Who is skanda

Success indeed has many fathers, and in Skanda's case mothers too - eight in the most popular version the origin story! The many claimants for his parentage indicate his immense importance for rival sects who needed the hill warrior's popularity to bolster their numbers. The Ganapati worshippers alone took an antagonistic stand when it was their time to bask in the sun, they never could forgive Skanda his head start in popularity. The Jains and Buddhists had no stories about Skanda as they did about the Vedic deities; he was too violent for them.

The Mahabharata seems to have the first version of his origin though the Ramayana has a little section that covers familiar ground too. The Mahabharata version tries to position Skanda within the ambit of Vedic deities, unlike the other versions, which are Pauranic in nature. As usual the devas or gods were under threat from demonic forces.

A new hero was required to deal with the problem, as the demons were immune to the old powers that be. Agni, god of fire, goes to some great sages, to ask them to perform a sacrifice that will give him such a son. They are immersed in some sacrifice of their own and Agni has to wait. Being impatient by nature and of a fiery temperament, he pays more attention to the beautiful wives of the rishis, and is seized with desire for them. He makes obvious overtures, which they ignore. This however is all the opportunity needed for a minor female goddess called Svaha who has been lusting in her heart after Agni.

She assumes the forms of the wives and seduces Agni six times in succession. Each time his fiery seed is too hot for her to retain within herself so she carries it to Mount Sveta and places it in a golden pot in a place well concealed by Sara reeds. Within this obviously symbolic womb the seed is born as Subrahmanya or Skanda.

In six days he is fully-grown and he has six heads for each one of the forms assumed by Svaha. On the sixth day this young hero is presented all the weapons of the gods and he routs the demons in an exciting battle. Thereupon he becomes the permanent warlord of the gods. He also gets Svaha married to Agni and decrees that all offerings into the sacred fire be accompanied by the pronouncing of her name. This is a very obvious later interpolation by a morally scandalized writer.

The incantation of "Svaha" is as old as the Vedas and their rituals. This version still tries to proclaim the [now in doubt] superiority of the sacrificial ritual - even peripheral events round a sacrifice becomes cosmically significant.

The ambivalent and at times openly hedonistic sexuality of the story becomes a motif of all later Skanda myths. Skanda is described variously as an extremely promiscuous young man, a protector of young women from abduction, a lifelong celibate, a happily married man, or a dandy verging on being a rake.

Obviously the god served as a proxy for all the attitudes to sexuality that ever became popular in India. In the south he is married, with Sena and Valli as his two wives. That really does not say anything as sena means 'army' and Valli is a personification of the Vel or lozenge-shaped spear that he uses.

They represent his essential nature as a warrior more than any real human women do. In Orissa and Bengal there is an interesting folk version as to why Karttikeya or Skanda is a bachelor. His mother, Parvati, wife of Shiva asked him what kind of girl he was wanted to marry. His reply was, " A girl who is as beautiful as you. The experience seems to have turned him into a misogynist. Any woman who entered his sacred grove would instantly add to the holy vegetation by being turned into a tree or creeper!

However Karttik as he is known in eastern India remains the epitome of handsome valor, both courage and good looks being eulogized as being 'like Karttik'. In the famous Kalighat Pat paintings of the late nineteenth century, Karttik is actually shown by many painters to be wearing European dancing pumps, as some sort of continued tribute to his eternal elegance. Another peculiarity of Skanda representations in eastern India is the fact that he is always depicted as an archer not as a spearman as in the rest of India.

The hunter-god aspect remained strongest in the memory, as the forests too were abundant in the region until quite recently. However in all parts of the country the most common feature of Skanda was his youth. He is India's version of what would be known later in Europe as Peur Aeturnus - the eternal youth, representing not chronological age but an attitude of optimism and joyful vigor.

Sculptural representations always show him as Trishikin - having three locks of hair, the mark of the eternal youth -- Kumara. Kashgar is a philosophy as well as a store. We are committed to supporting traditional artisans and small village communities by selling authentic handcrafted goods which are personally collected by us. By supporting traditional methods of design and production we hope to encourage local cottage industries which have a low impact on the environment and help ethnic minorities maintain their self-sufficiency into the 21st Century.

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Photo credit: Kashgar While Ganesh is a well know and loved figure in Hindu mythology, his younger brother Skanda is almost completely forgotten. Accessed May Wikipedia Linda Heaphy.

Nikhil Nanda June 17, thanks for sharing such useful information. Daniel egole February 15, I want too get connected with the grand master. She has travelled extensively and is a passionate writer on subjects as diverse as the role played by women throughout history , tribal communities and their customs, symbology and ethnology, talismans and their history. Occasionally she also writes about her travel experiences, her new life on a 25 acres in the Northern Rivers region of northern Australia and her black miniature poodle Phoenix.

She is currently writing her first book on talismans. Kashgar has recently closed its retail outlet and gone completely online. Please enjoy - Linda Heaphy. There is a shrine to Skanda in all Saivite temples in Tamilnadu, and likewise there are shrines to Shiva and Parvati in all temples dedicated to Skanda.

Valli - the daughter of a tribal ruler and Deivayanai or Devasena the daughter of Indra the King of Devas are the consorts of Skanda. Skanda is also revered as the nephew of Vishnu and is referred to as Maal Marugan. The rich mythology surrounding Skanda hence revolves around all of the above mentioned manifestations of Divinity.