• Dr.P.Ganesan

Right from early pre – historic times, Vel worship was prevalent in ancient Tamil society and the ancient Tamils had great fascination for the worship of god Muruga. Tolkappiam is the first written record available to us to assess the views of the ancient Tamils regarding Muruga worship. It refers to Muruga as Ceyon in Sankam literature god Muruga has been denoted as cutarpuncey, Vel porccey and priympuncey. 5 The ancient Tamils held the view that radiant light shining from the body at Murugan is reddish in colour6, Muruga’s cloths, ornaments and garlands are all red in colour and they even considered Vel (spear) he hold in his hand to be red.In Tirumurugarrupadai also, it is stated that god Muruga’s colour his red and he wears red cloths. It may be well assumed that the ancient Tamils considered the red colour as symbolic of lord Muruga’s rigor and anger in suppressing the enemies and evil forces for the benefit of mankind. The ancient Tamils viewed god Muruga as the greatest of war gods with indomitable valour and heroic deeds.7 god Muruga has been denoted as auntiralka tavul the god of extra ordinary valour and heroic deeds.It is also noted that the ancient Tamils worshipped the goddess of war by name Korravai, Korravai in Tamil means victory in war. In Tolkappiam, the worship of Korravai is mentioned as Korravai. Nilai and god Murugan was considered as flue son of the war goddess, Korravai by the ancient Tamils.Tolkappiam gives conclusive proof of the association of Muruga with Valour of a high ethical nature. It is in the context of referring to Karantai that Muruga worship occurs in the grammatical treatise. Karantai refers to the theme of retrieval of cattle which war is waged, it is not a war of acquisition or aggression, and it is a just war of self – defence and protection. Tolkappiyar mentions religious subjects, heroic themes and worship of hero – stones only in this connection.

Muruga Worship of Ancient Tamils Gleaned from the Tamil Literature

"Muruga Worship of Ancient Tamils Gleaned from the Tamil Literature", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no.366-374, April-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907E53.pdf

"Muruga Worship of Ancient Tamils Gleaned from the Tamil Literature", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no. pp366-374, April-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907E53.pdf