1. Tiruthani
Tiruthanikai ranks prominent as the crown jewel of Lord Muruga. As its very name indicates, when we propitiate our Lord in this holy shrine, He blesses us with mental peace and bodily happiness. His righteous indignation towards the asuras for their cruelty is said to have been quelled and cooled at this place, which is, therefore, known as Shantipuri (Abode of Peace). As the prayers and desires of the devotees who worship our Lord Thanikeshan on this hill with unswerving faith and intense devotion are fulfilled in no time, this hill is also called Thanikachalam.

In Treta Yuga, Lord Rama, after putting an end to Ravana, worshipped Lord Siva at Rameshwaram, at whose request Rama came to Tiruthani and found perfect peace of mind by worshipping our Lord Subrahmanya here. In Dwapara Yuga, Arjuna got the blessings of our Lord here by offering prayers to Him on his way to the South for Teertha Yatra (pilgrimage to take sacred immersion). Lord Vishnu prayed to our Lord at this place and got back His powerful Chakra (sacred wheel), Shanku (sacred conch), which were forcibly seized from Him by Tarakasura, brother of Soorapadma.
Lord Brahma propitiated Muruga here at the holy spring after his imprisonment by Karthikeya for his failure to explain the Pranava (’Om’ mantra) and got back his creative function of which he was deprived by Lord Muruga due to his egotistic impudence in neglecting to worship Subrahmanya on his way to Mount Kailash to worship Lord Siva.

The Pleiades, or the seven chaste women, are the wives of the seven divine sages. Six of them were raised to the sky and became the six Krithikas or the six stars of the Pleiades. The seventh one was also chaste as well as pious and devoted to her husband. She was separately raised to the sky and became the Arundhati. It’s these six Krithikas who nurtured the six-headed baby born of Shiva in the Saravana – Sara = Reed, Vana = Forest (Forest of Reeds). The six heads of Kartikeya represent His six attributes. They are: Jnana (wisdom), Vairagya (detachment), Bala (strength), Keerti (fame), Shree (wealth) and Aishwarya (Divine powers).

Muruga is the God of Pleiades. The Pleiades have long a standing contact with planet earth. They are fond of human beings and the earth plane. They are interested in helping the earth to get more light. Their goal for human beings is to change the genetic structure of the human bodily cells so that the humans can eventually acquire a light body. The Pleiades constantly fight with negative beings from other planets who have been basically responsible for ruining our genetic structure. Lord Murugan as a Pleiades God is going to play an active role in the evolution of planet earth and the human race. He is identified by the star Alcyone (Krithika). During 2012, the Sun, planet earth and Krithika are going to align themselves to transform the earth. Dharma will once again be established on earth.

The Significance of Vishaka Nakshatra and the Tamil month of Vaikasi
The Mahabharata (Markandeya Samasyaparva) describes a story of a baby born from the brilliance of Siva, of which Indra is afraid. The baby named Guha/Skanda, raises a loud cry which makes all the Devas trembled with terrible fear. Indra throws his thunder-bolt on Skanda, which results in the birth of a goat-faced youth from the right side of Skanda and he is known as Vishaka. However, it may be noted that Guha and Vishaka are merged in Skanda. Vishaka nakshatra is considered very auspicious, as most of the saints, geniuses and others have born in that nakshatra, e.g., Buddha. Born in the same nakshatra, Muruga is known as “Gnyana Pandita” = Authority on Wisdom. Karthikeya and Vishaka incidentally represent 3rd and 16th Lunar mansions of the Zodiac. In fact, Vishaka is a binary star as per Sanskrit literature. Therefore, the ancient’s knowledge of the binary stars without telescope or any other technological aid is very intriguing and interesting.

Vaikasi Vishakam celebrates the anniversary of Lord Karthikeya’s creation. It was in this month (May-June) that Lord Muruga was born with Vishakam as His birth star. On this day, elaborate abhishekams are done in all His temples. It is a time of gift giving to pandits and great souls, weddings, feedings for the poor, caring for trees, spiritual initiation, diksha, and conclaves of holy men.

The Peacock is the vahana of Lord Muruga. It is known as ‘Indranila Ratha’ (Cosmic Blue Chariot) and it represents the beauty and grandeur of all creation in the cosmos. During His battle with the demon Surapadman at what is now Tiruchendur, Muruga’s Vel split the demon into 2 halves, one of which Muruga transformed into his vahana, the Peacock and the other half into his emblem, the Rooster.

With the full-blown beauty of the female aspect lodged within the male principle, the peacock is said to represent the union of the male and the female in one body. The Divine aspect of this, we know as Ardhanarishwara.

The Yezidis are a Kurdish speaking people who live principally in northern Iraq. They number approximately 500,000 – 600,000 with another 200,000 settled in other parts of the world. They have a rich spiritual tradition that they contend is the world’s oldest. Originally from India and therefore related to the Hindus, they also have close connections with many other cultures and traditions they have lived among during their gradual migration westward to the Middle East. The Yezidis claim to have the oldest religion in the world, contending that the truth of this is reflected in the antiquity of their calendar. They can trace back their religious calendar 6756 years, thus making 2009 CE the Yezidi year of 6758.