Karthikeya Temple - Worshiped By Krishna And Yuddhishthira

Special Features

Foundation Year: 5th Century

Architecture: Nagara style

Sthala Puran

The Skanda Purana narrates that Shiva first wed Sati, the granddaughter of Brahma and the daughter of Daksha. Daksha never liked Shiva, who is symbolizing destruction and detachment, begs for food, dances in a graveyard smeared with ashes, and has no possessions, not even good clothes for himself. Daksha publicly insulted Shiva in a Yagna ceremony, and Sati immolated Herself in anger over this treatment of Her husband. The Yagna was destroyed by the ganas of Shiva led by Virabhadra. Shiva was an ascetic, and his earlier marriage was conducted with great difficulty; his remarriage was out of the question. Hence Taraka believed that his boon of being killed by Shiva's son alone would give him invincibility.The Devas manage to get Shiva remarried to Parvati by having the Kama, the God of love, awaken him from his penance, incurring his wrath in the process. Shiva hands over his effulgence of the third eye used to destroy the Kama to Agni, as he alone is capable of handling it until it becomes the desired offspring. But even Agni, tortured by its heat, hands it over to Ganga, who in turn deposits it in a lake in a forest of reeds (shara). The child is finally born in this forest (vana) with six faces - eesanam, sathpurusham, Vamadevam, agoram, sathyojatham and adhomugam. He is first spotted and cared for by six women representing the Pleiades - Kritika in Sanskrit. He thus gets named Karttikeya. As a young lad, he destroyed Taraka. He is also known as Kumara (Sanskrit for youth).

Prayers and Benefits

Festivals

Social Activities