ORIENTAL SERIES.

*5*
KARTTIKEYA*
Lo sacrifices, liberality, austerities, courtesy, and self-restrain I,"
"Thus lie ruled for85,ooo years with unbroken health, prosperity,
"
strength, and valour. F. P, He visited the hermitage of Jarnadagni,
and was received by that sage's wife with all respect; but he
made an ill return for her hospitality, and carried off by violence
"the calf of the milch-cow of the sacred oblation." For this
outrage Parasii-rania cut off his thousand arms and killed him.
In another place a different character is given to him, and more
in accordance with his behaviour at Jamad-agni's hut. "He
oppressed both men and gods," so that the latter appealed to
Vishnu for succour. That god then came down to the earth as
Parasu-rama for the especial purpose of killing him. Kartavirya
was the contemporary of Bava^a, and when that demon
monarch came " in the course of his campaign of conquest to
Mahishrnati (the capital of Karta-virya), he was captured with-
out difficulty, and was confined like a wild beast in a corner of
his city." The statement of the Yayu
Purawa is that Karta-
virya invaded Lanka, and there took Eavawa prisoner.
KABTTIKEYA. The god of war and the planet Mars, also
called Skanda He is said in the Maha-bharata and Kamayafta
to be the son of /Siva or Kudra, and to have been produced
without the intervention of a woman. $iva cast his seed into
fire, and it was afterwards received by the Ganges
: Kartti-
keya was the result ; hence he is called Agni-bhu and Ganga-ja.
He was fostered by the Pleiades (Knttika), and hence he has
six heads and the name Karttikeya. His paternity is some-
times assigned to Agni (fire) ; Ganga (the Ganges) and Parvati
are variously represented to be his mother. He was born for
the purpose of destroying Taraka, a Daitya whose austerities had
made Mm formidable to the gods. He is represented riding on
a peacock called Paravara, holding a bow in one hand and an
arrow in the other. His wife is Kaumari or Sena. He has
many titles : as a warrior he is called Maha-sena, Sena-pati ;
Siddha-sena, *
leader of the
'
Siddhas ; and YucLha-ranga ; also
Kumara, the boy; Guha, 'the mysterious one;' $akti-dhara,
'spear-holder;' and in the south he is called Su-brahmawya,
f
'
He is Ganga-putra, son of the Ganges ; ara-bhu, '
born in
'
the thicket ; Taraka-jit, *
vanquisher of Taraka '
; Dwadasa-kara
and Dwadasaksha,
c
twelve-handed '
and *
?
twelve-eyed ;
kaya, *
straight-bodied.'
See Krauncha,