OMKARA MAHAGANAPATHY DEVASTHANAM
THE GANESHA TEMPLE OF TEXAS
THE HINDU TEMPLE OF CENTRAL TEXAS
4309 Midway Drive, Temple, TX 76502
http://www.hindutemple.org /254 771 1270
SKANDA SASHTI
Muruga Abhishekam & Skanda Sashti Kavacham Pooja
with live streaming
Nov- 20th -Friday - 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Please click on the link below to join the live-stream coverage.
https://www.youtube.com/c/HinduTempleOfCentralTexas
OR
Click on HEALing prayers at the temple's Web-site to join via Zoom
(HEALing prayers will follow on Zoom immediately after Muruga Pooja)
Sponsorship to your ability. Please send as an email with name(s), Gothram and Nakshatra(s). Then go to our website, click 'Donate'and follow the prompts.
Or, you may send a check payable to 'HTCT' and mail to the temple address above.
Skanda Sashti, falls on the sixth day in the bright half of the month of Aippasi or rarely Karthik (comes six days after Diwali) and is celebrated in Saivite temples all over Tamilnadu and elsewhere. It is celebrated with an extra measure of grandeur in temples dedicated to Lord Subramanya (Karthikeya). Skanda Sashti commemorates the destruction of evil by the Supreme General Kartikeya, son of Shiva, and is celebrated with the dramatic enactment of Soora Samhaaram.Skanda is an ancient deity mentioned in stone inscriptions and shown on coins (1st cent. To 5th cent CE). Shanmukha became Kumara - the powerful virile adolescent who was also the beautiful and the handsome ( Muruga) . He was made the General (Deva Senapathi) of the God's army. "....Of the army generals I am Skanda."..(The Gita Ch. X-24). Skanda received from his mother Parasakthi an all-powerful Vel (lance). Hence He is also Sakthi Velan. He engaged the armies of Simhamukha, Surapadman and Tarakasura on a six day battle and vanquished all of them on the sixth day. The Asuras were annihilated and the Devas were liberated. The sixth day (Sashti) is celebrated as Skandha Sashti.
Corresponding to the six days of the war over the evil forces, devotees undertake fasts, prayers and devotional singing to Lord Muruga. Most of the devotees stay in the temples during these six days. Events leading to the conquest of the Asuras are dramatized and enacted In the temples in Tiruchendur and Tiruparankundram. Offering of Kavadi on Skanda Sashti is a form of popular worship.
Priests:
Sreeram Hariharan
BS Srinidhi
HTCT Board
