Skanda Sashti, or Kanda Sashti, is the sixth day of the waxing Moon in the month of Aippasi, the day Murugan destroyed the demon Surapadman. Devotees fast for six days from the day after Deepavali, many staying in the temple throughout. On the sixth evening the battle, Soorasamharam, is enacted, at its grandest on the seashore at Tiruchendur before a crowd of lakhs. His wedding follows the next day.
The story
Surapadman and his brothers had won boons that made them masters of the worlds. Murugan, born to end them, fought for six days. The demon took form after form, and at the last became a great mango tree in the sea; the Vel split it in two, and the halves became the peacock Murugan rides and the cock on his banner.
The Tamil telling is the Kanda Puranam of Kachiyappa Sivachariar. The hymn most recited in these six days, the Kanda Sashti Kavasam, asks the Vel to guard the body limb by limb.
துதிப்போர்க்கு வல்வினைபோம், துன்பம்போம்; நெஞ்சில் பதிப்போர்க்குச் செல்வம் பலித்துக் கதித்தோங்கும்
For those who praise him, the weight of past deeds goes and sorrow goes; for those who fix him in the heart, prosperity bears fruit and grows
The opening of the Kanda Sashti Kavasam
How it is kept
- Sashti virathamSix days on one meal, on fruit and milk, or on water alone.
- Kanda Sashti KavasamRecited morning and evening.
- SoorasamharamThe god's image advances on effigies of the demon in his successive forms, and beheads each.
- TirukalyanamOn the seventh day Murugan is married to Deivanai, and the fast ends.
Why this date
Skanda Sashti is the Shashthi of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Kartika, on the day it is present at sunset, the hour of the battle. It falls in Aippasi.
Skanda Sashti in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday | |
| 2027 | Thursday | |
| 2028 | Monday | |
| 2029 | Sunday | |
| 2030 | Thursday | |
| 2031 | Wednesday |
More Tamil festivals
28 OctoberDeepavaliதீபாவளி
11 DecemberKarthigai Deepamகார்த்திகை தீபம்
4 DecemberSubrahmanya Sashtiசுப்ரமண்ய சஷ்டி
9 OctoberVijayadashamiவிஜயதசமி
9 OctoberSaraswati Puja and Ayudha Pujaசரஸ்வதி பூஜை · ஆயுத பூஜை
7 OctoberDurga Ashtamiதுர்காஷ்டமி
Where to see Skanda Sashti
In Tamil Nadu
- TiruchendurTamil NaduThe place of the battle itself; the enactment on the beach is the festival.
- PalaniTamil NaduSoorasamharam is held at the foot of the hill.
- TirupparankundramTamil NaduWhere the wedding that followed the victory took place.
- TiruttaniTamil NaduThe hill where Murugan's anger cooled; alone among the six abodes it holds no battle.
Across India
- Kukke SubramanyaKarnatakaKarnataka keeps its Shashthi a month later, in Margashira.
- PatnaBiharThe same Shashthi is Chhath in the north, offered to the setting Sun.
- HaripadKeralaA major Subrahmanya temple of Kerala.