Sri Kandha Puranam (The Story of Karttikeya)

$32
Item Code: NAI317
Publisher: Giri Trading Agency Pvt Ltd, Chennai
Author: Dr. Akila Sivaraman
Language: English
Edition: 2018
ISBN: 9788179503973
Pages: 446 (70 B/W Illustrations)
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5 inch X 5.5 inch
Weight 440 gm
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Book Description

Foreword

 

Maugre the Mouna Matam’s publication of the English translation of the Kandha Puranam by the late- lamented S. Swaminatha Iyer, the need for a fresh and more comprehensive version was persistently felt by scholars. No doubt Iyer’s translation sharpened our taste for the Puranam and like Oliver Twist we demanded more of the fare. This demand is now met with by Dr. Akila Sivaraman to a great extent. Indeed her work brings to the fore the salient features of Hinduism as inculcated by our Puranas.

 

Hinduism, I daresay, has declared ex cathedra, long; long ago that God is one only and all lives constitute but i one family (Ondre Kulamum Oruvane Devanum). Yet God is worshipped in His threefold nature, they being paternal, maternal and filial. In this context it should be remembered that God is the transcendental Ens that is neither male nor female and is neither of either sex. It is the Self-Born and also the Self-Existent. Yet the deity which is sex- transcending is also androgynic. No wonder Hinduism which is the Sanatana Dharma (the Aeviternal Way of Life) is more admired than understood or followed in its nascent splendour. It is given to a few only to pursue Hinduism.

 

There are two distinct versions of the Kandha Puranam. The Sanskrit version, hailed as the original, is known as the Skaanda Maha Puranam. It is yet to be translated in full. The Tamil Kandha Puranam is but a part of the Sanskrit original which is made up of Sanatkumara, Suta, Brahma, Vishnu, Sankara and Sura Samhitas. These respectively contain 55,000, 6,000, 3,000, 5,000, 30,000 and 1,000 slokas. Sankara Samhita is composed of twelve Kandas. The first Kanda is Siva Rahasya Kanda comprising 13,000 granthas. It is made up of Sambhava, Asura, Mahendra, Yuddha, Deva, Daksha and Upadesa Kaandas. Of these the first six were translated into Tamil by Kacchiyappa Sivacharya. It is these six that consitutce the Tamil Kandha Puranam. As commmanded by Kacchiyappa himself, his chela Koneriyappa (also known as Guha Neriyappa) translated into Tamil the Upadesa Kaandam. This work is composed of 4,348 verses.

 

Skanda, hailed as Muruga in the Tamil Nadu, made His avatar long before Sri Rama. Sarga 37 of Sri Valmiki’s Ramayana speaks with rapture on the multifoliate glory of Skanda. It is said that history repeats itself. The exploits occurring in the Ramayana are truly the replicas of those of the Skannda Puranam. However it should be observed here that before Surapadhama, Ravana is but a Lilliputian.

 

Muruga who is the Vedic Subrahmanya is the divine rebel par excellence. His wedding with Valli pioneered intercaste connubium. The esoteric significance of this matrimony is never to be lost sight of. Valli is truly the soul that is referred to in the eighth sutra of the Siva Gnaaria Bhodam. The Guru, like the Hound of Heaven, chases the soul that is fleeing from him, stakes his claim and eventually possesses it only to confer on it sempiternal bliss. Valli the lass belonging to the cynegetic clan deemed untouchable, becomes the Consort of Muruga and what is more, She thereafter rules Him. Muruga gladly implements all her behests (Pani Yaa Vena Valli Padam Paniyum).

 

Kacchiyappa’s Kanda Puranam is in 10,345 verses. A concise version in English was indited by S. Swaminatha Iyer and it was published about fifteen years ago. It was my good fortune to contribute a Foreword to this work also.

 

The Periya Puranarn, the Tiruvilaiyaadal Puranam and the Kandha Puranam are hailed as the .three eyes of the Lord Siva. The three Puranas which are in vogue in Sri Lanka are the Periya, the Vathavur Adikal and the Kanda Puranas. Before translating the Saiva Sastras, the American missionary Rev. Hoisington studied the Kandha Puranam in depth and prescribed portions of it as part of the curriculum in his school. It is Sri Lanka which totally embraced the Kanda Purana culture. "Kandha Purana Kalaachaaram" by Ganapathy-p-Pillai of Sri Lanka is even today cultivated with care by the Sri Lankans. His another work known as "Kanda Purana Bhothanai" is equally popular. S. Shivapadasundaram of Sri Lanka is the author of "Kanda Puranam Vilakkam". Kasivaasi Senthi Naatha Iyer a chela of Sri-la-Sri Arumukha Naavalar -, indited -the "Kanda Purana Navanitam" - a work small in size but great in content. The Tiruvaavaduthurai Aadhecnarn supplied a felt want by republishing this work in 1969 under the name and style of "Kanda Purana Navanitiyam".

 

As Sri-la-Sri Arumukha Naavalar could not complete his concise prose version of the Kanda Puranam, his disciple took upon himself the task of completing it and brought it to a close. Pattuswami Othuvaar’s prose version was published by Kasi Matam in 1953.

 

The earliest prose version of the Kandha Puranam including the Upadesa Kaandam by Mutthuswami Mudaliyaar appeared in two volumes during the last decade of the nineteenth century.

 

The propagators of the Kandha Puranam in Tamil Nadu were Guha Sri Krupaananda Vaariyaar - the author of the prose version of the Kanda Puranam namely the Kandar Tiruvilaiyaadal and the Kanda Puranak kaviyamudam, and Vaakisa Kalaanidhi K.V. Jagannathan - the author of the Kandavell Kathai Amudam.

