Thiruthanigai or Kundruthor adal
Valliyai manam punara vandha mugam ondre
Salutations to the face that came to marry Valli
After the conquest over Soorapadman and his brothers, the devas got back their positions and resumed their duties of protecting the universe. The king of gods Devendra offered to Lord Subhrahmanya the hand of his daughter Devayanai who as seen in one of the earlier chapters was the daughter of Lord Maha Vishnu who along with her sister performed austerities to seek the hand of the Lord Murugan. Lord Skanda appeared before them and blessed them that their wish would be fulfilled in their next birth and they should incarnate as the daughters of Indira the king of gods and Nambiraja a chief of the hunter clan, when He would fulfill their wish. The king of gods had also offered his vehicle Airavatham and a sandal stone which can provide an inexhaustible supply of sandal paste.
The Lord, after marrying Devayanai, his Kriya Shakti, in Thiruparankundram, came to Valli Malai where Valli Devi had manifested herself to the hunter king Nambirajan as a small babe. The king discovered the doe eyed baby lying in a bush and watched over by a doe. The king took the baby in his arms and took her to his wife and they adopted the little baby girl. Sage Narada appeared before the king and blessed him. He informed the king that the girl would one day marry the God of the mountains Skanda and asked him to name her Valli. Valli devi grew up as a sprightly young maiden with the resolve to marry Lord Murugan, the lord of the hills.
The Thinai grain in the fields was ripe for harvest and it was the time when the birds came in hordes to devour the grains. Valli, with her attendants took charge of watching over the fields to protect the grains from the onslaught of the birds. Her weapon was a sling and stones and she would sing melodious tunes to keep herself and her companions awake. It was morning and Valli had finished her bath in the forest stream and was returning to the fields when Lord Murugan accosted her as a hunter youth and sought her hand. Valli was furious at this impudence and curtly told the youth that she would marry none other than her beloved Murugan. Just then Nambirajan and his sons were returning from a hunting expedition and immediately Muruga turned Himself into a tree. When they departed, he came again, now in the form of an old man and sought something to eat. Nambirajan and his retinue once again returned to bring Valli some eatables. Seeing her in the company of an old man, Nambirajan felt secure and left. Valli offered the old man the Thinai flour and honey with fruits and the old man devoured them with gusto and then asked for some water to drink, Valli led him to the stream in the forest and after drinking to his fill, the old man made overtures and asked Valli to marry him. The horrified Valli declined and was about to leave the place in a huff when a wild elephant blocked her way. Valli was afraid of elephants and turned back to find the old man with his arms open. Literally caught between the devil and the deep sea, Valli chose the devil and sought protection from the elephant. The old man agreed to make the elephant go away if she agreed to marry him. The hapless girl agreed and the elephant, none other than Lord Ganesha, Muruga’s brother disappeared.
Valli now reneged on her promise saying that it had been obtained under duress and walked away. Again came the elephant and she rushed back to the waiting arms of the old man, this time promising to marry him in right earnest. She opened her eyes and saw that the old man was not there and in his place was her own dear Muruga. King Nambirajan was overjoyed to hear this and sage Naradha Maharshi performed the marriage.
The story part should not make us think that the supreme is also like humans with feelings and emotions, achievements and failures, and the like. Primarily, puranas are there to attract our attention towards the divine, When we listen to a story we get inclined to relate ourselves with the characters depicted and slowly try to imbibe the good qualities that we observe in the divine beings which in turn elevate us further and further when ultimately the story fades from our memory and the truth that the story conveys only lingers on.
Lord Skanda represents the manifestation of the supreme Godhead when His help was sought to dispel the dark forces of the demons that torment us as evil thoughts urging us towards a life of vices that will bind us to the cycle of birth and death. In our sincere efforts to break this vicious circle, our good deeds done in the past (Punya karma) make us turn to our inner core (the Higher self called God) and supplicate ourselves to the Lord to rescue us from falling into the abyss. The Lord manifests Himself and through His power of Wisdom (Gnana Shakti) in one blow destroys the evil tendencies and makes our mind resplendent, pure and truthful like the peacock and the cock. Having overcome the evil forces as we turn to our goal of self realization with vigour, we should get the Lord’s blessings to act in a fitting manner to earn His grace and to have for ever within us the drive to reach the goal. The action is represented by Kriya shakti and the will to pursue our goal with a single pointed effort is the Iccha shakti. However, these two forces are not our own, but given by the Lord when we pray for the same (Avan Arulaale Avan thaal vanangi). When our prayers reach culmination the three forces of Ganana, Kriya and Iccha unite and are absorbed in the Supreme Self with whom we can now easily identify ourselves.
