Kārttikeya’s Birth and Abhisheka
Chapter 31 of the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa tells how Kārttikeya, also called Skanda, was born. Agni swallows the seed of Bhagavān Śiva, cannot bear it, and gives it to the river Kuṭilā. She carries it for five thousand years and then places it in the Śaravaṇa reed forest on Udayagiri. There the six-faced child is born and the six Kṛttikās nurse him.
A dispute about his parents follows, and Bhagavān Śiva settles it by giving the child four names. Kārttikeya is then consecrated as commander of the deva armies at Pṛthūdaka, and Bhagavān Vishṇu gives the blessing that confirms him.
Agni swallows the seed of Bhagavān Śiva
At the wedding of Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Pārvatī, told in Chapter 27, the śukra (seed) of Bhagavān Śiva was released. It held the concentrated power of his endless tapas (austerity). Agni, the deva of fire, was at the wedding as part of the sacred fire. He received this seed and swallowed it.
The Vāmana Purāṇa gives the reason. The seed had to be held until the right time. A son of Bhagavān Śiva born at that moment would have had such great force that the created worlds could not have borne him.
Agni cannot bear the seed
Agni is the most purifying and burning of the elements. Even so, he could not bear the seed of Bhagavān Śiva within himself. It burned inside him with a tejas (radiance) greater than Agni could hold, and he was in great distress.
The seed is placed in the Kuṭilā
Agni gave the divine seed to the river Kuṭilā. This sacred stream was Kuṭilā, the daughter of Himavān and a sister of Devī Pārvatī. The sister of Bhagavān Śiva’s own wife thus became the carrier of his seed.
Kuṭilā held the seed in her waters for five thousand years.
Birth in the Śaravaṇa on Udayagiri
When the time was complete, Kuṭilā placed the seed in the Śaravaṇa. This is a thick reed forest (śara means reed) on the slopes of Udayagiri, the mountain of sunrise. There the divine child was born. He had six faces, which is why he is called Shaḍānana, “the six-faced”.
The six Kṛttikās nurse the child
The six Kṛttikās are the nurses of the devas linked with the Pleiades star cluster. They found the six-faced infant in the Śaravaṇa and nursed him. Each Kṛttikā nursed one of his six faces.
From this he received the name Kārttikeya, the one nourished by the Kṛttikās. The six Kṛttikās became his foster mothers.
The dispute over his parents
After the birth a dispute began about whose son the child was.
- Agni claimed him, because Agni had carried the seed.
- Kuṭilā claimed him, because she had borne him for five thousand years.
Bhagavān Vishṇu was asked to decide. He saw that the question was hard to settle and left the final answer to Bhagavān Śiva.
Bhagavān Śiva gives four names
Bhagavān Śiva gave an answer that honoured every claim and also kept his own place as father. He named four forms of the divine son, each belonging to one parent:
- Kumāra, the son of Bhagavān Śiva himself, from his seed.
- Viśākha, the son of Umā-Pārvatī.
- Śākha, the son of Kuṭilā, in honour of her five thousand years of bearing him.
- Mahāsena, the son of Agni, in honour of Agni as the first to carry the seed.
The divine child is one being with four names. Kārttikeya stays as the name that comes from the six Kṛttikā nurses.
The abhisheka at Pṛthūdaka
Kārttikeya’s royal abhisheka (consecration) as commander of the deva armies was held at Pṛthūdaka tīrtha (holy place). This is the same sacred place at Kurukshetra that King Kuru’s offering had established and that Bhagavān Vishṇu’s presence had blessed.
All the devas took part and gave gifts. Rivers, tīrthas, holy mountains and other cosmic powers each gave Kārttikeya a retinue of gaṇas, attendants who would serve under him as general of the army of the devas. The chapter lists these retinues at great length. Each river gave its own group of gaṇas, and each great deva gave forces that are counted one by one.
Bhagavān Vishṇu’s svastivācana
Chapter 32 begins with Bhagavān Vishṇu speaking the svastivācana (the words of blessing) for Skanda at the abhisheka. This confirmed him as Senāpati, commander of the deva armies. It gave him divine authority for the task that came next, the slaying of the asura Tāraka.
Sources
- Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 31
- Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 32 (the svastivācana); Chapter 27 (the wedding of Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Pārvatī)