Kandha Puranam is a very revered Tamil scripture that talks about the glories of Lord Muruga (or Kartikeya). It was written by Kachiyappa Sivacharyar as the Tamil equivalent of Skanda Purana, and Muruga himself gave him guidance for this task.
The story revolves around Lord Muruga's divine leelas, and his defeat of the asura Surapadma, who is the son of Kaashyapa (not Kashyapa) and Maya, and is an elder brother to Simhamukha, Tarakasura and Ayomukhi (very similar to Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana and Surpanakha). It is stated that Surapadma conquered and ruled the universe for 108 Yugas, or 27 Chaturyugas. Now since Lord Muruga was incarnate in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, and had completed his leelas by the 23rd Chaturyuga, that would place Surapadman's conquest of the world in the Chakshusha Manvantara, for four Chaturyugas and subsequently in the Vaivasvata for 23 Chaturyugas.
But when we look at Sanskrit scriptures, we find no mention of Surapadman and Simhamukha at all. The whole purpose of Muruga's incarnation revolves around only Tarakasura, who is the son of Vajranga. Muruga directly marches for battle in Sanskrit texts, no mention being made of Pranavopadesha of Lord Shiva, the birth and exploits of the Navaviras, as well as the later marriage of kartikeya and Valli.
Incidentally Mahabharata also contains a story of Muruga killing a demon named Mahisha, and then marrying Devasena, which is what the Tamil account also says, except it replaces Mahisha with Surapadma.
So, is there any Sanskrit scripture which details of Muruga's conquest of Tarakasura, Simhamukha and Surapadma?
