Shanmukha

means the Lord with six-faces. It is a name of Lord Muruga. Feeling compassion for the predicament of the devas (gods) who were forced to live as slaves to the asuras (demons), Lord Shiva resolved to create an all-powerful deity who would not only defeat and destroy evil but who would become a universal teacher of the highest knowledge. Lord Shiva meditated and ejected sparks of divine fire from His third eye (representing the element of space, or akasha). The fire God, Agni, (representing the element of fire) and the wind God, Vayu, (element of wind or air) carried them and dropped them into the sacred River Ganges, who is no other than the Divine Mother in the form of flowing water (element of water). Mother Ganga carried these divine rays to Lake Saravana and left them in the Saravana Lake where they were transformed into six baby boys lying on lotus flowers. Here lotus flowers sprang from the mud and thus the lake represents the element of earth. The Goddess Parvati, consort of Shiva, gathered the babies into Her arms and they became one beautiful child with six heads. Thus Lord Shanmuka was created from five divine elements as well as divine shakti in the form of the Divine Mother. It is the sixth factor of divine shakti that gave Him the supreme wisdom. In Lord Shanmugha we see the loftiest combination of spiritual forces, ready to combat even the most powerful evil force.