Śūrapadmā
mythical character

Surapadma (Sanskrit: शूरपद्मा), Surapadman (Tamil: சூரபத்மன்) is an asura featured in Hindu literature. He is the son of the sage Kashyapa and a shakti named Maya. He wages war against the devas by invading Devaloka with a massive army. He is defeated by Murugan, and according to Tamil tradition, turned into his vahana, the peacock. He is the brother of Tarakasura. His eldest son is Banukopan.
Legend
The Skanda Puranam, the Tamil iteration of the Skanda Purana, describes the legend of Surapadma. He is said to have engaged in intense austerities to propitiate the deity Shiva, who appeared to grant the asura a boon. He asked for the boon of living for 108 yugas, and reign over the 1008 worlds. He marries Padmakomalai, with whom he sired several sons, the eldest of whom is Banukopan.
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This entry incorporates text from “Śūrapadmā” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.