Lord Murugan is the son of Lord Shiva and his wife Goddess Parvati.  He is very popular and is more frequently worshipped in the state of Tamil Nadu than the other Indian states.  He has other names (or avatars) such as Arumugan (meaning six faced), Palaniyappan, and Kadirvelan.  His vehicle is a peacock, so he is known as Mayilvahana in Tamil language.

A popular story is that when Murugan was born there were several maids willing to take care of him.  Embarrassed by having to choose, Murugan took six avatars at once so he wouldn’t have to disappoint any of them and hence was given the name Arumugan.

As a son of Lord Shiva he was well blessed by his parents and given many powers to overtake the Asurarghal or demons.  His brother Lord Ganesh had a dispute with him and Lord Murugan left his family and settled in Palani, a town in Tamil Nadu.  For this reason he is given the name Palaniyappan (Father of Palani). ‘Om Saravana Bhava’ is the mantra of Lord Murugan.