# Kartikay

Kartikay, also known as Subrahmanya, Kartika, Kartikeya, is a major Hindu god worshipped throughout the Indian subcontinent. He is greatly revered by Shaivites and Shaktites and Kaumarites as a son of Shiva and Parvati. In Vaishnava, Advaita and Smarta traditions, he is a manifestation of Brahman.
Kartikay is usually known as the god of war in Advaita, Smarta, Vaishnava, Shaiva traditions. His role in Hindu thought is as a bestower of spiritual powers or siddhis, gained through spiritual accomplishments. His role, as bestower of siddhis complements his brother Ganesha's role as Remover of Obstacles.
Traditionally, Kartikay is the name of the god of war and battle. In the Puranas, the god is identified as Skanda. However in certain myths, he is known by six different names to mention the fact that he has six heads. These six heads of him are: Kartikeya, Subrahmanya, Skanda, Guha, Shadannana, Shanmukha.

## Life
### In Sanskrit literature

In Sanskrit literature, Kartikay is the son of Shiva and Parvati.
Shiva retreated into many years of yogic meditation after the death of Parvati's incarnation as Sati, who immolated herself at her father Daksha and Asikini's yajna. At this time, the demon Tarakasura had been granted a boon of invulnerability to all but a son of Shiva and Parvati, by Brahma, the creator god. As Shiva and Parvati had retreated to a life of asceticism, Tarakasura assumed Shiva and Parvati would never marry again, and rampaged across the Earth.
The true form of Sati, Parvati (also known as Uma) did severe penance to marry Shiva (also known as Rudra). In an attempt to make Shiva and Parvati's marriage happen at the earliest and to end the suppression of devas and devis from Tarakasura, Kamadeva, the god of love and sexual desire, fired an arrow of flowers at Shiva in an attempt to cause Shiva to marry Parvati. Kamadeva was burned to ashes and killed by the fires of Shiva's third eye.
However, Shiva later married Parvati, pleased by her devotion. According to Hindu mythology, Shiva then offered his seed to the god of fire, Agni. Agni was unable to bear the brightness and intensity of the heat and they were given for safekeeping to Ganga. The seeds then matured into six cloned boys who were raised by the Krittikas. Parvati was then united with the boys, whom she fuses into one boy.
Kartikay was then sent out to do battle with the asura, Tarakasura, accompanied by the devas. He killed Tarakasura after seven battles in different sites across India. After his killing of Tarakasura, Kartikay is said to have become the general of the gods and goddesses and to have led them to victory on various occasions and killed the demons and demonesses. He later earned the titles of war god and general of the gods and goddesses.

### In the Mahabharata

In the Mahabharata, he was said to have been born by Shiva and Parvati to kill the demon Mahishasura, who later became the enemy of the goddess of power, Parvati as Durga and was killed by her. He is also attacked by Indra who saw Kartikay as a threat to his position as the king of the Svarga. Shiva and Parvati, however, intervened and had Kartikay's life saved.

### In the Puranas

The story of Kartikay in the Puranas follows the same order as in other Sanskrit literature. Sati is known as Dakshayani, and is the granddaughter of Brahma and Sarasvati, and Kamadeva is also known as Manmatha. Also, Kartikay had killed Tarakasura as a young boy and not as a youth as commonly belived by many.

## Symbolism

Kartikay's symbols are based on the weaponry he carries and his mount the peacock. He is sometimes depicted with many weapons including: a sword, a javelin, a mace, a discus, a bow although more usually he is depicted wielding a shakti or a spear. This symbolises his purification of human ills.
His javelin is used to symbolise his far reaching protection, his discus symbolises his knowledge of the truth, his mace represents his strength and his bow shows his ability to defeat all ills. His peacock mount symbolises his destruction of the ego.
His six heads represent the six siddhis bestowed upon yogis over the course of their spiritual development. This corresponds to his role as Bestower of Siddhis.

## Worship

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, while explaining his omnipresence to Arjuna, names the most perfect being, mortal or divine, in each of several categories in which he in his true form as Vishnu is mainly present. While doing so, he says: "Among generals, I am Skanda, the lord of war."
Kartikeya's presence in the religious and cultural sphere can be seen at least from the Gupta age. Two of the Gupta kings, Kumaragupta I 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 god of the ruling classes. His youth, beauty, bravery was much celebrated in Sanskrit works like the Kathasaritsagara. Kalidasa made the birth of Kumara the subject of a lyrical epic, the Kumārasambhava.
In ancient India, Kartikay was also regarded as the patron god of thieves, as may be inferred from the Mṛcchakatika, a Sanskrit play by Shudraka, and in the Vetala Panchvimshati, a medieval collection of tales. This association is linked to the fact that Kartikay had dug through the Krauncha mountain to kill the demon Tarakasura and his brothers and killed him (in the Mṛcchakatika, Sarivilaka prays to him before tunnelling into the hero's house).
However, Kartikay's popularity in north India receded from the Middle Ages onwards, and his worship is today virtually unknown. Reminders of former devotions to him include a temple at Achaleshwar, near Batala in Punjab, and another temple of Skanda atop the Parvati hill in Pune, Maharashtra. Another vestige of his former popularity can be seen in Bengal, where he is worshipped during the Durga Puja festivities alongside Durga.