Kartikeya

Kartikeya / कार्तिकेय

Kartikeya was a son of Shiv. He is the god of war and the commander-in-chief of the army of the gods. When Shiv let his seeds fall on earth, Brahma asked Agni to consume it.
Unable to bear the burden any more, Agni, after five thousand years, on the advice of Brahma, passed on the semen to Ganga, who having born the semen for another five thousand years, consulted Brahma, and then deposited the semen on a clump of reeds, at the top of the mountain Himvan. After ten thousand years a child was born.
He was suckled by the six Krittikas, and since he looked at them one after another, he developed six faces. As the child was breast-fed by the six Krittikas, he was named Kartikeya. When Agni, Ganga, Shiv and Parvati came to know of the birth of the child, each of them claimed the child to be his or her own.
Finally, Shiv suggested that they go to the mountain were the child was born and whoever he would look at first would be his parent. Kartikey, learning of this through his Yogic powers, developed four bodies.
With the body Kumar, he looked at Shiv with Vishakh, he looked at Parvati with Shakh at Ganga and with Naigamey at Agni.
Shiv then concluded as follows as the son of the Krittikas, he would be called Kartikeya; as the son of Ganga, he would be called Kumar; as the son of Parvati, he would be called Skand; as the son of Agni, he would be called Mahasen; and as his (Shiv's) own son, he would be called Guh.
Kartikeya was then made commander-in-chief of the army of the Devs by the gods. All the gods gave him powerful warriors, to equip him for his battle against the mighty Asur Tarak, to kill whom he was born. Garud presented him with his son, the peacock.
In the war, which ensued between the Devs and Asurs, the demon Tarak was killed by Kartikeya.
Kartikeya was married to Devsena, the daughter of Kashyap.

Kartikeya

Kartikeya / कार्तिकेय

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