Given to Murugan by Parvati before the war with Surapadman.
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Understood as her shakti, her power, in a form that can be carried.
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Worshipped on its own at many shrines, sometimes with no image of the god at all.
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Its broad blade drawing to a point is read as wide understanding brought to a single fine edge.
The vel is the one thing nearly every image of Murugan carries, and in Tamil devotion it is often worshipped by itself. Tradition at Pazhamudircholai holds that worship there began with the vel alone, before any image, and many small shrines are still simply a vel set in the ground.
It is not a weapon Murugan made. It was given to him by his mother, and it is understood as her power in a shape that can be held. When it strikes Surapadman's tree in the Kanda Puranam, it does not simply destroy him but turns him, into the peacock and the rooster.
That is why the vel appears so often in prayers for protection. The Kanda Sashti Kavasam asks the Lord to come with the vel in his hand. The request is not for violence but for a strength that is not one's own.
The shape carries its own reading. The blade is broad and leaf-like above and draws down to a point, and teachers have long read that as knowledge, wide, but brought to one sharp edge. Vetrivel, the victorious vel, is also what pilgrims call out on the roads.
WHAT THIS RESTS ON
Tamil Kanda Puranam
The vel as the Goddess's gift, carrying her shakti, is the Tamil tradition's account, given its shape in the Kanda Puranam. The reading of its shape is devotional interpretation.
Given its shape in the Tamil Kanda Puranam of Kachiyappa Sivachariar, a work distinct from the Sanskrit Skanda Purana traditions.