friends, recently i came across a book on the 18 puranas. it was a good book with lot of interpretations. the issue is many areas overlap. some parts are scandalously corrupted by later additions. in one chapter there is mention about allah,jesus, mohammed and even britishers. i think it is bavishya puranam. how much are the real or original work we cannot say. puarana phase of india is generally agreed to be the gupta period( 3-5th century ad). the so called golden age of hinduism. nevertheless puranas are interesting read. tamil puranas like periyapuranam,thiruvilayadal puranam and kandhapuranam are unfortunately not included in 18 puranams. gandhi
1. In which Skandapurana is on Murugan. The Tamil work Kanda puranam is actually based on Skanda Purana and attributed to 15th/16th C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanda_Purana
2. In fact Skandapurana has a workattributed to Agasthay - Halasya Mahatmiyam. Halasyam is the name of Madurai. Thiruvilayadal puranam is based on Halasya Mahatmiyam.
Both Kanda Puranam and Thiruvilayadal Puranam of 15th-16th C are based on Skandapuranam shortly known as Skaandam.
In fact many inncidents of Thiruvilayadal puranam were already mentioned by Appar and Sambandar ( 6th C)
3. 18 Puranams were of Gupta period and many adiyars of Periya Puranam belong Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar period. Adiyars like Kannappar, Chandesar are before Appar.
However many sanskrit works hail some of the Nayanmars.
a.Adisankara hails Sambandar as " Dravida Sisu" in Soundarya Lahari ( there is also a view that he refers himself so)
The way faring sandals become the kusa crown of Pasupathi, The gargled mouthful of water become the holy water of bath , To him who destroyed the three cities, The just tasted pieces of the remaining meat , Become the holy offering to the Lord, And wonder of wonders,the hunter who lives in the forest Becomes the king of devotees. What is there in this world that devotion to the Lord cannot do?
(This sloka refers to the devotion shown by Kannappa a hunter devotee of Lord Shiva.In the forest he used to remove his sandals and place it on the top of the idol, bring water in his mouth to bathe the idol and offer to the lord the meat pieces which he found were tasty.)
4. There is also a sanskrit sloka attributed to Adisankara ( which i cannot recollect now) in which he says to Siva in Ninda Sthuthi as
If any one has to be come your devotee he should become either "Pitru Drohi or KaanthaDrohi or Putra Drohi"
Here Pitru Drohi is Chandes who killed his father Kaantha Drohi os Thiruneelakanda Nayanar who offered his wife Putra Drohi is Paranjothi- Siruthondar who offered his son.
Periya Puranam is also translated in Sanskrit ( Compared to the other 2 puranams being the translation of Sanskrit works)
The Story of 12 Alwars also is translated and celebrated across India and Nepal. Only diff is Periyaalwar is known as Vishnu Chittar, Thondaradippodi as Vipra Narayanar, Andal as Gotha Devi ....
Hence it is not right that Tamil Puranams are ignored.