Shiva – Kartikeya – {Ep.235} – Stories From India – Podcast

A story about Kartikeya or Murugan or Skanda, the Son of Shiva and Parvati, who mastered the ultimate knowledge of all of creation, defeated the invincible Tarakasura, and another hill-carrying Asura all while he was still a child!

Welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

This episode is about Kartikeya. But you might have heard of this god, possibly by one of his other names – Murugan, Skanda, Subhramanya, Shanmukha. And if you did, you probably also knew that Kartikeya is the son of Shiva and Parvati.

Shiva has a few other children besides Ganesh and Kartikeya. There was Ashoksundari back in Episode 122, and Ayyappa whom we briefly mentioned back in Episode 28.There are a few others, and we’ll have to cover them in future episodes.

We’ll start today’s story with me! As is my custom, I was visiting Shiva and Parvati in their home on Mount Kailash. But today’s visit was not a casual one. I was on a mission for my father. You see, my father is Brahma the creator of the Universe. Together with Shiva who is the destroyer and Vishnu who is the preserver, the three of them are the holy trinity in Indian mythology.

Stay focused, back to the mission, I told myself. Truth be told, I was getting cold feet. And not just because Mount Kailash is 21,778 ft above sea level. 

Nandi, who is a bull and is also Shiva’s home security system seemed to sense that something was different. He made me show him my identification. And he slowly and painstakingly wrote out a visitor badge for me, while his computers ran a background check on me. I protested of course “Nandi, it’s me, Narada. I come here twice a week!” 

But Nandi merely smiled and said that one could never be too careful. He even put my veena through the x-ray machine. 

But what I’m getting at is that Nandi wasn’t wrong in being suspicious. He was just doing his job. 

He must have sensed that I wasn’t my usual enthusiastic self. He must have said to himself, “Here comes Narada – the life and soul of any party. Except he doesn’t look like the life and soul of the party today”. So what does a Chief Security Officer do when confronted with the possibility of an evil doppelganger ready to inject a virus into their data center, or to loot the vault? Not that Kailash had a secret vault or a data center. But after I answered questions like how many fingers he was holding behind his back, what he had eaten for lunch and the color of the topmost file in his locked desk folder, Nandi’s security instincts were finally satisfied. He gave me the barcoded wristband and waved me in through the turnstile.

I walked in to where Shiva and Parvati were sitting. As I faced them I hesitated to know where to begin. Let me explain my mission to you and then you’ll see how justified I was in having cold feet. I was here to pry into a deeply personal matter. And seeing as Shiva is the Destroyer of the Universe and Parvati is pure unlimited energy, you can understand my apprehension.

Tarakasura was an Asura, and the Asuras were in a constant struggle with the Devs. Tarakasura upset the balance of power by attacking Swarg and defeating Indra. Tarakasura was invincible, thanks to a superpower he had received from my dad Brahma. If you have heard previous episodes, you probably know that this wasn’t at all unusual for my dad. He has granted all kinds of superpowers to several villains. Luckily for all of us, he has also built a weakness into every one of these superpowers, so none of those villains were completely invincible. The only one who could defeat Tarakasura was an as-yet unborn son of Shiva.

Kamadeva, who was the God of Love said he’d go and inspire Shiva, but Shiva didn’t take very kindly to that. He opened his third eye, which was smack in the middle of his forehead. And that eye shot out a super powerful laser beam that incinerated Kamadev. Last I heard of the God of Love, some of his atoms had been spotted floating in the air on some island somewhere in the Indian ocean.

And now I was here, standing in front of Shiva and Parvati shuffling my feet wondering how I could bring up this delicate topic.

I need not have worried. Parvati grinned. “Don’t say a word, Narada. We know why you’re here. We know what the Devs want”.

Just like that, I felt immense relief, like a massive weight was off my shoulder. Until I suddenly saw what happened next. Suddenly, Shiva had 6 heads. Just like that! No puff of smoke, no magic words, or waving of wands. One moment he had 1 head and suddenly the next, he had 6. Now each of his six heads had a third eye. And suddenly all 6 of Shiva’s third eyes opened.