The sporting of the Lord to woo Valli is also not without significance. The Lord does not discriminate amongst His creations like we do. For Him all are equal, whether it is Indira the king of gods or Nambirajan a tribal hunter. God Himself seeks out His devotees. All that is required is that we need to take the first step forward and He will walk ten steps to come near us. If Valli’s love for her Lord was unparalleled, it was the Lord who sought her out. We might have our own conception of God and we are entitled to do so; but the trick is that God will appear as He pleases and it is for us to recognize Him. It is for this reason we need a Guru who can point out or drive us into His arms like Lord Mahaganapathi who came in the form of an elephant. When we ultimately realize that whatever form the Lord had taken, He is the same as what we had all along been thinking, our joy knows no bounds.
After the marriage with Valli, the Lord Subhramanya reached Thiru Thanigai Malai where He sat in absolute tranquility and bliss with His two consorts, Devayanai and Valli. Thanigai in Thamizh means ‘to reduce’. The Lord’s anger against the demons Soorapadman and His desire for Valli had subdued representing the subjugation of Kama and Krodha and He sat as Suddha Sivam – Pure Conciousness Bliss, with all His three powers withdrawn into Himself in Thanigai Malai. Access to His temple which sits atop the hill are through 365 steps each step representing a day of the year or simply ‘Time or Kalam’. One has to keep trudging through time to reach the end of one’s journey. We also infer that the Lord is timeless and to reach His abode we should lose the sense of time and transcend from the gross to the subtle as the gross is always ruled by the three factors of Space, Time and Cause and Effect. The elephant Airavatham and the huge Sandal stone given by Indira stand testimony to the puranic lore. Intrinsically, Airavatham represents ego and sandal stone our vasanas or tendencies, which we leave behind as we enter the Lord’s precincts. We then feast our eyes on the divine spectacle of the Lord Subhramanya with His parivaram of Valli, Devayanai, the peacock and the cock along with His Vetri Vel. We move from Samiibhyam (being near) to Saalokyam (being able to see) and then become one with His forms (Saaroopyam) and finally dissolve ourselves into Him (Saayujyam).
Many a saint have been blessed with the divine darshan of the Lord in Thiru Thanigai amongst whom are Arunagiri nathar, Vallimalai Swamigal and Sri Muthuswami Deekshitar, one of the music trinities who earned the sobriquet ‘Guru Guha’ used by him in his krithis, from the Lord in Thiruthanigai.
Thiruthanigai represents the Aagjnya chakra, the sixth and final chakra through which the great power Kundalini passes. Aagjnya means to command. The command centre for the entire nervous system is the Pons, a part of Medulla brain in our body. It is considered to be the seat of the supreme Atman or life force. The Chakra also is believed to be our third eye or the eye of wisdom. It has two petals which whirl around the central point which is of the shape of an eye or a spear head. The two nadis Ida and Pingala originate from the Mooladara chakra and meet at the three granthis and finally at the Aagjnya chakra. The central Nadi Sushumna stands like a ramrod (Vel) piercing all the six chakras and ends in the Aagjnya chakra. The two nadis are like the two vallis (creepers), Valli and Devayanai which intertwines the Gnana Vel, carrying the supreme energy Kundalini to the Aagjnya. This is the seat of the six faced Lord (shadanana) whose colour is pure white (shukla varna) and whose guna is Satvic. At the base chakra, the foothill of the mountain, sits Ganapathi in red colour representing Rajasic guna and at the top is His brother Skanda as Shanmukha resplendent in His Satvic form with six faces.
A darashan of the Lord in Thiruthanigai is sure to dispel our vasanas and afflictions and guide us on our path to salvation.
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