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In Hinduism , Kārttikeya (also '''Skanda''', '''Subrahmanya''', '''Kumara''', '''Arumugan''', '''Shanmugan''', '''Murugan''', '''Guha''', '''Saravana''', '''Swaminatha''', '''Velan''', '''Velavan''', '''Senthil''' or '''Mayuresh''') is a god born out of a magical spark created by Shiva . The name ''Kārttikeya'' means "him of the Pleiades ". There are several legends surrounding his birth. These names are also common among the people in southern part of India. ORIGINS In the Hindu epics The first elaborate account of Karthikeya's origin occurs in the Mahabharata . Per this account, Karthikeya was born from Agni and his wife after the latter impersonated the six of the seven wives of the seven sages. The actual wives then become the Pleiades . Kartikeya was born to destroy the Asura Mahisha .(In latter mythology, Mahisha became the adversary of Durga ). Indra attacks Kartikeya as he see the latter as a threat, until Shiva intervenes and makes Kartikeya the commander-in-chief of the army of the Deva s. He is also married to Devasena - Indra's daughter. The origin of this marriage lies probably in the punning of 'Deva-sena-pati'. It can mean either lord of Devasena or Lord of the army(sena) of Devas. The Ramayana version is closer to the stories told in the Purana s discussed below. In the Hindu puranas Though slightly varying versions occur in the Puranas, they broadly follow the same pattern. (By this period, the identification of Shiva / Rudra with Agni , that can be traced back to the Veda s and Brahmana s, had clearly made Kartikeya the son of Shiva.) Per the Skanda Purana , Shiva, was married earlier to Dakshayini, the granddaughter of Brahma, and the daughter of Daksha. Daksha never liked Lord Shiva (Shiva begs for food, lives in a graveyard covered with ashes being the Destructor, and has no possessions, not even good clothes for himself-symbolising detachment but disliked by Daksha) and insults Shiva in front of Dakshayini in a Yagna. Dakshayini self-immolates herself unable to bear the humiliation. Having thus incurred Shiva's wrath, the Yagna is destroyed even though it was protected by all the other Gods & Rishis. Taraka believed that, since Shiva was an ascetic and his earlier marriage was itself conducted with great difficulty, his remarriage was out of the question, hence his boon of being killed by Shiva's son alone would give him invincibility. The Devas manage to get Shiva married to Parvati (who was Dakshayani, reborn) by having Manmadha (also known as Kama), the God of love awaken him from his penance, incurring his wrath by opening his third eye of destruction, and being destroyed & resurrected. Shiva hands over his effulgence of the third eye used to destroy Manmadha to Agni, as he alone is capable of handling it till it becomes the desired offspring. But even Agni, tortured by its heat, hands it over to Ganga who in turn deposits it in a lake in a forest of reeds(Shara). The child is finally born in this forest(vana) with six faces. He is first spotted and cared for by six women reprsenting the Pleiades - Karthika in Sanskrit. He thus gets named Karthikeya. As a young lad, he destroys Taraka. As this youthful saviour he is called Kumara(Youth in Sanskrit). In Sanskrit literature The birth of Kartikeya is treated in great detail by Kalidasa in one of the greatest Sanskrit epics - Kumaarasambhavam . The story here is essentially same as the one found in the Sanskrit Puranas. In Tamil literature The Tamil version is called Kandha Purānam was written by . Each day, Kachiappa Sivacharyar would write his inspired account of the career of Lord Murugan or Skanda, and in the evening deposit his day's work in the mūlasthāam of Lord Subrahmanya at Kumara Kottam. Each night, miraculously, the Lord Himself would edit Kacciappa's manuscript with his own corrections. Hence, the Kanda Purānam is considered to be the absolutely authoritative account of Lord Murugan's career bearing the seal of approval of none other than the Lord Himself. In this Tamil epic, Kartikeya is the destroyer of Taraka and also of his elder and more powerful demonic brothers, Shoorapadman and Simha-mukhan. Shiva let out a stream of fire from his third eye on his forehead, that split into six streams. Each landed on a lotus in a lake called ''Saravana Poigai''. Six women, called ''Karthigai Pengal'' (literally Woman of the Pleiades ) saw the babies and each took one with her to look after. On the day of Karthigai , Parvati united the six children into a six-headed child, unable to cuddle all of them together. This is also the origin of a common Tamil name of the deity, Arumugan or Shanmugan, which literally means "one who has six faces". Apart from the festival of Karthigai, the Thaipusam festival, celebrated by Tamil communities worldwide, commemorates the day he was given a ''vel'' ( Lance ) by his mother Parvati in order to vanquish the demons. THE ADORATION OF KARTIKEYA Historically, Kartikeya enjoyed immense popularity in the Indian subcontinent. One of the major Puranas, the Skanda Purana is dedicated to him. In the Bhagavad-Gita (Ch.10, Verse 24) Krishna , explaining his omnipresence, says - "Of generals I am Skanda, the lord of war". His presence in the religious and cultural sphere can be seen at least from the Gupta age. Two of the Gupta kings, Kumaragupta and Skandagupta were named after him. He is seen in the Gupta sculptures and in the temples of Ellora and Elephanta .As the commander of the divine armies, he became the patron of the ruling classes. His youth, beauty and bravery was much celebrated in the Sanskrit works like the Katha-Saritsagara . Kalidasa chose his birth as the subject of one of his epics. However, his popularity in the north India saw a great erosion from the middle ages. He slowly vanished from the scene and is today virtually unknown in these areas except in scholarly circles.The last vestige can be seen only in Bengal where he is worshipped during the Durga Puja along with Durga . This surprising change may perhaps be attributed to the fact that he was stongly associated with the ruling classes and from the middle ages most of the ruling houses were Muslims. IN TAMIL LAND In the south of India, it is a different story. Kartikeya, known as Murugan, has enjoyed continuous popularity with all classes of society right from the Sangam age. This lead to the more elaborate accounts of his mythology in the Tamil Language . He married two deities, Valli and Devayani . The latter is identical to Devasena and the former is a daughter of a tribal chief. However, other Hindu legends he is unmarried, and call him ''Kumaraswami'' (''Kumara'' meaning a bachelor and ''Swami'' meaning God). Kartikeya rides a Peacock and wields a Bow in battle. The lance (called ''vel'' in Tamil ) is a weapon closely associated with him. The ''vel'' was given to Him by His mother, Parvati , and embodies Her energy and power. The flag of His army depicts a Rooster . In the war, Shoorapadman was split into two, and was granted a boon by Kartikeyan, to become the peacock, and the Rooster . As Karttikeya is worshipped predominantly in South India , many of his names are of Tamil origin. These include '' Senthil '' (the "Red" or formidable one); ''Arumuga'' (the six-faceted one); ''Muruka''; ''Guha''; ''Maal-Marigan'' (nephew of Vishnu ) and many others. DIFFERENCES IN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TRADITIONS There seem to be some intriguing differences in the traditions associated with Kartikeya in the North and South of India. The Sanskrit epics and Puranas seem to indicate that he was the eldest son of Shiva, as the tale of Shiva's marriage to Parvati indicates. In the Shiva Purana , he is seen helping Shiva fight the newly born Ganesha , Shiva's other son, when Ganesha stopped Shiva from entering his home in Kailasa .The south has all along maintained that he was the younger of the two. In the north, he is generally seen as a bachelor whereas the southern tradition has him married to two wives. RELATED LINKS
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