I almost screamed, knowing that this is how Kamadeva had gotten incinerated. If 6 eyes were opening, I was going to 6 times the blast that Kamadeva had received. I shut my eyes tight and dreaded the moment I would cease to exist. But it never came. I cautiously opened my eyes. Indeed, there were six laser bolts that had shot out of Shiva’s eyes. But none of them were aimed at me. I thought I saw a flash of Agni, the God of Fire disappearing from around just where the lasers were aimed. Or I might have been mistaken. It happened so fast it was a blur. And again this time, I had heard no magic words, but there may have been a puff of smoke or a waving of a wand. I wouldn’t know. I was too busy cowering in fright with my eyes closed.

Shiva 6 heads went back down to a single head now. And the third eye, the one on his forehead now closed, much to my relief. Shiva himself seemed too laser focused on the spot in the sky where he had shot those 6 laser bolts. Maybe it had done its job, splitting that exact portion of the space-time continuum that we call the Universe.

I cleared my throat by way of conversation and mentioned how it suddenly felt very warm. Maybe Agni had indeed just passed over our heads, and we were standing in his wake.

Shiva thought Agni had indeed passed by as well. The God of fire had carried some of Shiva’s laser bolt energy to a pond somewhere.

I asked Shiva if this was all part of his grand plan. But Shiva only said “Maybe. Maybe not. Do you want to check out for yourself what is happening at the pond?” That was a clear invitation to leave, so I did. Finding the pond wasn’t hard. It was like playing a game of hot and cold. Literally. Agni had left an unusual bit of heat, even at this altitude. You could say I was hot on his trail.

When I got to the pond, a strange sight greeted me.There were six identical lotus leaves floating in the pond, all perfectly symmetrical. But that was not what was strange. There were six identical babies, one on each of the leaves. Agni was nowhere in sight. But that didn’t matter. These babies were the solution that the devas were looking for. One was or maybe all of them were going to put an end to Taraka’s terror.

Also goes to show how little I knew about how babies of the Gods and Goddesses are made. I mean with Ganesh, Parvati had simply formed him out of clay, and breathed life into him. With Ashok Sundari, she had just shown up during a picnic under Kalapvriksha – a wish-granting tree. And now, Shiva’s six heads had each fired a laser bolt and when Agni had somehow carried that energy to the pond it had shaped itself into these 6 babies!

I was wondering what was going to happen next, when suddenly 6 women appeared on the scene. And I recognized them immediately. They were Krittika. The six sisters. You may know them as the Pleiades cluster in the constellation of Taurus. Although other mythologies call them the seven sisters, Ancient Indian astronomers were firm about seeing six stars, and not seven.

The sisters were like peas in a pod, just like the 6 babies. When I reported all this back to Shiva and Parvati, they came along to visit Kritika.

Parvati wanted to hug all 6 of her babies all at once. She picked them up and it might be hard for you to believe what happened next. Six babies merged into one baby. You might have seen a card trick, where a magician rubs two playing cards together and you end up with just one card. Well, that’s sort of what happened here, except there were babies, not cards, and there were six, not two. I bet PC Sorcar couldn’t rig up something like this even if he wanted to.

Well that merged baby was Kartikeya. The name is a hat tip towards the six sisters who took care of him.

Kartikeya was a quick learner. He needed to be, after all, Tarakasura wasn’t letting up on his efforts to crush the Devs under his heel. Everyone was trying to patiently wait until Kartikeya could reach the minimum warrior age. Waiting was pointless, of course. I could have told them Kartikeya was ready to take out Tarakasura when he was just a toddler. I mean when Kartikeya was a toddler, not Tarakasura.

In fact I tried, but I was dismissed. “Go away Narada,” Indra said, “can’t you see I’m trying to appeal for more funding so we can continue to fight!”

Well, Indra has priorities, so I let it go. But one day, Kartikey’s readiness became apparent to one and all. And that was shortly after the Om incident. 

Despite the similar sound, Om doesn’t have anything to do with resistors in an electric circuit, and it also is not the sound a cow makes when walking backwards.

It’s a single syllable that you’ll find in Indian sacred texts. Take any copy of the Vedas or the Upanishads, open a chapter at random, more likely than not, you’ll find an Om in it.

Kartikeya noticed this too. And he asked his father about it. 

