सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

The sthala purana tells that after Kumara (Subrahmanya) destroyed the demon Tarakasura, he came to these forested hills and washed his shakti weapon in the river, which thereafter was called Kumaradhara, 'Kumara's stream'. Here the serpent king Vasuki, fleeing Garuda, took refuge under the protection of Subrahmanya, and the Lord promised to remain with him. For this reason the deity of Kukke is worshipped as Subrahmanya inseparable from the great serpent, and the temple became India's foremost seat for worship connected with nagas. Devotees from every part of the country come seeking remedy for sarpa dosha — afflictions traditionally attributed to harm done to serpents — through sevas such as Ashlesha Bala pooja and Sarpa Samskara. Uniquely, worshippers offer their prayers from behind the deity, across the Garuda pillar that tradition says shields devotees from Vasuki's poison-laden breath.

Champa Shashti, the shukla shashti of Margashirsha, is the temple's great annual festival — shashti, the sixth tithi, being sacred to Skanda everywhere. The days before it are filled with utsavas: flag hoisting, nightly processions of the utsava murti, laksha deepotsava evenings, and cultural performances. Pilgrims bathe in the Kumaradhara before darshana, and long queues form for the serpent-remedy sevas for which the temple is famous. On the festival's climax the deity is drawn through the streets in the Brahma Rathotsava, the towering chariot pulled by thousands of devotees, followed by teppotsava and okuli celebrations. The season is also associated with madé snana, in which devotees roll over plantain leaves from which brahmins have eaten — a vow-practice that drew public controversy and court proceedings in the 2010s; the temple has continued it in modified, voluntary forms. Note that the Tamil Skanda Sashti with its Soorasamharam falls earlier, in the month after Deepavali; Champa Shashti is Karnataka's own shashti festival.

Kukke's festival is bound to its river and hills, but shashti devotion travels well. Ottawa families who observe Champa Shashti — or any Skanda Shashti — can keep a simple fast on the shashti tithi, offer a lamp and flowers before an image of Subrahmanya or Murugan, and recite the Subrahmanya Bhujangam or 'Om Saravanabhava'. The site's panchang shows when Margashirsha Shukla Shashti falls in Ottawa's time zone. Families who have vowed sevas at Kukke can book Ashlesha Bala or other poojas remotely through the temple's official channels and receive prasada by post, and many plan a Kukke visit — often paired with Dharmasthala and Udupi — during a winter trip to India.