Om Śri Vinayagar Murugan Perumal
An Asura by name Surapadma was ruling Veera Mahandrapuri, an island fortress, as his Capital. He performed many austerities invoking Lord Siva and Lord Siva granted him many boons. Later he became arrogant and captured three worlds and made the Heavenly immortals to do menial task. Devas were unable to bear his torture and complained to Lord Siva. Lord Siva opened His frontal eye to create a son to kill the asuras. Six sparks of fire where issued from the frontal eye of Lord Siva. The divine sparks of grace were received by river Ganges through Agni, the God of Fire and passed on to the Himalayan lake Saravana Poigai. Here they were transformed into six babies.
These babies were suckled by the six Kirithika nymphs. Lord Siva and Goddess Parvathi Devi came to Saravana Poigai. When the Goddess Uma fondly clasped the babies, they became Lord Arumuga with six faces and twelve arms. When the child Arumuga had grown into a youth God, Lord Siva asked Him to destroy asuras and free Devas from their cruel bondage. Lord Muruga reached Tiruchendur with his huge army and encamped. He sent his lieutenant Veerabahu to the asuras as an emissary and asked Surapadma to release the Devas. Since Surapadma turned down the request, war was started.
The intense battle continued for few days. During the first five days of the War the brothers of Surapadma and all other asuras perished. On sixth day in the battle between Lord Muruga and Surapadma, the lance of Lord Muruga pierced Surapadma (who got himself transformed as a frightful mango tree ) and broke it in twain. The broken pieces instantly transformed themselves into a mighty Peacock and a Chanticleer. Lord Muruga took Peacock as his vahana (Vehicle) and Chanticleer on his banner.
After Surasamharam ( Destruction of Surapadman) Lord Muruga desired to worship his father Lord Siva. Hence Mayan, the divine architect constructed this shrines at Tiruchendur. Even now Lord Subramaniyan is seen in the posture of worshiping Lord Siva in the Sanctum sanctorum.
As detailed in Skanda Purana, one of the eighteen Hindu puranas, While the deities hailed the glory of Kartikeya for having killed Tarakasur, Kartikeya himself was saddened by his act. He told the deities--'I regret for having killed Tarakasur because he was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Is there any way to atone for my sin?'Lord Vishnu consoled him---'Killing a wicked person, who nourishes himself on the blood of innocent people, is not a sinful deed. But, still, if you feel guilty then there is no better way to atone for your sin than worshipping Lord Shiva. Install Shivalingas and worship them with deep devotion.' Kartikeya instructed Vishnukarma to make three divine Shivalingas. Later on Kartikeya installed these Shivalingas at three different places and worshipped them with appropriate rituals. In course of time these three holy places came to be known as Pratigyeshwar, Kapaleshwar and Kumareshwar. Kartikeya, while worshipping at Kapaleshwar sprinkled holy water on the Shivalinga and prayed so that Tarakasur's soul rested in peace. He also offered sesame seeds to Lord Kapaleshwar and prayed --'May my offerings made in the form of sesame seeds reach Tarak—the descendant of Sage Kashyap.' This way, Kartikeya was absolved of his sins.
Near the temple is also a holy temple dedicated to Ayya Vaikundar considered to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu. The followers of Ayya Vaikundar is called Ayyavazhi sect of the Vishnavite, and his teachings are contained in Akilathirattu, a holy book. Ayya Vaikundar was the architect of "Samabandhi Bhojan" meaning feeding of poor and downtrodden among the backward communities and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, who were considered to be untouchable by the rulers of the erstwhile Trivancore (now Kerala State) together under one roof. This was not liked by the rulers and they gave him many physical and mental trouble including putting him in the company of a hungry tiger in a lock up. But they were perplexed by his mystic acts and released him unconditionally.
