Stories of Murugan

The child who taught his father

The meaning of Om, and why Swamimalai is built upside down.

TAMIL KANDA PURANAM

On his way to Kailash, Brahma, the creator, passed the child Murugan without much attention. Murugan stopped him and asked a question: what does Om mean?

Om, the Pranava, is the syllable that begins every recitation of the Vedas, and Brahma recites the Vedas. But he could not say what it meant. In the Kanda Puranam the child's response is startling, he confines the creator and takes over the work of creation himself, until Shiva comes to ask for Brahma's release.

Temple tradition at Swamimalai takes the story one step further. Shiva asks his son what Om does mean. The child answers that such a thing can only be taught by a teacher to a student, in the proper way. And Shiva sits as a student while his son explains it into his ear.

That is the origin of the name Swaminatha, and of the Tamil title Thagappan Swami, the father's own teacher. It is also why the temple at Swamimalai is arranged as it is: Murugan's shrine at the top of the hill, Shiva's below it.

The story is often told for children as a story about cleverness. It reads differently for adults. It says that understanding is not a matter of rank, and that the one who holds authority is not excused from being taught.

A REFLECTION IN OUR OWN WORDS

Authority does not excuse anyone from being taught.

WHERE THIS STORY COMES FROM

Tamil Kanda Puranam

Murugan's questioning of Brahma is narrated in the Tamil Kanda Puranam. The teaching of the Pranava to Shiva, and its placing at Swamimalai, is that temple's tradition and is told in several versions.

The great Tamil narrative of Murugan, composed by Kachiyappa Sivachariar of Kanchipuram. It is a Tamil work in its own right, distinct from the many Sanskrit Skanda Purana traditions, and most of the Murugan story as Tamil devotees know it takes its shape here. The app's library carries sections of it.

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