The Peacock as Lord Murukan's Vehicle
Lord Murukan has been associated with the peacock [மயில்] since ancient times. The peacock, having a lustrous greenish-blue neck, brilliant plumage and a tail that can be expanded erect in a display — which almost resembles the form of the sacred Pranava-mantra, Om ஓம் — is Lord Murukan's vehicle par excellence.
Though in the early Tamil literature of the Sangam-era the peacock only reflects the beauty and fertility of vegetative life in the hills, it came to be soon endowed also with celestial attributes such as its capacity for flight in the sky like the mythical bird garuda, whose favourite son the peacock is deemed to be in the puraanic-mythology of the medieval period. By the fifteenth century A.D., the peacock came to be associated with the ocean as well. Thus the peacock as the vehicle of Lord Murukan is now associated with the land, the sky, and the sea — that is to say, the world's totality, just as Lord Murukan signifies the totality of the cosmos [Clothey 1978: 150–151].
The Peacock in the Kantharalangkaaram
In the Kantharalangkaaram, Lord Kanthan is praised as 'one who rides the peacock that is overjoyed on seeing dark rain-bearing clouds': "கார்மயில்வாகனன்" [72]; and as 'one who rides the bluish peacock': "நீலச்சிகண்டியில் ஏறும் பிரான்" [26]. The peacock is described as one that is like a horse: "கலாபப்புரவி" [83].
The Lord is praised as one who, while tightly holding the bridle, rides the peacock at a speed very much faster than a horse urged on with a lash of a whip — so that the entrails of the demons ruffled, and the fierce blowing of wind caused by the movement of the cluster of the peacock's tail-feathers made the great Mahaameru-mountain shake. As the peacock took a few steps, the hills in all the eight directions of the world were reduced to dust, and because of the dust the sea became a high-ground:
குசை நெகிழா வெற்றிவேலோன் அவுணர்குடல் குழம்பக்
கசையிடுவாசி விசைகொண்ட வாகனப்பீலியின்கொத்து
அசைபடுகால்பட்டு அசைந்தது மேருஅடியில்
எண்திசைவரை தூள்பட்ட அத்தூளின் வாரி திடர்பட்டது.
[11]
The Lord is also praised as 'a Warrior-Lord who rides the unique peacock with great tail-feathers which shattered the krauňca-hill with such force as to make the cruel demon Suurapanman shiver': "கொடும் சூரன் நடுங்க வெற்பை இடிக்கும் கலாபத் தனிமயில் ஏறும் இராவுத்தன்" [50]. [The word இராவுத்தன், probably a loanword from Hindi, means 'a horse-soldier.']
The Peacock's Feathers Filling the Sky
Lord Murukan is also praised as 'one who rides the peacock whose feathery-tail spreads and covers the entire outer space of the sky beyond the reach of one's vision, so much so that the mountain-like-elephants-with-arms in the eight directions of the universe and the eight-legendary-mountains of the world have shifted from their respective location': "கராசலங்கள் எட்டும் குலகிரி எட்டும் விட்டு ஓட எட்டாத வெளிமட்டும் புதைய விரிக்கும் கலாப மயூரத்தன்" [65].
In verse 96, the saintly author says to the peacock: 'If my Lord will let you go alone in order that this world is rid of great suffering, you will surely traverse the whole world by rolling your feathery tail and flying beyond the Mahaameru-mountain in the northern direction, well beyond the ocean as well as the sun, and beyond the golden chakravaala-mountain-range and the eight directions of the Universe':
இடர் தீரத் தனிவிடில் நீ வடக்கில்
கிரிக்கு அப்புறத்து நின்தோகையின் வட்டம்இட்டுக்
கடலுக்கு அப்புறத்தும் கதிர்க்கு அப்புறத்தும்
கனகசக்ரத்திடர்க்கு அப்புறத்தும்
திசைக்கு அப்புறத்தும் திரிகுவையே.
[96]
The Peacock and the Serpent Aadiseshan
In verse 97, it is said that the Lord's graceful vehicle peacock makes a gleeful crowing sound and attacks the hoods of the serpent Aadiseshan. As a sequel to the noise arising thereof, the heap of naaga-gems of the serpent's hoods, as well as Lord Thirumaal [who is reclining on the coils of the serpent as the protector of the world], his discus and conch are lying at the feet of the peacock:
செழுங்கலபி ஆலித்து அநந்தன் பணாமுடி தாக்க
அதிர்ந்துஅதிர்ந்து காலிற் கிடப்பன
மாணிக்கராசியும் காசினியைப்பாலிக்கும்
மாயனும் சக்ராயுதமும் பணிலமுமே.
[97]
In verse 21, the saintly author lovingly informs Lord Murukan: 'O, Lord, there is no danger of death to us, who are the Lord's devotees, because your vehicle of lustrous peacock and your lance are always our companions of protection': "மரணப்ரமாதம் நமக்கில்லை யாம் என்றும் வாய்த்த துணை கிரணக் கலாபியும் வேலும் உண்டே" [21].