Sikkal Singaravelan – The Hindu

The town of Sikkal is located on the road from Nagapattinam to Thiruvarur. Although everyone refers to the temple here as the Sikkal Murugan temple, it is in fact a Siva temple. It was built by King Kochenganaan. Lord Siva here is known as Navaneetheswarar. He is also called Vennai Perumal. Ambal in this temple is known as Vel Nedumkanni. Murugan in this temple goes by the name of Singaravelan, said Desa Mangayarkkarasi in a discourse.

When Murugan was about to leave Kailasa to fight Sooran, He had the following 11 weapons: sword, goad, pestle, vajra, flag, bow, arrow, bell, lotus, staff and axe. The twelfth hand held no weapon. The celestials were afraid that Murugan might assume the abhaya or varada mudra in this hand. The abhaya hasta offers protection. The varada hasta gives boons. They were concerned that Murugan might adopt one of these mudras, in which case, He might either pardon the asuras or even go to the extent of giving them boons. But Siva prepared a special weapon for the twelfth hand. He gathered together all the saktis in the world, and made a spear. He then gave this spear (vel) to Parvati, and asked Her to bless it and give it to Murugan. Parvati Devi infused the spear with Her sakti, and this, of course, is the main sakti in the spear. She then handed over the vel to Murugan. This handing over of the vel took place in Sikkal. Even today, the spear giving is celebrated in a grand manner in the Sikkal temple. The idol of Murugan is seen sweating during the handing over of the spear. The priest keeps wiping the sweat that pours from His forehead. Murugan’s excitement at going out to fight causes the sweating. Whenever Sikkal is mentioned, it is Murugan’s spear that comes to mind. Singara means beauty, and Murugan is known as a beautiful God.