GENERAL ARTICLES ON DEVI

Philosophical Symbolism of Lord Murugas

marriage with devIs
Devasena and VaLLi
By R. Chandramouli

Legend of Devasena and VaLLi

Amrutavalli and Sundaravalli were sisters in Vaikunta , being
the daughters of Lord Vishnu. They both had intense long-
ing for marrying Lord Skanda and performed severe austeri-
ties on the banks of Saravana poigai (the lake of reeds where
the Lord Skanda was born). Pleased with their Tapas, the
Lord appeared before them and promised that their desire
will be fulfilled in a later birth. Amrutavalli was later born as
Devasena (also called Deivayanai) - and became the foster-
daughter of Indra (the king of the devas).

Sundaravallis birth in Bhoo Loka is even more interesting.

There lived a sage by name Siva Muni in a forest near Chittor
(in the state of Andhra Pradesh). Once while he was walk-

D
ing in the forest, he saw a female deer. As divine will would
evasena and VaLLi are the two devis (consorts) of
have it, by the mere sight of the Seer, the deer immediately
Lord Subrahmanya. The sanctum of Lord Subrah-
conceived and gave birth to a female human child. Nambira-
manya with His two consorts at SSVT reaches out
jan, a local tribal chieftain, who was a great devotee of Lord
to the hearts ofthousands of devotees from South India. Here
Subrahmanya, happened to pass by the area where this event
is a brief narration of the birth of Lord Subrahmanya, the
happened and saw this beautiful baby. Being the father of
legend associated with his devis Devasena and VaLLi and the
seven sons, he was harboring for a long time, a great desire
subsequent divine weddings of these devis to the Lord.
to have a daughter. When he saw this little female child, he
took it as a blessing from his Lord and hence decided to take
Avatar of Lord Subrahmanya
the tender child to his home and bring her up as his own
In response to entreaties from devas about putting an end to daughter. Since she was found among the creepers (VaLLi)
atrocities of Asura Surapadman, Lord Siva was kind enough he named her as VaLLi.
to emanate six sparks of flame from his forehead eye which
became six babies in the holy pond of Saravana Poigai (the Wedding of Sri Devasena with Lord Subrahmanya
pool of reeds). These babies were brought up by the six devis
The king of the devas, Indra, pleased with the Lord Kar-
of krittika asterism (the star cluster of krittika). When God-
tikeyas act of vanquishing Surapadman, gave his daughter
dess Parvati took these six babies into her arms, they fused
Devasena (an incarnation of Amrutavalli) in marriage to
into one divine child with 6 faces and 12 arms. Thus was
the Lord. The divine wedding of Lord Kartikeya with devI
born the avatar of Skanda or Kartikeya or Muruga. Kar-
Devasena took place at a place called Tiruparankundram
tikeya received the divine weapon- the vel (spear) from his
(near Madurai in Tamilnadu) one of the six famous abodes
mother Parvati and was knighted as the leader of the army of
of Lord Muruga. This wedding was officiated by Sage Narada
devas. Lord Skanda then led the army of devas in the battle
with all the gods, devas and rishis in attendance. It was dur-
against Surapadman. The asura who possessed the magic
ing this wedding that the Lord was given the name Subrah-
powers to turn into any form, assumed the form of a tree.
manya meaning that he is the very embodiment of the sa-
Lord Kartikeya with his holy spear (Vel), pierced the tree
cred vedas. The Lords battle with Surapadman lasted for six
into two parts. One part became the beautiful peacock which
days. He married Devasena on the seventh day. This entire
the Lord adopted as his vehicle. The other part became the
episode is celebrated as the Skanda Shashti festival starting
rooster which he adopted as the emblem of his flag.
from the day after the New Moon Day in the lunar month of

