Hi, I was going through Raghuvansham of Kalidasa and came across a reference of six faces of Kartikeya. In 22nd shloka of 14th chapter, Rama is compared with Kartikeya. Dashratha had three queens, hence Rama got equal love from all of them such as he has three mothers. He was fed by all three as Kartikeya was fed by Krittika nakshatra. As per astrology, there are 3 Krittika nakshatras, and Kartikeys has to have six heads to get fed from three mothers simultaneously.
Karthikai Deepam is a festival of lights celebrated by Tamil Hindus on the full moon day of Karthikai month (November/December), which is observed in every home and in every temple. This occurs on the day when the moon is in conjunction with the constellation Karthigai (Pleiades) and purnima. This constellation appears as a group of six stars ( Tamil literature's mention this as Arumeen )in the firmament in the shape of a pendant from the ear.
Many legends and lyrical poetry have grown round this star. The six stars are considered in Indian mythology as the six celestial nymphs who reared the six babies in the saravana tank which later were joined together to form the six faced Muruga. He is therefore called Karthikeya, the one brought up by the Karthigai nymphs. Houses and streets are lit up with rows of oil lamps (Deepam) in the evening of the festival day.
This is one of the oldest festivals of Tamilnadu.
IntInterestingly is celebrated as DEV DEEPAVALI in Kashi.
Every one is compared to Karthikeya :-) He is such a personality rite :-) He falls as the central constitution of e=mc2 (C being him) :-) Well... legends apart, most of the Skanda / karthikeya is a spiritual connection.
Muruga / Skanda is a energy force that can be materialized by the human mind alone, the ones that go to the level where it can instantiate the energy to stand outside the material frame. Arunagiri did it, many others could. Sura padman apparently did it too... He was the one who materialized Skanda.
every one of the legendary story is in essence a thathuvam, physical attributes are less. Also materialization points / places may have become temples / sthalams at many places.
The real 6 face skanda meaning is embedded in the seyul Ainthu mugam thondrin aaru mugam thondrum, venjamaril anjel ena vel thondrum...
There seem to be many symbolism for the six faces eesanam, sathpurusham, vamadevam, agoram, sathyojatham and adhomugam
1. Representing the Six madhams (shanmadhams) 2. Six faces include the 5 faces of Shiva and an individual extra 3. The main six siddhis to be conquered (or I think 5 siddhis and 1 for complete mukthi)
The article mentions different versions of the birth legend.
Anyway, all the various legends only make Muruga more captivating.. he is my hero!!
I have read it @ kaumaram - still that is 4 blind men with an elephant. I believe the closest you can get to Karthikeya is via Aatrupadai / thirupugazh - anubuthi.
How you see him is described in Adhala sedhanar aada song , ofcourse that song shud not be sung, but felt to have the impact. Same also can be done via anubuthi... no singing, feeling it. You need to become one with the verses, then it wud come from inside n not outside!
Studying him for past so many years, i can say that i am no where close to understanding him, however this much can be said, the answer to Him is 99% inside and not outside. Reading these texts would not get us beyond the 1st 5 steps of a million steps...
As Guru Arunagiri says "Puthaga pithatrai vittu, vithagathunnai thuthikka, buthiyil kalakkam atru nilayathe"
Again, I insist, all these below and above explanations only lead to one seyyul , that i have quoted in as many words.
I thought Kartikeya had 6 mothers. Isn't Kartika the Pleiades? [actually many more than 6 stars there, but 6 major ones]. You can test your eyes on how many you can see. [not in Chennai, tho, too light] That's also meaning of car Co. name: 'Subaru' i've read. kathie
The fire from siva's eye fell into a pond called saravana poigai and six children were formed. Six karthiga women were his foster mothers. Parvathi took allthe children together and and they united as one baby with 6 faces and 12 hands. It is referred in cilappadikaram also.
As Ravi sir said - Muruga representes so many concepts.
he is the essence of siva, vishnu and sakthi.
There is a tamil saying there is no medicine above dry ginger and no god above subramanya .