According to Shaiva tradition, the goddess Parvati presented the Vel to her son Murugan, as an embodiment of her shakti, in order to vanquish the asuraSurapadman. According to the Skanda Purana, in the war between Murugan and Surapadman, Murugan used the vel to defeat all the forces of Surapadman.[2] When a complete defeat for Surapadman was imminent, the asura transformed himself into a huge mango tree to evade detection by Murugan. Not fooled by asura's trick, Murugan hurled his vel and split the mango tree into two halves, one becoming a rooster (Tamil: சேவல், lit. 'Cēval'), and the other a peacock (Tamil: மயில், lit. 'Mayil'). Henceforth, the peacock became his vahana or mount, and the rooster became the emblem on his battle flag.[3]
Vel, as a symbol of divinity, is an object of worship in the temples dedicated to Murugan. The annual Thaipusam festival celebrates the occasion when Murugan received the divine vel from his mother.[4] During this festival, some of the devotees pierce their skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers while they undertake a procession towards the Murugan temple.
Adi-vel is a major festival observed in Sri Lanka by Tamil Hindus in the month of July/August, known as Adi.[5] The festival take place cities such as Katharagama and Colombo.[6]
The alternative interpretation of vel is that it is a symbol of wisdom/knowledge. It symbolically shows that wisdom/knowledge should be sharp as in the vel's tip, as broad and tall as the javelin. Only such wisdom is supposed to be able to destroy the darkness of ignorance.[7]
Galleryedit
Stone vel from the Sangam period, Saluvankuppam, Tamil Nadu
Vel, used to worship in temple
Statue of Murugan with Vel
Coin of the Yaudheyas 200 BC, depicting Murugan with the Vel.
this, article, about, divine, entity, hinduism, other, uses, disambiguation, tamil, vēl, divine, spear, associated, with, murugan, hindu, murugan, statue, with, batu, caves, malaysiatypespearplace, originindiaservice, historyused, bymuruganproduction, historyd. This article is about a divine entity in Hinduism For other uses see Vel disambiguation Vel Tamil வ ல lit Vel is a divine spear associated with Murugan the Hindu god of war 1 VelMurugan statue with Vel at Batu Caves MalaysiaTypeSpearPlace of originIndiaService historyUsed byMuruganProduction historyDesignerGiven to Murugan by Parvati mother Contents 1 Significance 2 Gallery 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksSignificance editAccording to Shaiva tradition the goddess Parvati presented the Vel to her son Murugan as an embodiment of her shakti in order to vanquish the asura Surapadman According to the Skanda Purana in the war between Murugan and Surapadman Murugan used the vel to defeat all the forces of Surapadman 2 When a complete defeat for Surapadman was imminent the asura transformed himself into a huge mango tree to evade detection by Murugan Not fooled by asura s trick Murugan hurled his vel and split the mango tree into two halves one becoming a rooster Tamil ச வல lit Ceval and the other a peacock Tamil மய ல lit Mayil Henceforth the peacock became his vahana or mount and the rooster became the emblem on his battle flag 3 Vel as a symbol of divinity is an object of worship in the temples dedicated to Murugan The annual Thaipusam festival celebrates the occasion when Murugan received the divine vel from his mother 4 During this festival some of the devotees pierce their skin tongue or cheeks with vel skewers while they undertake a procession towards the Murugan temple Adi vel is a major festival observed in Sri Lanka by Tamil Hindus in the month of July August known as Adi 5 The festival take place cities such as Katharagama and Colombo 6 The alternative interpretation of vel is that it is a symbol of wisdom knowledge It symbolically shows that wisdom knowledge should be sharp as in the vel s tip as broad and tall as the javelin Only such wisdom is supposed to be able to destroy the darkness of ignorance 7 Gallery edit nbsp Stone vel from the Sangam period Saluvankuppam Tamil Nadu nbsp Vel used to worship in temple nbsp Statue of Murugan with Vel nbsp Coin of the Yaudheyas 200 BC depicting Murugan with the Vel See also editTrishula Kaumodaki Sudarshana ChakraReferences edit Jackson Frances Kozlowski and Chris August 2013 Driven by the Divine Balboa Press p 143 ISBN 978 1 4525 7892 7 Belle Carl Vadivella 2018 02 14 Thaipusam in Malaysia Flipside Digital Content Company Inc ISBN 978 981 4786 66 9 Krishna Nanditha 2014 05 01 Sacred Animals of India Penguin UK p 271 ISBN 978 81 8475 182 6 Abram David Edwards Nick February 2004 The Rough Guide to South India Rough Guides p 517 ISBN 978 1 84353 103 6 Elliott C Brooke 1938 The Real Ceylon H W Cave amp Co p 133 Tambiah Stanley Jeyaraja 1986 Sri Lanka Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy I B Tauris ISBN 9781850430261 Natarajan Muni 2012 07 02 A Monk s Tale ISBN 9780985701918 External links editvel Worship in Sri Lanka vel Meaning amp Definition nbsp This article relating to polearms is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Vel amp oldid 1192100872, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
