Iravan (Aravan / Kuttantavar)

In the Mahabharata Iravan is introduced as the son of the Pandava prince Arjuna and the Naga princess Ulupi; he fights in the Kurukshetra war and is described as falling in battle on the eighth day of the war. In South Indian ritual narrative streams this epic figure becomes localized: stories emphasize his Naga lineage through Ulupi, his voluntary/self-sacrificial death connected to cultic efficacy (including narratives in which he offers himself to the goddess Kali), and a boon episode in which Krishna (or Krishna in Mohini form) grants him a marriage prior to his death. These elements—his martyr-like death, the preserved severed head, and the Mohini-marriage boon—become foundational for the Koovagam marriage-and-widowhood rites and for the Draupadi cult practice of hoisting his head to 'witness' ritual re-enactments of the Mahabharata.

As a Mahabharata character Iravan is narrated as a warrior without extensive physical description in the supplied battle account. In Tamil cult iconography Aravan is almost always represented and venerated in the form of his severed head. Typical features recorded include a painted or stone head with pronounced eyes, a mustache, large ears, a conical crown often bearing a Vaishnava tilak on the forehead, earrings, and frequent serpent (Naga/cobra) motifs (for example, cobra hoods or cobra heads associated with the crown) signaling his maternal Naga lineage. Some Draupadi-cult images emphasise demonic canine teeth; color and material vary regionally (red-painted portable heads in some sites; unpainted black stone heads in others). Some ritual paintings show the moment of sacrifice, including Aravan bowing to Kali or depicted holding his severed head and sword as an offering.

In the epic Mahabharata account Iravan is a mortal warrior who fights valiantly and dies on the eighth day of combat; that narrative does not attribute supernatural powers. In Tamil cult belief the severed head of Aravan is ascribed efficacious powers: it is ritually propitiated as a healer (credited with curing disease) and as a fertility-bestower (believed to induce pregnancy in childless women). Narrative boons preserved in ritual lore include the head’s extraordinary agency—most notably the Draupadi-tradition boon that the head was permitted to 'witness' the entire war, and the Mohini-marriage boon central to Koovagam’s reenactments. His cult role is primarily propitiatory, protective (head used as a guardian motif), and socially transformative (patronage of transgender devotees) rather than described as a wide-ranging supernatural combatant after death.