Kartikeya with a Kushan devotee, 2nd century CE. The difficulty with interpreting these to be Skanda is that Indra, Agni and Rudra are also depicted in similar terms and as warriors. However, the rest of the verses depict the "boy" as bright-colored, hurling weapons and other motifs that later have been associated with Skanda. The Kumara of verse 5.2.1 can be interpreted as Skanda, or just any "boy". For example, the term Kumara appears in hymn 5,2 of the Rig Veda. There are ancient references which can be interpreted to be Kartikeya in the Vedic texts, in the works of Pāṇini (~500 BCE), in the Mahabhasya of Patanjali and in Kautilya's Arthashastra.
He has got 108 names according to Tamil and Sanskrit folklore. Kartikeya ends the argument by growing five more heads to have a total of six heads so he can look at all six mothers, and let them each nurse one. These six mothers all want to take care of him and nurse baby Kartikeya. After he appears on the banks of the River Ganges, he is seen by the six of the seven brightest stars cluster in the night sky called Krittikas in Hindu texts (called Pleiades). This epithet is also linked to his birth. Agni received the seed and dropped it into the Ganges, where Skanda was born. After many years of abstinence, Shiva’s seed was so strong that the gods, fearing the result, sent Agni, the god of fire, to interrupt Shiva’s amorous play with Parvati. Shiva, however, was lost in meditation and was not attracted to Parvati until he was struck by an arrow from the bow of Kama, the god of love, whom he immediately burned to ashes. They sent Parvati to induce Shiva to marry her. In Kalidasa’s epic poem Kumarasambhava (“The Birth of the War God” 5th century CE), as in most versions of the story, the gods wished for Skanda to be born in order to destroy the demon Taraka, who had been granted a boon that he could be killed only by a son of Shiva. Skanda is derived from skand-, which means "leap or attack". In ancient statues, he appears as Mahasena, Skanda and Vishakha. On some ancient Indo-Scythian coins, his names appear in Greek script as Skanda, Kumara and Vishaka. In ancient coins where the inscription has survived along with his images, his names appear as Kumara, Brahmanya or Brahmanyadeva. Others include Aaiyyan, Cheyyon, Senthil, Vēlaṇ, Swaminatha ("ruler of the gods", from -natha king), śaravaṇabhava ("born amongst the reeds"), Arumugam or ṣaṇmukha ("six-faced"), Dandapani ("wielder of the mace", from -pani hand), Guha (cave, secret) or Guruguha (cave-teacher), Kadhirvelan, Kathiresan, Kandhan, Vishakha and Mahasena. Most common among these are Murugan, Kumara, Skanda, and Subrahmanya. Kartikeya is known by numerous names in ancient and medieval texts of the Indian culture. Sculpture of the god Skanda, from Kannauj, North India, circa 8th century. He is also found in other parts of India, sometimes as Skanda, but in a secondary role along with Ganesha, Parvati and Shiva. The Kataragama temple dedicated to him in Sri Lanka attracts Tamils, Sinhalese people and the Vedda people. Three of the six richest and busiest temples in Tamil Nadu are dedicated to him. Kartikeya is found as a primary deity in temples wherever communities of the Tamil people live worldwide, particularly in Tamil Nadu state of India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Réunion. He has inspired many poet-saints, such as Arunagirinathar. He grows up quickly into a philosopher-warrior, destroys evil in the form of demon Taraka, teaches the pursuit of ethical life and the theology of Shaiva Siddhanta. Most icons show him with one head, but some show him with six heads reflecting the legend surrounding his birth. The iconography of Kartikeya varies significantly he is typically represented as an ever-youthful man, riding or near an Indian Peacock, called Paravani, dressed with weapons sometimes with a rooster in the flag he holds.
He is found in many medieval temples all over India, such as at the Ellora Caves and Elephanta Caves. Archaeological evidence from 1st-century CE and earlier, where he is found with Hindu god Agni (fire), suggest that he was a significant deity in early Hinduism. Kartikeya is an ancient god, traceable to the Vedic era. An important deity in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times, Kartikeya is particularly popular and predominantly worshipped in South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia as Murugan. He is a son of Parvati and Shiva, brother of Ganesha, and a god whose life story has many versions in Hinduism. Kartikeya ( Sanskrit: कार्त्तिकेय, IAST: Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Kumara, Murugan, Mahasena, Shanmukha and Subrahmanya, is the Hindu god of war.
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