“I’ve been studying these books, and I need an Explain-like-I’m-five version of “Om”,” he said. 

“Son, you are 5,” Shiva pointed out

Kartikeya didn’t see why that mattered.

Shiva answered that it might be best if Kartikeya asked Brahma. After all the Lord of Creation was his teacher, and the word Om is right up Brahma’s alley

So the boy Kartikeya did exactly that. I was luckily there to witness the exchange. 

Brahma was reluctant to explain. “Have you learned the alphabet yet?” he asked, quite condescendingly in my opinion.

But Kartikeya insisted on an answer. He knew the alphabet already, he was a God and that Brahma as his teacher should certainly not withhold knowledge.

Brahma shrugged and said “Alright, let me elucidate. In consonance with metaphysical tenets, one might contemplate “Om” as a sonorous emblem concomitant with the indivisible, immanent substance. Within the pantheon of the Brahma-istic doctrine, Om emerges as a resonant articulation, mirroring the diverse modalities of existence, and emblematic of the singular, boundless actuality from which all emanates. It stands as a linguistic and symbolic instantiation of the multifarious attributes inherent in the singular and all-encompassing substance delineated within cosmic ontology.”

I shook my head. All perfectly true, no doubt, but not the kind of explanation you want to spring on a five year old, even if said five year old was a God.

Brahma was continuing his discourse, and while I was trying to find a way to gently interrupt this feast of reason and flow of soul, Kartikeya put it far more bluntly. “You’re making it needlessly complicated”. I don’t think I could have put it much better myself. Brahma ruffled the boy’s hair and said one day he’d understand. Kartikeya said nothing.

Later that day, I happened to accompany the boy back to Kailas. He asked me about Om too. I tried “Well, sonny, you see, this Om business is a bit of linguistic wizardry, if you catch my drift? You’ve probably heard of “There’s no place like Om”, or “ET Phone Om” if you watched the Wizard of Oz or ET movies, but don’t be fooled by them. Om is not a place. It’s a sound. In fact it’s more than a sound. You know that other expression “Om is where the heart is”, well that confirms it – Om is the metaphysical epicenter of the belief of all existence.” He didn’t say anything.

And I was there at Kailas, when Kartikeya repeated his request to Shiva this time. “Neither Brahma nor Narada could explain it well.” I was going to protest that I’d had the disadvantage of trying to explain it purely verbally without a whiteboard, but the conversation had already moved on.

Shiva was reluctant. If those scholars hadn’t explained it in a way that Kartikeya could understand, Shiva wasn’t sure that he could.

To which, Kartikeya replied that he wasn’t asking for the meaning because lacked understanding. He just wanted confirmation of what he already understood.

“Oh, and what is your understanding?” Shiva asked.

“Well, you need to place me higher than yourself. When I explain it, if you learn anything new at all, I’ll automatically become your teacher, and the rules say that a teacher must sit higher than the student”.

Shiva carried Kartikeya and placed him on his shoulders. Elevated like that, Kartikeya whispered in Shiva’s ears the meaning of Om. I wasn’t trying to listen, but it’s impossible to close off your ears, and I caught a word or two here and there. Creation, Universe and maybe a couple of others.

When he was done, Kartikeya looked at me and said, “sorry I had to whisper Narada, but I don’t think you are yet ready to hear the secret of Om”

I understood of course. Naturally the time traveler in me already knew that it was going to be a while before I learned the full meaning of Om.

What intrigued me was Shiva’s reaction. He was clearly impressed. He turned to Kartikeya and asked “Son, how would you like to lead an army against Tarakasura?”

That’s what happened. Kartikeya destroyed Tarakasura easily enough. An incident that we covered in Episode 146. So let’s just skip forward to after the war was won.

Kartikeya had decided to move out of his parents’ home. Now, contrary to what many of you may think, this wasn’t a result of him getting upset with them for favoring Ganesha more. Yes, every family has stories of sibling rivalry, but that wasn’t the primary reason for Kartikeya to move to South India. I asked him once or twice, but Kartikeya didn’t give me a clear answer. If I had to speculate, it was the weather. Sunny, warm South India is far more pleasant than the perpetually sub-zero temperatures at the top of Mount Kailash. Kartikeya had a pet peacock, and everyone knows Peacocks certainly prefer warmer climes.

