Murugan or Murukaṇ (மு௫கன்) is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, especially South India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. He is not quite so well-known in other parts of India. Like most Hindu deities, He is known by many other names, including Kārttikeya (meaning 'son of Krittika' ), Arumugam or Shanmukha (meaning 'one with six faces'), Kumāra (meaning 'child or son'), Skanda (meaning 'that which is spilled or oozed, namely seed' in Sanskrit) , Subrahmaṇya, Vēlaṇ and Swaminatha . He is the God of war and the patron deity of the Tamil land (Tamil Nadu). According to the Tamil devotional work, Thiruppugazh, "Murugan never hesitates to come to the aid of a devotee when called upon in piety or distress".
The Atharva Veda describes Kumaran as 'Agnibhuh' or son of Agni, the fire god. The Satapatha Brahmana refers to him as the son of Rudra and the ninth form of Agni. The Taittiriya Aranyaka contains the Gayatri mantra for Shanmukha. The Chandogya Upanishad refers to Skanda as the "way that leads to wisdom". The Baudhayana Dharmasutra mentions Skanda as 'Mahasena' and 'Subrahmanya.' The Aranya Parva canto of the Mahabharata relates the legend of Kartikeya Skanda in considerable detail. The Skanda Purana is devoted to the narrative of Kartikeya.
The references to Murugan in Sanskrit literature can thus be traced back to the first millennium BCE. There are references to Subrahmanya in Kautilya's Arthashastra, in the works of Patanjali, in Kalidasa's epic poem the Kumarasambhavam and in the Sanskrit drama Mricchakatika. The Kushanas, who governed from what is today Peshawar, and the Yaudheyas, a republican clan in the Punjab, stuck coins bearing the image of Skanda. The deity was venerated also by the Iskhvakus, an Andhra dynasty, and the Guptas.
The worship of Kumāra was one of the six principal sects of Hinduism at the time of Adi Shankara. The Shanmata system propagated by him included this sect. In many Shiva and Devi temples of Tamil Nadu, Subrahmaṇya is installed on the left of the main deity.
