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Kandha Puranam is a very revered Tamil scripture that talks about the glories of Lord Muruga (or Kartikeya). It was written by Kachiyappa Sivacharyar as the Tamil equivalent of Skanda Purana, and Muruga himself gave him guidance for this task.

The story revolves around Lord Muruga's divine leelas, and his defeat of the asura Surapadma, who is the son of Kaashyapa (not Kashyapa) and Maya, and is an elder brother to Simhamukha, Tarakasura and Ayomukhi (very similar to Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana and Surpanakha). It is stated that Surapadma conquered and ruled the universe for 108 Yugas, or 27 Chaturyugas. Now since Lord Muruga was incarnate in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, and had completed his leelas by the 23rd Chaturyuga, that would place Surapadman's conquest of the world in the Chakshusha Manvantara, for four Chaturyugas and subsequently in the Vaivasvata for 23 Chaturyugas.

But when we look at Sanskrit scriptures, we find no mention of Surapadman and Simhamukha at all. The whole purpose of Muruga's incarnation revolves around only Tarakasura, who is the son of Vajranga. Muruga directly marches for battle in Sanskrit texts, no mention being made of Pranavopadesha of Lord Shiva, the birth and exploits of the Navaviras, as well as the later marriage of kartikeya and Valli.

Incidentally Mahabharata also contains a story of Muruga killing a demon named Mahisha, and then marrying Devasena, which is what the Tamil account also says, except it replaces Mahisha with Surapadma.

So, is there any Sanskrit scripture which details of Muruga's conquest of Tarakasura, Simhamukha and Surapadma?

Surya
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  • Interesting. Perhaps we can look up Kumarasambhava at first, it does have a mention about Taraka. But I don't remember reading about Suradpadma or Simhamukha. (Though I haven't read it completely) – Bhargav Rao Feb 21 '16 at 13:37
  • Lord Shanmukha and His Worship, By Shivananda Swamiji does mention those 3 as brothers, though. – Bhargav Rao Feb 21 '16 at 13:38
  • @BhargavRao I do not think Kumarasambhava refers to Surapadma, because the beginning of Kumarasambhava is that the devas want a seven day old baby for killing Tarakasura. – Surya Feb 24 '16 at 16:51
  • Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. I read it again, in the 2nd chapter there is a mention about the mighty Tarak. But no mentions of his brothers or his life. – Bhargav Rao Feb 24 '16 at 16:59
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    You said: "Now since Lord Muruga was incarnate in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, and had completed his leelas by the 23rd Chaturyuga," where did you find that? – sidharth chhabra Mar 04 '19 at 19:59
  • @sidharthchhabra Valmiki Ramayana mentions his leelas as an old story, so they must have been completed much prior to Ramayana period - but since the incident of Parvati's marriage happened in Vaivasvata Manvantara that places an upper bound on the time frame. – Surya Mar 05 '19 at 03:36
  • I am wondering how you got to know of the numbers 23 chatur yugas and 108 yugas rule. Are there any southern scripture or lectures? – sidharth chhabra Mar 05 '19 at 04:13
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    The Shankara Samhita Shivarahasya Khanda, Asura Kanda has this – Adiyarkku May 08 '21 at 19:17
  • @Archit yes I discovered this when I got that Samhita on archive.org but then I forgot that I had asked this question and it needed to be answered – Surya May 08 '21 at 19:44
  • @sidharthchhabra sorry for the extremely late reply... 108 Yugas is Surapadman's boon duration as per Kandha Puranam, and Ramayana happens in the 24th Chaturyuga, hence I assume Murugan's story should have been completed with the 23rd Chaturyuga, or latest the 24th Satyayuga. – Surya May 09 '21 at 07:37
  • 23*4 = 92. Please care to explain 108. – sidharth chhabra May 09 '21 at 11:18
  • @sidharthchhabra That is my doubt actually. Surapadman asked Brahma for a boon of 108 Yugas, which is 27 Chaturyugas, but if Rama came in the 24th Chaturyuga, that boon seems impossible, unless Surapadman started ruling from the previous Manvantara :D – Surya May 09 '21 at 11:23
  • @sidharthchhabra Which is what I have discussed at the end of Paragraph 2 of the question. – Surya May 09 '21 at 11:24
  • Kumarasambhavam says that in detail. – Dr. Sarala Kandassamy Jun 22 '21 at 14:04
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    Does this answer your question? Source of Lord Subrahmanya killing demons Surapadma and Simhavaktra – ekAntika Mar 05 '24 at 14:12
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    @ekAntika This is an older (by >3 yrs) question than the one which you considered it to be duplicate of. – Bingming Mar 06 '24 at 16:57

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