After he had moved out, Shiva and Parvati thought they could send their son a present. They had heard that the Sage Agastya was headed that way, so they asked him if he could take a couple of hills with him to their dear boy. The hills were Shivagiri and Shaktigiri, and symbolized Shiva and Parvati. Agastya looked at the hills and said that he’d get his minion Idumban to take care of it. Idumban was an Asura and a devotee of Agastya. It’s not that Agastya couldn’t carry the hills himself. After all, he had swallowed an entire ocean before – carrying two hills was a piece of cake for him. But he still had so much packing to do for his own move down south. Idumban was a resourceful Asura and he’d find a way.

Agastya was absolutely right that Idumban would find a way. The Asura borrowed a stick from Brahma, and two really powerful snakes, and carried the two hills on his shoulders. He made it all the way to present-day Tamil Nadu, to a place called Palani. And then he really needed to rest. As you can imagine, the weight of two hills was a bit high. Thankfully the roads, tunnels and bridges along the way had been able to bear his Gross Vehicle Weight.

After resting a bit, he decided to move on. He turned to see a boy sitting on the hills. Idumban told the boy to scram and was going to pickup the hills again. But the boy refused and claimed the hills for his own. Naturally the two of them fought. And if Idumban had only introduced himself and his mission, his wife would not have become a widow. Because the boy was Kartikeya himself. 

Kartikeya did make up for it by restoring Idumban to life after both the widow and Agastya pleaded to bring him back. A temple was established, naturally. And Idumban stands guard there.

Even today there is a tradition of carrying a Kavadi to Palani. Many devotees do that, but if you ask me, they are following in Idumban’s footsteps only in the letter, not the spirit. These modern kavadis are extremely lightweight compared to what the Asura carried. And yet, Murugun still listens to all your prayers. So don’t let that stop you from carrying one just in case you were planning to.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

We had covered a race between Kartikeya and Ganesh back in Episode 6.5 a long long time ago. I have to call that out, given I had played such an important role in that story.

There’s also Episode 146, where the sons of Tarakasura tried to follow in their father’s footsteps.

Fun fact, drumsticks are named after Murugan. And I don’t mean the sticks that are used to play percussion instruments, or the packaged ice cream cone. I’m talking about a tree whose pods look like the drumsticks used to play drums, but those pods certainly do not look like an ice cream cone. So Nestle – I don’t know where you got the name from.

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’re getting back to Chandrakanta. We’ll continue the story of Devaki Nandan Khatri’s fantasy novel and see what all the Aiyyars are up to.

Feedback

Thank you all for the comments on Social Media and on Spotify’s Q&A! I can’t directly reply to the questions there, but I’ll address them here on this show.

Thank you Harish and Mamta for the support. Harish, glad you had a good birthday and thank you for the story suggestion.

Mushroom – we had covered Birbal’s first meeting with Akbar a long time ago in Episode 9. Do check out that link on the site sfipodcast.com

Ani, love your constant enthusiasm and encouragement in support of this show. I would love it if everyone could spread the word and share this with your family and friends.

Shalu, thank you as always for the very thoughtful feedback. I’ll continue to hunt down more and more rarely heard stories and will keep bringing them to you.

Mamta, Chandrakanta is coming up next week.

Adi I will add Kathasaritasagar to the list, others have asked for it as well, so this may come up in the next few weeks

Aira, to a time traveler, age ceases to have any meaning. So I’m afraid I don’t have a straightforward answer to your question.

Bala, I wish you a happy birthday! We will get back to the Singhasan Battisi as well.

Shwetha, I hope you have a fantastic birthday as well. I’m sorry that I couldn’t do a Ramayana story today, but I will look into making one very soon. Especially as I’ve had other requests for the Ramayana as well.

Kalpansh, thank you for the suggestion. I’ve added that to my list.

If you have any other comments or suggestions or if there are particular stories you’d like to hear, please do let me know by leaving a comment or a review on the site sfipodcast.com, or reply to the questions on Spotify Q&A. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook, and on X.

Be sure to subscribe to the show to get notified automatically of new episodes.

A big thank you to each of you for your continued support and your feedback.

The music is from Purple Planet.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!