД“l or Spear of Wisdom and vehicle/totem the peacock = Phoenix.

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