There are several legends about the festival Thaipusam. Here are a few of them There was a demon named Tarakasura who had a boon that he can be killed only by shiva's son. Tarakasura gave a lot of trouble to the rishis and saints, and devatas. Lord Muruga (Kartikeya swami / Subramanyam swami) was called by his parents Lord Shiva and Parvati and given the job of destroying the Asuran. Lord Muruga set off with the blessings of his parents to destroy the demon. He took with him twelve weapons, eleven of which were given by his father Lord Shiva and the 'Vel' given by his mother Parvati. Lord Muruga destroyed Tarakasura on this Poosam Nakshatra day in the Tamil month of Thai (Sun in Makara rashi) and hence Thai Poosam is celebrated in all Murugan / Subramanyam temples.
yaj jagrato duram udaiti daivam tad u
suptasya tatHaivaiti|
duramgamam jyotisam jyotir ekam tan me manaH shivasankalpam astu||
||shri shukla yajurveda vajasaneyi samhita (madhyandina sakha) 34.1|| The
divine essence that goes far away, from the waking, and likewise from
the sleeping, and that one far-traveling Light of lights, on that-the
auspicious will of the divine-may my mind dwell.
..
sarve janA sukhino santu ..
kriShNa! kriShNa!! kriShNa!!!
I bow down to the supreme personality of godhead Lord kriShNa who makes
incomplete complete.
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Pundit Mahesh Shastriji
Seattle, WA, USA
shastrijii at mypanchang dot com Visitor:
