Story of Kartikeya

This story is from second chapter of Shiva Purana called Rudra Samhita. It explains how Kartikeya was born and his battle with Tarakasur in which he finally killed the demon.

Who was Tarakasur?

Tarakasur was a ferocious demon whose father was Vajranka. As per Hindu mythology Asuras and Devatas were constantly in battle with each other. Vajranka prayed to Lord Bramha and asked as boon a son who could defeat Indra who is the king of all Devatas. Thus Tarakasur was born who in turn did severe meditation to please Bramha. When Bramha appeared and told him what boon he wanted Tarakasur said he anted to be immortal. Bramha said it was against the laws of nature and he could not grant such a wish. At best he can grant him a boon that his death can happen only under a specific circumstance which he could select.

Tarakasur thought about it and requested Bramha for a boon that he can be killed only by Shiva’s son, and Bramha granted his wish. Tarakasur had asked for this boon as he was aware that Shiva had gone into a state of deep meditation after the death of his wife Sati. Shiva was so saddened by Sati’s death that he would not even think about marrying again so he would not be having any children. This made Tarakasur assume that he was now practically immortal.

Atrocities of Tarakasur!

With the boon from Brahma, Tarakasur could not be defeated by any of the Devatas so he started attacking the gods and started destroying the ashrams of Rishis. The Devatas and Rishis approached Bramha and explained their plight. Brahma replied that he was helpless in this matter and as per his boon only a son born to Shiva could kill Tarakasur.

Penance of Parvati!

Parvati was an incarnation of Sati born to Himalaya and Mena. She did severe penance and received the boon of marrying Shiva. Despite the boon received by Parvati, Shiva continued to stay in his deep meditative state. Bramha sent Kamadeva to give rise to desires inside Shiva so he comes out of his meditation. Shiva was really angered by getting disturbed by Kamadeva and burnt him to ashes. At this stage Bramha and Vishnu intervened and explained to him the whole situation and how he needed to come out of meditation and marry Parvati so the havoc being wrecked by Tarakasur can be put to an end. Shiva finally calmed down and restored Kamadeva and agreed to marry Parvati.

Birth of Kartikeya!

There is a really interesting tale behind the birth of Kartikeya which I will cover in more details in a separate post. He is addressed by several names like Skanda, Kumara and Murugan but the most popular name is Kartikeya. He got the name Kartikeya as right after birth he was raised by six Krittikas who were the wives of the seven Sapta-Rishis. This is the reason why he is depicted with six heads with each head being fed by one of the Krittikas.

Once he attained the age of seven he was brought to the home of Lord Shiva in mount Kailash by Bramha. He was then given divine weapons by all the gods and prepared for the battle with Tarakasur. Parvati presented him with the spear called Vel which was embodied with the power of Shakti and could not be countered by any weapon possessed by the demons.

Battle with Tarakasur!

After arriving at the battlefield, Veerbhadra who was the commander of all the Gana warriors of Shiva asked Kartikeya to stay at the back and told him that he himself would fight with Tarakasur. Veerbhadra was the most ferocious warrior amongst Shiva’s army but despite attacking Tarakasur with the strongest weapons he had they did not seem to have any effect on him. This was due to the boon from Bramha that Tarakasur could not be killed by any warrior except Shivas son. Veerbhadra soon became unconscious after receiving a strong blow from Veerbhadra’s trident.

At this stage Kartikeya entered the battle. Looking at seven year old son of Shiva, Tarakasur started mocking the gods saying they were shameless for hiding behind a little boy. The moment he felt the first blow from Kartikeya he realized this was no ordinary boy. All his weapons and shields were useless against the powerful Vel and soon Kartikeya killed Tarakasur. All the gods started rejoicing as they would finally be able to claim their land Swarga which had been taken over by the demons.

This war was not yet over as the sons of Tarakasur called Tripurasur would seek revenge from the gods but I will cover that story in a separate post.

Om Namah Shivay!