“Kukke” Subrahmanya
During the puranic age, Lord Subrahmanya or Muruga as he is popularly known is said to have killed an asura named Tarakasur, Surapadma and Padmasura. After vanquishing them, he cleaned his weapons in the river nearby. The river came to be known as Kumaradhara from then.
Happy that he had vanquished the asuras, the people of the place crowned him their leader and requested him to remain with them. It was at this time, king Devendra asked Subrahmanya to marry his daughter Devasena. Happy that he had agreed the King built a city on the banks of the river and named it Swami Karthika. The wedding also took place in a grand manner.
Meanwhile, the king of snakes Vasuki had a major fight with Garuda,the eagle, who was a guardian of the birds. To save himself from Garuda, Vasuki prayed to Lord Shiva. Shiva advised him to become one with lord Subrahmanya and help the people who come to worship the Lord. Vasuki agreed and from then, the place came to be known as Subrahmanya.
On the foothills of the Kumara Parvat there was a small village. There was a major fire once in the hills of Kumara Parvat and some snakes were about to be destroyed in it. The tribals living in the area saved the snakes, put them in a basket and left it in the temple of Subrahmanya. The snakes were saved, but the basket in which they were left turned into a shiva linga. ‘Kukke’ means basket in Kannada, the language of Karnataka. The deity became known as ‘kukke lingathevar’ and the village got its name ‘kukke.’ Another specialty of this temple is tribals are given an upper hand in the puja and other festivities in the temple.
Talesgrandmanevertold's Weblog 