[Advaita-l] Re: Question on Kumara Suktam of Rg Veda

[Anand Hudli]

rama.balasubramanian at gmail.com wrote:

>I am trying to locate the so-called Kumara Suktam in the Rg Veda,
>which is used in Subrahmania temples in Tamil Nadu. Can any Rg vedin
>provide the exact reference, so that I can consult my book?

Coincidentally, I had the same question until I enquired of some of my Tamil 
friends. The subrahmaNya sUkta consists of three R^ig Vedic sUktas:

1. maNDala 4, sUkta 15: The R^iShi here is vAmadeva gautama, devatAs are 
agni, somaka, and the ashvins. The meter is the celebrated gAyatrI

2. maNDala 5 sUkta 2:  The R^iShi is kumAra Atreya, the devatA is agni. All 
but the 12th verse are in triShTup. The 12th is in shakvarI.

3. maNDala 10, sUkta 62: The R^iShi is nAbhAnediShTha, the devatAs are 
vishvedevas or angirasas and sAvarNi. The sUkta has various meters - jagatI, 
anuShTup, pragAtha, gayatrI, and triShTup.

The first two sUktas speak of "kumAra" whereas the fourth R^ik in the third 
sUkta contains the word "subrahmaNyaM". Probably this why these sUktas are 
used in the worship of kumAra.

There is a tradition of the Krishna Yajur veda where the sarpa sUkta is used 
as a subrahmaNya sUkta, perhaps because it ends with "subrahmaNyom.h".

Anand