Vel - Vel in Hindu History

Vel in Hindu History

In the Hindu History, Goddess Parvati presented the Vel to Murugan (Her son) as an emobodiment of Her shakti or power in order to vanquish the evil asura Soorapadman.

According to the Skanda Purana and its Tamil version, Kanda Puranam, in the war between Murugan and Soorapadman, Murugan used His Vel to defeat all the evil forces of Soorapadman. When a complete defeat for Soorapadman was imminent, the asura transformed himself in to a huge mango tree to evade detection by Murugan. Murugan, too keen for the deception, hurled his Vel and split the mango tree in to two halves, one becoming Seval (a rooster) and the other Mayil (a peacock). Murugan, henceforth, had the peacock as His vahanam and the rooster became the emblem on His battle flag. The Vel became the symbol of valour, and of the triumph of good over evil.