Swamimalai

Swamimalai stands near Kumbakonam, reached by sixty steps said to represent the sixty Tamil years. It is the quietest of the six, and the one with the most unusual claim.

Here Murugan took the role of teacher to his own father. Brahma could not explain the meaning of Pranava — the syllable Om — and Murugan imprisoned him for it; he then expounded it to Shiva himself. For this he is called Swaminatha, lord to his own lord.

Because of that association, the Om symbol carries particular weight at this abode, and an Om Vilakku or an Om-marked Vel is the piece devotees most often connect with it.