 

Devotees of Muruga insist that one should read the whole of the Kanda Puranam at least once a gear, and once a month a work called "Kanda Puranacchurukkam" and should recite every day "Kandar Kali Vennpaa".

 

The Kandha Puranam is a major puranam. It is encyclopaedic. It provides the reader with the key to open all the other Puranas which in the dim, distant past, was propagated by Suta Pauraanika. Kandhan hailed as Murugan - the ever-young and handsome God -, is the divine Guru par excellence. His Puranam should be known the world over. So, to begin with, at least a concise version of His puranam is a pressing desideratum.

 

Fortunately for us, this work was undertaken by Dr. Akila Sivaraman - a competent scholar and an earnest devotee of Murugan. Small wonder that she is endowed with the vision required for fulfilling her mission.

 

A perusal of her work reveals that it is a labour of love, yes - immense love for the filial Godhead that not only shows the WAY, but guides us through it to reach the goal. Her opus is in simple and highly readable English. A few Indianisms found here and there in her work, do not mar its beauty. Strangely these bring the reader closer to the Indian way of thinking. Her work is at once readable and dependable. It has a beckoning intimacy, in particular, with the Tamil tradition of Bhakti which is truly representative of the pan-Indian Bhakti movement. The talented autor is able to bring home the message to the careful reader both imperceptibly and palpably, as the occasion demands. She has by the grace of Grace, earned our thanks.

 

Contents

 

1.

A Poser to ponder

1

2.

Lord Muruga comes to clarify

5

3.

The wheel sent to Earth by Lord Brahma

11

4.

The Divine child on the Lotus

13

5.

The maiden at the hermitage

15

6.

The kind soul under the tree

18

7.

Manmatha gets the command

22

8.

The spark that burnt down Manmatha

27

9.

A man in disguise at the forest

32

10.

The sages arrive to fix the marriage

38

11.

Lord Siva as the bridegroom

41

12.

Sage Agasthya’s greatness

46

13.

Parvathi’s Marriage

50

14.

The birth of Lord Muruga

53

15.

Nine warriors were born

58

16.

The divine couple at Saravanam with their son

60

17.

Devasenapati

63

18.

The goat becomes the vehicle

69

19.

Brahma gets imprisoned

71

20.

Mahavishnu gets two daughters

76

21.

The army marches on

78

22.

Asura fights the illusion

81

23.

Asurendra at Mahendrapuri

86

24.

Vadivelan reaches Sendhil

89

25.

The birth of Asuras

95

26.

Chiranjeevi Markandan

100

27.

Mayai’s advice

109

28.

Asuras perform yaga

111

29.

The great world

117

30.

The Asuras go round the world

129

31.

Rules come to create

133

32.

The coronation of Soorapadhman

137

33.

The Sun gets arrested

141

34.

Vilvalan gets a peculiar boon

143

35.

Indra stands as a bamboo

146

36.

Vindhya’s Conceit

149

37.

Vatapi gets digested

156

38.

The crow spills the water in Kamandalam

159

39.

Lord Siva at Kutralam

163

40.

Hariharan’s birth

167

41.

The demon’s hand gets chopped off

173

42.

Bhanugopan on the move

178

43.

The son of Indra lodged in prison

182

44.

Lanka faces destruction

187

45.

Veerabhahu at Veeramahendrapuri

191

46.

Velan appears in dream

195

47.

The kind-hearted messenger at Soora’s court

197

48.

Soorapadhman and Veerabhahu

204

49.

Sooran’s Sorrow

209

50.

Muruga’s Hemakootam

218

51.

Muruga and Narada meet

221

52.

The splendid war by Asura’s sons

232

53.

Sooran’s fury

236

54.

The prince fights again

246

55.

The son’s advice

252

56.

Agnimukhan gets killed

259

57.

Three thousand sons disappear

265

58.

Diggaja gets back to its place

266

59.

Bhanugopan on the move

268

60.

Illusory tactics

275

61.

The heads grew again

281

62.

A miracle at the battlefield

286

63.

Padumakomalai’s husband turns a bird

291

64.

Mayai’s son in magical illusions

297

65.

The child takes the majestic form

299

66.

Asura becomes the cock and the peacock

303

67.

Mahendrapuri gets destroyed

308’

68.

Thirumuruga at Thirupparankunram

310

69.

Wedding arrangements for the Princess

311

70.

Monkey does Sivapuja

314

71.

The wedding of Deivayanai

315

72.

Indra’s Coronation

319

73.

Indra changes his mind

322

74.

Lord Siva is Supreme

325

75.

Narada gets cursed

330

76.

The anger towards the Moon

333

77.

The Advice by Pulakar

337

78.

Devi gets affected by blemishes

3~9

79.

The child found in Kalindi River

343

80.

A confusion in the marriage

345

81.

Daksha gets insulted

351

82.

Brahmayaqa gets disrupted

353

83.

Daksha does yaga without Lord Siva

357

84.

Daksha raises a query

360

85.

Sage Dadeechi explains the significance

364

86.

Gajasamhara Moorthi

369

87.

Brahma loses his head due to his pride

371

88.

Indra fights with Lord Siva

374

89.

Asura takes birth from anger

375

90.

The goddess of Dharma becomes the Rishabham

380

91.

Poison in the throat

381

92.

Gangadhara takes the Ganges

383

93.

God gives his left side to Devi

384

94.

The birth of Vinayaka

385

95.

The curse of sage Dadeechi

394

96.

The yaga gets disrupted

395

97.

God who has no beginning or end

398

98.

God without a beginning or end

405

99.

Vratas dear to Lord Muruga

409

100.

Veerabhahu gets a curse

412

101.

Musukunda brings Tyagesar

415

102.

Velavan marries Valli

419

103.

Shower of gold

428

 

Glossary

430

 

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