Skanda Ṣaṣṭī is the six-day Murugan vrata of the Tamil month Aippasi, remembering his victory over the asura Sūrapadman. The Kanda Purāṇam tells how Sūrapadman and his brothers Siṅgamukhan and Tārakan oppressed the worlds until six sparks from Śiva's eye became six infants in the Saravaṇa pool, were nursed by the Kṛttikās and were united by Pārvatī as the six-faced Ṣaṇmukha. Armed with the Vel from his mother, Murugan fought for six days, and on the sixth he split Sūrapadman, who stood in the sea as a mango tree, into the peacock that became his mount and the rooster on his banner. The six days of the vrata mirror those six days of war, which tradition places on the shore at Tiruchendur. How the day is fixed: The vrata runs from Kārttika Śukla Pratipadā to Śukla Ṣaṣṭī, which falls in the Tamil month Aippasi. The closing day is the one on which Śukla Ṣaṣṭī is present at local sunrise. Keep in mind: The vrata begins the day after the Dīpāvalī Amāvāsyā, so it overlaps with Bali Pratipadā and the first days of the new Kārttika fortnight in other regions. This year: The 2027 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. The six-day fast: Devotees keep a six-day fast, some without water and others on milk and fruit alone, and many take a single meal a day. They visit Murugan temples daily, and some stay at the temple for the whole vrata. Kanda Ṣaṣṭi Kavacham: The signature recitation is the Kanda Ṣaṣṭi Kavacham of Devarāya Swāmigaḷ, sung morning and evening. Kandar Anubhūti, Subrahmaṇya Bhujaṅgam, Kanda Guru Kavacham and the Subrahmaṇya Aṣṭottara are also recited. Sūra Samhāram and Tirukalyāṇam: Most devotees break the fast after watching Sūra Samhāram on the evening of the sixth day. The next day the Tirukalyāṇam of Murugan and Deivānai closes the festival. Worth remembering: Sūra Samhāram, the climax on the sixth evening, is kept as its own observance, and Subrahmaṇya Ṣaṣṭī on Mārgaśīrṣa Śukla Ṣaṣṭī is a separate one-day festival. All three belong to Murugan, but they are not the same day. The greatest crowds gather at Tiruchendur, where the battle is said to have been fought, and at Tirupparaṅkunṟam and the other Āṟupaṭai Vīṭu, where the six days are staged with grand processions. Tamil elders say 'Ṣaṣṭiyil irundāl agappaiyil varum', read as a promise that the Ṣaṣṭī fast brings a child to the womb. Whatever the local form, the surest guide is the way the elders of one's own house have kept the day.
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