I have come across a lot of material which says the "Vel" in murugan's hand is his sister. in other words as you say, shiva has three children the third being a daughter who is represented in the form of "Vel".
Regarding the castes and other things, it is better to go through "Tughlaq" . Cho is writing a series on this caste and about hinduism and i think the series will throw more light on this. He also tells the difference between Caste and "Varnams". These things can be found in the recent two or three backdated issues of "tughlaq"
My opinion, however is that caste is not easy to abolish. Caste will stay for Aeon . But what should be ended is the "Discrimination" in the name of caste. If the difference between the two can be understood, there should be no problem at all.
The outrage in our group regarding this i think is an Over -reaction and unwarranted and what sampath did was just to mention certain things . I don't think he has mentioned anything with a culpable mind or with intentions malafide.
I have read somewhere, that her name is 'Maanasa' .
Siva and Shakthi, as everyone, feels that thier family, becomes more lively, with a Daughter. And from the mind of Shiva, originates, 'Maanasa'. Like, "Kaameshwara Mukaa loka kalpitha sreeganeshwara" of Lalitha Sahasranaama.
In north worship of Godess Santhoshimatha is prevailent and she is supposed to be sister of Lord Ganesha and Muruga.....may be she is the 'pEythozhilaatti' (being an ardent fan of Dr.Kalaikkovan, I shouldn't be bouncing hypothesis like these...;-))
'Vel' is an embodiment of the Mother Goddess, i.e. the mother of Murugan, Devi Parvathi (Shakthi). Legend says that the 'Vel' was given by Devi to Murugan when he proceeded to attack Soorapadman. That is why it is called 'Sakthivel'; in fact in Sanskrit texts, the term 'Shakthi' in the context of war or weapons meant 'Vel' only. (refer 'Mahabharatha'). But nowhere do the legends say that 'Vel' was Murugan's sister.
I refer to Skanda Purana (Sanskrit) or Kandha Puranam (Tamil) as legends here.
Vel was given to Murugan by his mother , you believe. So do I.
But i was just pointing to another thought, which says that Vel is Murugan's sister.
There are other schools, which tell that Pillaiyar and Murugan are not Siva's sons.
Pillaiyar is the First step toward shiva(they call it Natham or Bindu , i am not sure which one it is). Pillaiyar( the Natham or Bindu Personified) will give you worldly pleasures and attainment
Murugan is the Second step(same natham / Bindu confusion to me) . He is the Guru(Natham or Bindu Personified) who will relieve you of all the sensory and worldly pleasures and will lead to Siva gnanam..You can also draw a parallel with the punjabi community where he is called as "Baba Baalaknath"(meaning the Baba who is in the form of Child) think the same here where we worship Murugan in the form of Child. Shankaracharya in "Subrahmanya Bhujangam" refers as
"Mayooraadhiroodam........... ........ Bajhe Loka Baalam"
Thanks for that piece of info. All this means that we need to do a lot of studies. ('Vel' is also called 'Gnana Shakthi', Valli & Deivanai being 'Icha Shakthi' & 'Kriya Shakthi').
Subrahmanya Bhujangam says 'Bhaje Loka PAALAM" I think. 'Paalanam' means taking care....like "Needhi paripalanam". The Lord who takes care of the universe / world ('Lokam').
Another piece of info : I have heard that Patteeswaram Siva Durga Devi is said to be Shiva's daughter.
if this is the case, then there are numerous sons and daughters of Sivan. Even Veerabaaghu can be called as son of Sivan, for he was created for assisting murugan in his wars. Even though Iyappan was created by the union of Sivan and Vishnu, why then he is accepted as son by only a section???
If all the shakti's that emanate from sivan can be called as son/ daughters even devi "Ugra Prathyankara" has to be siva's daughter for she was created to control or pacify " Narasimhar"
The question is why then only Pillaiyar and Murugan are widely accepted as sons of Sivan? there should be some reason behind this and our literature might provide the reasons. but who can reason this out?