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The experience seems to have turned him into a misogynist. Any woman who entered
his sacred grove would instantly add to the holy vegetation by being turned into
a tree or creeper! However Kartik, as he is known in eastern India, remains the
epitome of handsome valor, both courage and good looks being eulogized as being
'like Kartik'. In the famous Kalighat Pat paintings of the late nineteenth century,
Kartik is actually shown by many painters to be wearing European dancing pumps,
as some sort of continued tribute to his eternal elegance. Another peculiarity of
Skanda representations in eastern India is the fact that he is always depicted as
an archer, not as a Spearman as in the rest of India. The hunter-god aspect remained
strongest in the memory, as the forests too were abundant in the region until quite
recently. However, in all parts of the country the most common feature of Skanda
was his youth. He is India's version of what would be known later in Europe as Peur
Aeturnus - the eternal youth, representing not chronological age but an attitude
of optimism and joyful vigor. Sculptural representations always show him as Trishikin
- having three locks of hair, the mark of the eternal youth - Kumara.
This notion of the Kumara was well established by the time Kalidasa wrote his version
of the origin of Skanda - Kumarasmbhavam or the 'Birth of the Kumara'. The
story has changed in significant ways here and later Puranas alter it further. The
demons have a leader called Taraka, who is nominally invincible. Only the son of
Shiva and Parvati can kill him, but the gods are not at all pleased at the prospect
of such a new godling who would easily dominate them, having such powerful parents.
At the time Taraka was not a real threat, he was merely a prophetic warning, so
they extract a foolish promise from Shiva that he will never have any children.
The simple god promises but an angry Parvati retaliates with a curse that renders
all the deva women sterile for all eternity. As a subconscious mechanism to explain
the drying up of the Vedic stream of transmission this is hard to beat.
Shiva however has only promised to forsake children not having sex. Ages go by and
the tremendous energies that build up because the god is not ejaculating now, threaten
the very universe. The gods depute Agni to interrupt Shiva in his lovemaking. The
angry god spills his seed, but the cunning Agni realizes it will come in very useful.
He picks it up and runs to Brahma hoping to fashion a weapon out of it. The divine
seed is too hot however, and the God of Fire is badly burnt. He jumps into the Ganga
river hoping its sacred waters could cool it to manageable limits, but the river
is in agony and casts the seed out upon a bank of sara reeds. Hence Skanda's
first name sara-bhu, born in the thicket of sara reeds.
Six nymphs called the Krittikas (hence the name Kartikkeya) come to bathe and see
the newly formed baby chuckling on the bank. It is so beautiful that all of them
desire to suckle it, whereupon it assumes six forms so that they can all nurse it.
Another version says the baby assumed six heads to simultaneously play peek a boo
with his foster mothers and was nursed in turn by all of them. By now a great row
breaks out as to whom the child belongs to. Agni claims him for the gods. Ganga
has a good case, it was after all her liquid womb which allowed the seed to fertilize.
The Krittikas argue that finders are keepers. Finally, however, Shiva gets custody
of the child as it was his seed and Parvati gets a child of her own. The extraordinary
nature of this tale remains a constant surprise. The decline of the old gods is
clearly visible here, as well as the amazing turf battles fought by the local area
gods, to associate themselves with the overarching popularity and prestige of Skanda.
Shiva finally wins, because he is obviously the most mightiest god and also because
his nature and habits are after all very similar to Skanda. The Hill-god would be
permitted a place in the official culture, but only as a son.
This appropriation of Skanda by the Shiva group had many interesting consequences.
For one, the Agni Purana and the Skanda Purana were extensively padded up with stories
to reflect this new arrangement. In south India a genre of iconic representation
grew up called Somaskanda, representing the infant Skanda seated on the lap of his
divine parents. As late as the 17th and 18th century, genres of miniature painting
found this theme to be still attractive. These represent a sentimental turn of mind
that is sometimes ghastly to see or to read. One typically twee example from the
Shivapurana should suffice.
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