Murugan

{{Infobox deity !--Wikipedia:WikiProject Hindu mythology-->|image =Majestic Durga.jpg |caption =Kartikeya (extreme right) in Durga Puja |name =Kartikeya |devanagari = |sanskrit_transliteration =Kartikeya |pali_transliteration = |tamil_script = |script_name = |script = |affiliation = |god_of = |abode = |mantra = |weapon = |consort = |mount = |planet = }} In Hinduism, Kartikeya or principally Skanda (but also Subrahmanya, Kumara, Arumukha, Shanmukha, Murugan, Guha, Saravana, Svaminatha, Velan, Velavan, Senthil, Mayuresha) is a god born out of a magical spark created by Shiva and Parvati. The name Kartikeya means "the one of the Krttikas". There are several legends surrounding his birth.

Origins

In the Hindu epics, the first elaborate account of Karthikeya's origin occurs in the Mahabharata. According to this epic, Karthikeya was born of Agni and his wife after the latter impersonated the six of the seven wives of the seven celestial 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 sees the latter as a threat, until Shiva intervenes and makes Kartikeya the commander-in-chief of the army of the Devas.

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 Puranas discussed below.

Another story related to Kartikeya's birth

After the two are married they depart to Mount Kailasha, Shiva's favorite dwelling place, and immerse themselves completely in sexual dalliance, which continues uninterruptedly for long periods of time. The Love god Kama is resuscitated when Shiva embraces Parvati and the sweat from her body mingles with the ashes of the burned god.

Their lovemaking is so intense that it shakes the cosmos, and the gods become frightened. They are frightened at the prospect of what a child will be like from the union of two such potent deities. They fear the child's extraordinary powers. They thus plan to interrupt Shiva and Parvati's lovemaking. Vishnu goes with his entourage of gods to Kailasha and waits patiently outside the quarters of Shiva. Many years passed and yet Shiva remained closeted with Parvati. Vishnu spoke in a shrill and plaintive voice and entreated Shiva to come out and listen to their problem. When Shiva disregarded this, Agni (Fire) disguised himself as a pigeon and entered the bedchamber of Shiva. Parvati immediately sensed that her privacy was violated. Shiva withdrew and a drop of his semen fell on the ground. Agni in the form of the dove ate the drop of semen. Parvati however was disturbed and angry that the gods had assembled and interrupted her erotic pleasures, and cursed them that all their wives would be barren. She was particularly enraged at Agni for having eaten the seed of Shiva.

When Agni was unable to bear the fiery seed he went to the banks of the Ganga. At that moment, the wives of the seven sages had come down to bathe. Six of the wives felt cold and went towards Agni. Agni dropped the seed and the seed entered the wives and they became pregnant. When the sages found this out they admonished their wives who placed the embryo on one of the peaks of the Himalayas. Thus was born Kartikeya, a lustrous child with six heads. Shiva and Parvati were delighted at the birth of their son and it added much joy to Parvati who had longed for a child. We are sometimes told that her breasts oozed milk in affection when she first saw the child.

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 Vedas and Brahmanas, had clearly made Kartikeya the son of Shiva.)

The Skanda Purana narrates that Shiva, was married earlier to Dakshayani( also known as Sati), the granddaughter of Brahma, and the daughter of Daksha. Daksha never liked 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. Dakshayani 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 Manmatha (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 Manmatha 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.

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".

It is interesting that Krishna makes this statement in the middle of the battlefied "Kurukshetra" which at the time of the battle is festering with the world's greatest genearals like Bhishma, Drona, Bheema, Duryodana, Dushasana, Yudhishtir, Drupatiputra, Abhimanyu etc.!

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 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.

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.

Kartikeya worship in South India

In Tamil Nadu state he is known as Murukan (or Murugan) and he is married to two deities and is the younger son of Shiva.

Kartikeya worship in Sri Lanka

Kartikeya, or Murugan is adored in the large Tamil population in Sri Lanka, and numerous Murugan temples exist in the North and East of Sri Lanka, as well as in the capital city of Colombo. He is a favorite diety of the common folk everywhere and it is said he never hesitates to come to the aid of a devotee when called upon.

In southern Sri Lanka, Kartikeya, or Murugan, is worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists alike at the temple in Kataragama (Kathirkamam), where he is known as Katragama Deviyo (Lord of Katragama), or Kathiravel. Local legend holds that Lord Murugan alighted in Kataragam and was smitten by Valli, one of the local aboriginal lasses. After a courtship, they were married. This event is taken to signify that Lord Murugan is accessible to all who worship and love him, regardless of their birth or heritage.

v t e Hindu deities and texts
Gods	Trimurti Brahma Vishnu Shiva Agni Ashvins Chandra Dattatreya Ganesha Hanuman Indra Kama Kartikeya Krishna Kubera Rama Shasta Surya Varuna Vayu Vishvakarma Yama more
Goddesses	Tridevi Saraswati Lakshmi Parvati Aditi Bhumi Chhaya Durga Ganga Shachi Kali Mahadevi Mahavidya Matangi Matrikas Radha Rati Rohini Rukmini Sanjna Sati Shakti Shashthi Sita more
Other deities	Apsaras Asuras Daitya Danava Devata Dikpāla Gandharvas Gana Kuladevatas Gramadevatas Rakshasas Vahanas Yakshas / Yakshini
Texts (list)	Vedas Rig Sama Yajur Atharva Upanishads Puranas Ramayana Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita Yoga Sutras of Patanjali more
Hinduism Hindu mythology