Murugan
- This article is about the Hindu deity Skanda; for the Buddhist bodhisattva Skanda, see Skanda (Buddhism).
In Hinduism, Kārttikeya (also Skanda, Subrahmanya, Kumara, Arumugan, Shanmugan, Murugan, Guha, Saravana, Swaminatha, Velan, Senthil) is a deity born out of a magical spark created by Shiva. The name Kārttikeya means "him of the Pleiades". There are several legends surrounding his birth.
According to some legends, Shiva's spark was so bright and luminous that only Agni, god of Fire, could carry it. Agni deposited the spark, according to Shiva's directions, in the Ganges river. The Ganga then nourished the spark, causing a living being, Kartikeya, to spring from it.
According to a legend, popular with Tamils, 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 evil demon Soorapadam.
Skanda is regarded as the second son of Shiva and Parvati. Kartikeya is the god of masculinity, war and leader of the armies of the gods. Tamil legends say he married two deities, Valli and Devayani. 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 spear (called "vel" in Tamil) is a weapon closely associated with him. The flag of his army depicts a rooster. In the war, Soorapadman 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); "Muruga"; "Guha"; "Skanda" (the divine child); "Maal-Marigan" (nephew of Vishnu) and many others.
Related Links
- Swami Sivananda's book on Lord Kartikeya; also available on PDF.
- Murugan Bhakti site
- The one major Murugan temple that is not atop a hill
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