Karthikeya, the Son of the Neelkanth!!!

Lord Karthikeya, the second son of Lord Shiva & Goddess Parvathi, is known as the God of War & Victory. The below post discusses his birth, his fight & victory against evil and his marriage with Devasena & Valli.

The Wait for a Saviour

Maya, a demoness, transformed herself into a beautiful woman & married Sage Kashyapa, not revealing to him, her true identity. Her intent was to give birth to children who would rule over the three worlds, since they would be born with yogic powers from the Sage. Maya & Sage Kashyapa gave birth to three sons & one daughter – Surapadma, Simhamukha, Taraka & Ajamukhi, respectively.

The Asuras (demons) – Surapadma, Simhamukha & Taraka, were ambitious to take over the throne of Indra and rule the three worlds. Having understood the power of the Devas, they devised plans of obtaining boons first before they attacked the Devas.

The brothers performed severe penance and won boons from the Creator of the World, Lord Brahma. The boons stated that they would face death at the hands of none other than the Son of Shiva. Since Sati had immolated herself at Daksha’s Yagna (refer to The Story of Shakthi & Shiva), the Asura kings decided that there would be no way they could die.  They thought that Shiva did not have a wife in the first place, leave alone having a son. (Another story goes that, they obtained a boon of immortality).

With growing arrogance, the Asuras started terrorizing the Devas and Rishis (godly men). They aimed at conquering the Devas and ruling over them by seizing Indra (King of the Devas) of his throne. With their immense power, the Asuras captured and imprisoned many of the Devas. The Devas ran to Lord Shiva for help, having realized that He was the only person who could save them from Surapadma, Simhamukha & Taraka. This was exactly the time when Shiva remarried Shakthi, in the form of Goddess Parvathi.

The Birth of Karthikeya

Realizing that he had to do something about the Asuras, Lord Shiva, opened his Third Eye, out of which six sparks arose and handed over them to Agni, the God of Fire. But the sparks were of such heat, that even the God of Fire could not withstand it and he left the sparks in the River Ganga. The flowing river carried the sparks up to the Sharavan, forest of reeds (Shara – Reeds; Van – Forest). It was here that the six sparks turned into six beautiful babies in lotuses. The Kritika women, again six in number, found these babies and each of these women took care of one child.

The babies grew into young boys and the time came closer when they had to be handed over to Shiva & Parvathi. The six boys merged to form one boy with six heads – Lord Karthikeya.

**The boy came to be known as Shravan – since he was born in Sharavan; as Karthikeya – as he was brought up by the Kritika women; as Shanmuga & Aarumuga – as he had six faces.

The End of the Asura Trio

At the appropriate time, Lord Shiva called upon Karthikeya and asked him to vanquish the Asura brothers, Surapadma, Simhamukha & Taraka. Lord Shiva appointed Veerabahu as the chief of Karthikeya’s army and Goddess Parvathi gifted him with the divine spear. With his parents’ blessings, Karthikeya left the abode with the motive of liberating the Devas. After fierce battles with the Asura brothers & their army, Karthikeya emerged victorious after getting over with the three Asura brothers, with the help of his chief & loyalist, Veerabahu. The story which says that Lord Shiva granted them boons of immortality, believes that Surapadma was severed into two, one part of which took the form of a Peacock (Karthikeya’s Vaahan/Vehicle) and the other part took the form of a Rooster (the emblem in Karthikeya’s flag), thereby ensuring he did not die.

Marriage with Devasena

Indra was pleased with Lord Karthikeya on his victory over the Asuras. As a token of gratitude for having restored the dignity of the Devas, Indra offered his daughter, Devasena’s (Deivanai/Devayani) hand to Lord Karthikeya and requested him to accept her as his wife. Lord Karthikeya willingly accepted and the marriage took place in the heavens, amidst much splendour.

The Princess of Vallimalai

Valli was born to Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi in the form of a deer. When the baby was born, it was laid in a pit dug by the tribal folks. The chief of the tribe, Nambi and his wife found the baby and decided to adopt the baby as their daughter. They named their daughter Valli (a type of yam which is grown under the earth; since Valli was found in a pit dug up, she was named so) and brought her up with love and affection.

Years passed by and Valli grew up to be a beautiful woman. Once when Valli was out on the fields to supervise the harvests, an old man approached her for food. As kind as she was, Valli offered him some fruits & water. The old man thanked her and told her that he was in love with her and would like to marry her. Valli was not inclined towards marrying an old man and refused his proposal. The old man was actually Lord Karthikeya who had come in disguise to tease Valli. He immediately invoked his elder brother, Lord Ganesha to help him out and Lord Ganesha appeared in the form of an elephant. The sight of the elephant terrified Valli and she ran to the old man requesting him to save her. But the old man flatly stated that he would help her only if she agreed to his proposal. Valli reluctantly agreed, upon which the Lord regained his true form and revealed his identity to her. Valli was only too pleased to have agreed to the proposal, as it was her long-cherished dream to wed Lord Karthikeya.

Nambi too agreed to give his daughter’s hand to the Lord and the marriage was held in pomp and show, with the Gods showering their blessings on the young couple.

** Devasena and Valli were the daughters of Lord Vishnu in their previous births, by name, Amritavalli & Sundaravalli. They were eager to wed Lord Karthikeya and hence performed severe penance to win over him. He had granted them the boon of marriage in their next births, which was why the Lord had two wives.

Om Thatpurushaya Vidhmahe Maha Senaya Dhimahi

Thannah Shanmukha Prachodhayath

Meaning: Let us know That Supreme Being and meditate upon Him, The Supreme General of the great Deva Army: Lord Shanmuga (Skanda), May He enlighten us and lead us to be One with Him.

** Six hills in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, have been lucky to be the chosen abode for Lord Karthikeya. The places are listed below in the order of his life’s events:

    1) Pazhani – the hill where Lord Karthikeya resigned himself to, as a kid, over a fight with his elder brother, Lord Ganesha, for a mango.

   2) Swamimalai – where Lord Karthikeya, as a young learned boy,  preached the meaning of the divine word “Om” to his father, Lord Shiva

    3)Thiruchendur – where he won the battle against the Asura brothers (Surapadma, Simhamukha & Taraka)

    4) Thiruparangundram – the hill where he married Goddess Devasena, the daughter of Indra

    5) Thirutthani – the hill where he married Goddess Valli, the daughter of Nambi

    6) Pazhamudhircholai – where he gives his darshan to devotees with Devasena & Valli