Kartikeya: Encyclopedia II - Kartikeya - The adoration of Kartikeya

Kartikeya - The adoration of Kartikeya

Historically, Kartikeya enjoyed immense popularity in the Indian subcontinent. One of the major Puranas, the Skanda-purana is dedicated to him. In the Bhagavad-Gita( Ch.10, Verse 24) Krishna, explaining his omnipresence, says - "Of generals I am Skanda, the lord of war".

His presence in the religious and cultural sphere can be seen at least from the Gupta age. Two of the Gupta kings, Kumaragupta and definitely Skandagupta were named after him. He is seen in the Gupta sculptures and in the temples of Ellora and Elephanta.As the commander of the divine armies, he became the patron of the ruling classes. His youth, beauty and bravery was much celebrated in the Sanskrit works like the Katha-Saritsagara. Kalidasa chose his birth as the subject of one of his epics.

However, his popularity in the north India saw a great erosion from the middle ages. He slowly vanished from the scene and is today virtually unknown in these areas except in scholarly circles.The last vestige can be seen only in Bengal where he is worshipped during the Durga Puja along with Durga. This suprising change may perhaps be attributed to the fact that he was stongly associated with the ruling classes and from the middle ages most of the ruling houses were Muslims.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The adoration of Kartikeya", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki