Introduction
Surapadman is the principal Asura adversary of Murugan (Kartikeya) in Tamil Shaiva tradition, above all in the Kanda Puranam, the Tamil retelling of the Skanda Purana. He is the central antagonist of the war that establishes Murugan as the god of victory in Tamil religion.
This article follows the Tamil devotional tradition specifically.
The war
Surapadman ruled a vast Asura empire and, like other Asuras of the tradition, had won a boon of great power. Murugan, born specifically to lead the gods' army against him, waged a long war against Surapadman and his commanders, culminating in single combat.
The split into peacock and rooster
In a well-known episode of the Tamil telling, when Surapadman could not otherwise be defeated, he took the form of a great mango tree. Murugan's spear (vel) split the tree in two: one half became a peacock, which Murugan took as his mount, and the other a rooster, which became the emblem on his banner. Surapadman, defeated, is said to have submitted to Murugan's service in this transformed state.
Significance
The festival of Skanda Shashti, six days celebrated most prominently at Tiruchendur and other Tamil shrines, commemorates this victory, and Surapadman's defeat is one of the defining episodes of Tamil Murugan devotion, distinct in detail from the shorter Sanskrit story of Taraka.