Skanda Sashti 2023: What is Kavadi Ritual? Why Is It Conducted During Skanda Sashti ?

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Skanda Shashti is a day that is much looked forward to, by women as it augurs well for businesses and couples by helping them strengthen their bonds.

Out of all the days of Skanda worship on the skanda Shashti day, praying to him on the second, third, and fourth days would be propitious and provides you relief from health issues and negativities.

Worshipping him on the fifth and the sixth days, lets you enjoy peace of mind, affluence, and a flourishing career.

A true Murugan devotee, in order to prove his Tapasya to the Lord actually performs a ritual called Kavadi. This is the toughest rite that a devotee can ever go through to gain the mercy of the Lord. The benefits from offering a Kavadi to the Lord, when compared to the pain he endures while carrying it out, are million times greater.

Devotees, when afflicted by a great crisis in their lives, offer the Lord a Kavadi. The worldly desire is surely fulfilled but it also begins a transformative journey of the soul towards salvation.

The Kavadi has various shapes and sizes, from the simple shape of a hawker's wooden stick to the costly palanquin structure, decoratively woven with flowers and peacock feathers.

Kavadi has many brass bells, and the procession is so silent that the bells are the only things that make sounds during a Kavadi procession.

There are two baskets containing rice and other items of offering that hang at either side of the kavadi.. These items have to be gathered by begging door to door, travelling by foot.

The villagers pour their items into the basket of the Kavadi. Until the prescribed quantity is reached, the devotee keeps begging and then offers it to the lord as the last step.

Some people walk the entire distance, sometimes even 100 miles, to the temple of Murugan. The people who donated these are also blessed by God.

The Kavadi ritual, from the first to the last step, requires the devotee to follow some restrictions. At the time of starting and ending the Kavadi ritual, he has to perform a detailed ritual. He has a dress code for this as well.

The dress is that of shaivaite sadhu, and saffron coloured with a conical red cap, and a cane in his hands that is coated with silver at the ends.

This is actually Lord Shiva's favourite dress as he is addressed as the ultimate Shaiva sadhu. The person who bears the Kavadi wears Rudraksha malas.

Celibacy, abstinence from tamasic food, drinks and drugs are strictly observed. He meditates on Murugan throughout.

Many Kavadi bearers self-inflict torturous practices like passing a little spear through their tongue that should actually come outside from their mouth.

Some pierce their cheeks or other parts of the body with this. They grow beard and eat only a single meal a day. This practice makes him think of god all the time and does not let him speak and improves his endurance to hardship.

The Kavadi bearer dances in a trance and you can see a divine glow on his form. He feels oneness with the lord. Sometimes the deity possesses the kavadi bearer.

There is yet another seva namely Agni-Kavadi which is the most torturous of all. As the kavadi hangs on his shoulders, the kavadi bearer has to walk on burning coals along with the background of the drum's chants and agarbattis burning.

With all this preparation, the devotee is now ready and in an ecstatic state, and easily walks over the embers or fire and marches towards Murugan idol to offer his seva at his feet.