Tatpurushaaya Vidmahe
Mahaa Senaaya Dheemahi
Tanno Skandhaha Prachodayaat
Sri Murugan is also known as Skandha, Kaartikeya and Subrahmanya. He is the second son of Lord Shiva and Paarvati. When a demon named Taaraka was harassing the gods, they approached Sri Maha Vishnu to show them a way to kill the demon. Sri Maha Vishnu advised them to wake Shiva up from his deep meditation on top of the Himalayas and make Him marry Paarvati, the daughter of Himaalaya. Their Son would be capable of killing the Tarakaasura demon.
It was not an easy task to disturb Shiva’s meditation. They sought the help of Manmatha, the cupid to entice Shiva to fall in love with Paarvati. One day when Paarvati was offering flowers to Shiva, Manmatha released his arrows which made Shiva notice Paarvati. However, He was angry for this disturbance of His meditation. He opened His third eye and saw the god of love in front of Him and burnt him to ashes. From that day, Manmatha is known as Ananga, the one who has no body. Shiva married Paarvati and Kumaara Swami, or Murugan was born to them.
Kaalidaasa’s Kumaara Sambhavam narrates this story beautifully. Murugan is extremely popular in Tamil Nadu.