She is also called Deviyani or Deivanai. She is the daughter of Lord Indra, the King of Heaven. Goddess Deivayanai represents ‘Kriya Shakthi’ or the “Power of Actions”. Valli, Murugan’s second consort depicts ‘Ichha Shakti’ or Power of Aspirations. It is said that the celestial wedding of Lord Murugan and Deivayanai took place at one of the Arupadaiveedu, the Thirupparamkunram Murugan Temple at Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Panguni Uthram festival is celebrated in all Lord Murugan Temples to commemorate this auspicious occasion. It can be gainsaid that Valli’s vibrancy sometimes overshadows Deivanai’s role.
LORD MURUGA: He is affectionately called by several names such as Karthilkeya, Arumuga, Shanmuga, Guhan, Skanda, Subramanya and Kumara by his ardent devotees. He is the Tamil God or ‘Thamilzh Kadavul’ in the Tamil vernacular. He is also worshiped in Kerala, Karnataka and Srilanka. Worship of Subramanya was in fact one of the formal religious sects recognized and sanctified by Shri Shankaracharya and this sect was known as Koumaram.
Skandar is traditionally considered to be the warrior son of Lord Shiva and gets called the Hindu God of Distruction. His brother is the elephant headed Lord Ganesh. The Shiva pantheon is has special emphasis in six main temples in the South called the Arupadai Veedu. There are several puranic myths about Arupadai Veedu. They are Thruparamkundram, Thiruchendur, Palani, Swamimalai, Thiruthani, Pzhamudhicholai.
THIRUPARAMKUNDRAM is the place where he wed Goddess Deivanai, as a reward of being destroyed the asura Padmasuran, and his cruel brothers. Thiruparamkundram is also called "Alagar nagar". Tamil Sangam literature has it that Lord Muruga married Deivanai by winning the war against the asuras but he married Valli for her love. This was mutual.
This is all beautifully represented as Agam and Puran rationalisation. Puram means ‘outer or outside’ It refers to Deivanai as Murugan fought a war physically, the outer aspect of the Lord. Whereas Agam means ‘inner or internal’ symbolizing love that emanated from His inner being. It is a beautiful way of putting both the consorts in their places!
GODDESS DEIVANAI SANNIDHI. In the Thiruparamkundram Temple, there is a Goddess Devanai Sannidhi in the northwest corner. Other shrines found in this prakaram are Lord Sankara Narayanar, Lord Kasi Viswanathar, Vadhapuriswarar, Vedhapuriswarar, Ekambara Nathar, Mayuranathar who is facing north and Lord Chandeswarar facing south. There are also sannidhis for Lord Nataraja and Lord Baihravar. Lord Saneeswara is found facing south. Golden Kodi Maram is seen on the south.
SKANDA PURANA: When Lord Subrahmanya was having Kanda Verpu has his abode, Lord Maha Vishnu’s daughters, Amrita Valli and Sundara Valli, cherished the desire of becoming the consorts of Subrahmanya. So both of them proceeded to Saravana Poigai to commence austere tapas towards winning Subramanya’s heart. The Lord was pleased with the tapas. Lord Subrahmanya appeared before them and told Amrita Valli, "You will be brought up by Indra as his daughter and I shall marry you in due course." Her younger sister Sundara Valli was also graced with a similar blessing. She was born to sage Sivamuni and brought up by Nambi, the headman of Veddas.
The elder Amrita Valli took the form of a female child and went to Mount Meru, the abode of Indra, and told him, "I am the daughter of Maha Vishnu and the responsibility of looking after me has been entrusted to you." On hearing this, Indra became very happy and directed Airavatam, his white elephant, to take care of the child. Devayanai literally means ‘one who was brought up by the heavenly elephant of Indra’.
It was then that six sons of sage Parasara were cursed to become fishes in the Saravana Poigai. On request for redemption, these six boys were ordered to pray to Lord Subrahmanya. When they got his darshan, they could get redemption. It was also made known to them that Lord Subrahmanya would come to Tirupparankunram after vanquishing the demon Surapadma. Anxiously they waited for the arrival of Subrahmanya.
After Surapadma was vanquished at Tiruchendur, Lord Subramanya proceeded to Thiruparmkundra, with devas and heavenly beings whom he had released from the untold miseries caused by Surapadma. On his arrival at Tirupparankunram, the sons of Parasara received Subrahmanya and, at their request, he consented to stay there. He at once ordered Viswakarma to construct a beautiful abode for himself, for the devas and for others.
In gratitude for the war victory, Indra, the Lord of Heavens, desired to get his daughter Devayanai married to Subrahmanya. This desire was expressed to Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu who were present there. They were only too glad to hear the proposal. When they communicated the desire of Indra to Lord Subrahmanya he smiled “Devayanai has been praying at Saravana Poigai in the Himalayas for blissful union; now the time has come for the alliance to be solemnised."
A message was sent to Goddess Indrani to come to Thiruparamkundram together with Devayani. She was also awaiting eagerly at Mount Meru. The marriage was graced and blessed by Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati. But like all households, there is some smoke in the chimney. Valli was a thorn in her heart...but one is asked to look at all this metaphysically.
Hara Hara Mahadeva.
By Yogi Ananda Saraswathi