Offers the etymological link Thiru-Gokarna-Malai or Thiru-Gona-Malai based on this connection. The equivalent of the port town's harbour bay is, meaning 'Cow's Ear' or Gokarna Pattana and the deity's name Gokarneswara or Go-Natha in Sanskrit. The, a circular natural harbour which the temple crowns towards the north, is referred to as Ko-Kannam or 'Lord's Cheek', alluding to the cheek shape of Shiva's bull.

He seems to have been a popular war god who lived on forested hills, was fond of hunting and fighting and with an appetite for blood sacrifices.Ĭorroborating the map of Ptolemy drawn four hundred years later, this text also elaborates on two ashrams of the in the region, one near the bay and another atop the Malaya mountain range. Skanda began his existence at a very early stage of Indian history. Skanda's popularity, his absorption into the official pantheon as opposed to his previous folk status, and the sudden decline in his all-India popularity to once again being a local area god are all typical stages of this sheltering process.

Under the vast umbrella named for convenience, Hinduism, shelter a multitude of faiths and sects and philosophies. The many interpretations, the multiple origin stories and the wildly conflicting accounts of his life and exploits that are found all over India are, in a sense, reflective of the process of Hinduism itself. To begin with, his commonest name, Skanda, has been almost forgotten today after having been in worship for over two millennia. Kumarar Skanda, the elegant war-god son of Shiva by T he story of the war god of Hindu Mythology is fascinating for many reasons.

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