86 DEVI MAHOTSAVAM 2013


Philosophical Symbolism of Lord Murugas marriage with devIs
Aswaija and concludes with celebration of the divine wed-
ding of Devasena with Lord Kartikeya.
Wedding of Sri VaLLi with Lord Subrahmanya
In the meanwhile VaLLi, due to the impression left from her
past life, developed a deep devotion to Lord Muruga from
her young age. When she was a child, Sage Narada visited
her father Nambirajan and told him that his daughter is a
Shakti of Lord Subrahmanya incarnated on this earth to ful-
fill his Leela. When she became a young maiden, her heart
was filled with intense desire of union with the Lord. As is
the custom among the tribals for girls of her age, she was as-
signed to perform the task of Tinaippunam (Sit in a high
rostrum or loft above the ground and scare away birds and
other animals so that they do not destroy the millet crop wait-
ing to be harvested). At about the same time, Sage Narada
met Lord Subrahmanya who was relaxing at Tiruttani after a
hard battle with the asura Surapadman (at Tiruchendur) and
reminded him of his promise to the two maidens Amruta
VaLLi and Sundara VaLLi. Narada also informed the Lord
that Sundara VaLLi is now living at VaLLimalai (the VaLLi
Hill) as the tribal maiden VaLLi and pining for him.
Lord Muruga immediately reached VaLLimalai. He appeared
before her as a handsome tribal hunter. Absorbed in her own
thoughts of Lord Muruga, she did not even pay attention
to him. Then he transformed himself into an old man and
asked VaLLi to give him some food as he is hungry. VaLLi
gave him some millet flour mixed with honey. After eating
this, the lord complained of thirst and VaLLi brought water
from a nearby stream and offered it to him. Then the lord
jokingly said that she has now satisfied his physical thirst and
that she should satisfy his emotional thirst for a companion.
VaLLi got angry over this and started to leave the place. It was
at this time that Lord Muruga meditated on his brother Lord
Ganesha to help him in his act of courtship of VaLLi. Lord
Ganesha assumed the form of a wild elephant and started
chasing the frightened VaLLi. VaLLi sought refuge in the old
man pleading with him to save her from the wild elephant.
The Lord in the guise of the old man said that he will save
her only on the condition that she will agree to marry him.
In that desperate situation, VaLLi agrees to that condition.
It was then that Lord Subrahmanya revealed his true form.
VaLLis happiness knew no bounds as she finally realized that
it was her beloved Lord whom she had been pining for all her
life who had been with her all the while.
After the above event, the secret courtship of Lord Subrah-
manya in the guise of the old man with VaLLi continues until
DEVI MAHOTSAVAM 2013
GENERAL ARTICLES ON DEVI
they were discovered in the woods one day by VaLLis father
Nambirajan. After a brief encounter, Nambirajan and his en-
tire entourage realize that this old man was none than Lord
Subrahmanya. Then Lord Subrahmanya reveals his true form
and blessed his entire tribe. Nambirajan then arranges for a
grand wedding of his daughter VaLLi to Lord Muruga which
was celebrated with great pomp at VaLLimalai.
References to Devasena and VaLLi in Lord Sub-
rahmanyas Devotional Literature
Saint Arunagirinathar was a great devotee of Lord Subrah-
manya who lived at Tiruvannamalai in Tamilnadu. In his
seminal composition Thirupugazh (meaning Glory of the
Divine), which consists of more than 1300 songs, the saint
praises the lord as being the consort of Devasena (Songs 91
& 156) and VaLLi (659 & 663). The saint also brings out the
glory of these devis as well. In Song 534, Arunagiridhar re-
fers to the lineage of Devasena as being the daughter of Lord
Vishnu (who slumbers on the ocean of Milk) and also of
Indra (Master of white elephant Airavata). In the same song,
the saint has referred to her as an intelligent damsel. In addi-
tion, he has praised her serene beauty in songs 606 and 1309.
The wedding of Lord Subrahmanya to devI VaLLi seems to
have totally captivated the imagination of the poet-saint. In
more than dozen songs of Tirupugazh, Arunagirinathar has
narrated a leela that Lord Subrahmanya has performed in his
courtship of VaLLi (165, 277, 371, 530, 533, 534, 537, 538,
658, 660, 661, 664 & 1289). In addition to his copious refer-
ences to the devI VaLLi in his Thirupugazh, he has poured
forth his adoration of the Lord Subrahmanya for having
married VaLLi and giving darshan as her beloved consort in
songs 24, 53, 67, 91 & 94 of his other devotional composition
- Kandhar Alankaram (Adornment of Kandha).
Spiritual Symbolism of Lords Association with
devIs - Devasena & VaLLi
All of Sanatana Dharmas philosophical doctrines proclaim
that the entire universe is a manifestation of three primor-
dial powers of the Supreme Lord. They are: (a) Ichha Shakti
(power of Desire), (b) Kriya Shakthi (power of Actions), and
(c) Gnana Shakti (power of Wisdom). In the context of Lord
Subrahmanya, Sri VaLLi represents Ichha Shakti, Sri Devase-
na represents Kriya Shakti and His Vel (holy spear - given
by his mother Parvati , a manifestation of Adi Parashakti)
represents Gnana Shakti.
(Chandramoul Mouli has a PhD in Information Technology from George Mason Univer-
sity and is currently a senior computer scientist for NIST. He specializes in computer security).
87