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An attempt to trace the Source
aru mukatt är iru tolal venti naru malar vallip pi nayantoya
.1
(You, the hero who has six faces and twelve shoulders, desired the sweet fragrant flower, Valli,)
The following example also mentions Murukau and Vali.
oru mukam
kuravar maṭamakal koți pol nucuppin
matavaral valliyotunakaly amarnt apra
(One face of lord Murukan) which loves to enjoy itself with Valli, whose waist. is like a creeper, the daughter of Kuravars [hunting tribes).)
As a result of the Aryan religious influence, the concept of God Murukan fused with the concept of brahmanic God Skanda. As time went on, as Subrahmaniyan says "Muruga got transformed into Subrahmanya carrying with Him His old legends and surrounding Himself with more and more new legends any myths."3 Hurukan acquired six faces and twelve arms and another wife, Devasena, who is supposed to be the wife of Skanda in North India. According to Sanskrit literature, Skanda otherwise called Kartikeya is the general of the army of the ce'estials, Devasena and hence Devasena is personified to be his spouse.5 To our knowledge there is no myth relating the relationship of Skanda with Valli in Sanskrit literature. Even Skanda-Purana, one of the eighteen puranas in Sanskrit which deals with the story of Skanda, does not : contain any references to Skanda marrying a lower caste woman. In this Purana there is no reference for exagamous marriages (asavarna marriages) 6
27
ca
The relationship between Valli and Murukan which is cited by Kövintan in the Kövintaiyar ilampakam of the Cc., therefore can be uuderstood only with the help of the knowledge of early Tamil literary trapitions. But to understand the reference "puratanaşanmukhamukhavišiṣanam avisistajatijatangana-samgama-sakatham kathayan" cited by Govinda in the Gc. one has to know the myth of Valli and Murukan which was prevalent in Tamil literary works and specially the context in which it is related in the Cc. Bechert who examined the cult of Skandakumara in the religious history of South India and Ceylon, points out that there is conformity. 1 Paripatal, (Le Paripatal), published by Institut Francais D'Indologie, Pondichery, 1968. 11: line 21 22. See also, 9: 67 and 21: 10.
2 Tirumurukärrupatai, Pattuppattu, edited by U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, 6th edition, Madras, 1961, lines 102-103.
3 N. Subrahmaniyan Sangam polity, Asia Publishing House, London, 1966. p. 354.
4 "man kaiyar kaṇava maintar ērē" (You the husband of (two) ladies (Valli and Devasena) and the bull among the men) Tirumurakāṛruppatai, Palamutir Colai, line 264.
5 Refer the notes by G. R. Nandargikar on Raghuvamsam of Kalidasa, VII: 1, 3rd Edition, Bombay, 1897, p. 120.
6 A. B. S. Awasthi, Studies in Skandapuraṇa, Lucknow, 1965, Part I, p. 298, 7 Supra, p. 15.
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