Lord Kartikeya, also popularly known as Murugan and Skanda, is a Hindu god of war. He is the eldest son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati and the brother of Lord Ganesha. Lord Murugan is the knight of the gods and is one of the greatest warriors among the gods. His worship is popular in South India compared to North India. Skanda Purana is an important Hindu text that is dedicated to him.
The word Kartikeya means “(born) of the Krittikas”.
The word Murugan means “the one who is youthful and handsome”.
Lord Murugan is often depicted as an ever-youthful man carrying a Vel in his right hand. Some images show him with six faces with his two wives sitting on his two laps. Sometimes he is riding a peacock and sometimes is standing. He wears some golden ornaments and a yellow pitambara (a cloth). Verse 5.2.1 in the Rig Veda talks about Kumara, whose characteristics match that of Lord Kartikeya. Therefore, some scholars believe that this verse is the origin of Lord Murugan’s worship.
In the Atharva Veda, he is mentioned as the son of Agni. Other religious texts, like Aranyakas and Brahmanas, also mention him. The Skanda Purana is one of the major puranas that describes him as the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, who was born to kill Tarakasura.
Tarakasura was a demon who practiced severe penance and propitiated Lord Brahma. When Lord Brahma expressed his inability to grant him a wish for immortality, he wished that only a son of Lord Shiva could kill him. Lord Brahma granted him the wish.
After receiving the boon, Tarakasura thought that he had become immortal because Lord Shiva had denounced the world and engaged in deep meditation after the death of his first wife, Goddess Sati. Therefore, it was highly unlikely that he would marry and produce a son. Hence, he started torturing gods and common people.
Lord Shiva Gets Married
The gods needed to get Lord Shiva married and have a son to defeat Tarakasura. Therefore, they sent Kamadeva to Lord Shiva. This act of gods made Lord Shiva angry, and he burnt Kamadeva. After some time, Goddess Sati was reborn as Goddess Parvati and did severe penance to have Lord Shiva as her husband. Propitiated by her devotion, Lord Shiva married her. But their physical intimacy caused Pralaya – the destruction of the world. Therefore, the gods sent Agni (Fire-god) to interrupt them. Agni secretly entered their palace and loudly asked for alms. Lord Shiva was infuriated because of the disturbance and rushed to kill Agni. But Goddess Parvati intervened and gave his semen as alms to Agni. When Agni drank the semen in front of her, she cursed him to be omnivorous.
Agni became pregnant, and so did all other gods, because they receive food through the medium of Agni. They started to have unbearable stomach pain. Therefore, they went to Lord Vishnu, who advised them to praise Lord Shiva. Propitiated, Lord Shiva advised gods to vomit the semen except for Agni.
He advised Agni to transmit it to women. The next morning, the wives of Saptarishi went for a bath in the river. After the bath, they started feeling cold and went to warm themselves near a fire, except for Arundhati, the wife of Vashishtha. Agni secretly transferred Lord Shiva’s semen to them, and those six women became pregnant.
The Birth of Lord Kartikeya
When their husbands came to know about it, they drove them out of their homes and cursed them. They became the constellations of Krittikas, moving in the sky. At that time, all of them became distressed due to their deviation from chastity and aborted Lord Shiva’s semen on top of the Himalayas, which flowed into the river Ganges. It finally developed into a child with six faces on the bank of the Ganges.
The Killing of Tarakasura
All the gods rejoiced at the birth of Lord Shiva’s son, made him the chief of their army, and prepared to attack Tarakasura. Tarakasura and his army came out of Patala Loka and the war began. Initially, a fierce battle between Tarakasura and Virbhadra began. When Virbhadra was about to pierce Tarakasura with his trident, Lord Kartikeya stopped him. Then the battle between Kartikeya and Tarakasura began. Tarakasura hurled a divine weapon toward Kartikeya that made him unconscious for some time, but he regained the consciousness and started fighting again. After a long fierce battle, Kartikeya cut off the head of Tarakasura. All the gods and sages hailed Kartikeya.
The Race Between Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya
Lord Kartikeya and Lord Ganesha both wanted to get married and expressed their desire to their parents. As both the sons were dearer to them, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati decided to arrange a competition.
Therefore, they called both of them and told them that whoever would go around the world three times and return to Kailasa first would get married first.
Lord Kartikeya sat on his peacock and took off immediately. Lord Ganesha was very slow because his vahana was a mouse. He knew that he would never win the race on a mouse. So, he came up with an idea. He made Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati sit together at a place and went around them three times in a clockwise direction. When asked about this, Lord Ganesha explained that parents are like a world to a child. Hence, going around them is like going around the world.
Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were impressed by Lord Ganesha’s intelligence and devotion and got him married to Riddhi and Siddhi.
Why did Kartikeya leave Kailasa?
When Lord Kartikeya returned to Mount Kailash, he got the news about Lord Ganesha’s marriage and felt tricked. He got upset and went to Mount Krauncha for ascetic practice against his parents’ advice. His distressed parents went there to convince him, but he went further out of disregard for their love.
Why is a Peacock the Carrier of Lord Kartikeya?
Once there was a despotic demon named Soorpadaman. Lord Kartikeya decided to teach him a lesson and went to fight with him. Soorpadaman took the form of a mango tree. Lord Kartikeya threw his divine spear at it. The Vel split Soorpadman’s body in two; one half becoming a rooster and the other half a peacock.
Lord Kartikeya made the peacock to be his vahana and the rooster to be the emblem on his battle flag.
Family of Lord Murugan
There are different stories about Lord Murugan’s marital status. Per some stories, he became an ascetic and never married, but the other stories tell us about his marriages. As per these stories, Lord Kartikeya has two wives; Devasena and Valli.