The Birth of Skanda
Celebrated on the sixth day in the bright half of Kartik, Skanda Shashthi commemorates the birth of Skanda, the son of Shiva and Parvati. People keepa day-long fast on this occasion. The sixth day of the bright half in the month of Kartik is celebrated as Skanda Shashthi and commemorates the birth of Skanda, also called Kartikeya, Subrahmanya, and Murugan. He is the son of Shiva and Parvati and was born to annihilate the evil demon Tarika. He has six heads and was nursed by six foster mothers. The festival is specially important in south India, because Skanda is one ofthe most important deities in the south.The numerous temples dedicated to this god in the southern part of the country celebrate the day with tremendous enthusiasm and devotion.
A fast is observed on this day because it is believed to help overcome all difficulties. Observing this fast is also believed to bless one with a son. It is therefore very popular with women, who also pray for the safe delivery of their child. Women however restrict their prayers to the home as they are not allowed to enter Skanda temples. People also ask for favours on this day, and promise to give special thanks if their favour is fulfilled.
According to the Shiva Purana, a fearful demon called Tarika had obtained a boon from Brahma that no one but the son of Shiva would be able to slay him. At the time, Shiva was anascetic in deep meditation and would not even look at a woman. Tarika believed himself to be invincible, and therefore terrorised heaven and earth. When his atrocities went past the limit and the world was in danger of being annihilated, the gods desperately tried to break Shiva`s meditation. Kama, the god of love, and his wife Rati were called upon to perform their passion play and help break the penance. This would enable Shiva to notice Parvati, a beautiful young girl, who was in love with him and came to pray to him every day with the hope that he would accept her as his wife someday.Therefore, as planned, when Parvati came to pray to Shiva, Kama shot his arrow of love at the god. This disturbed Shiva`s concentration, and he opened his eyes. His eyes fell on Parvati and, because of the arrow, he immediately fell in love with her and married her. His love play with her however, went on for a thousand years without the marriage being consummated. The gods, however, were waiting for Shiva to consummate his marriage and produce a son. They decided to force Shiva to end the love play. Agni used his heat to make the atmosphere unbearably hot. To check on this, Shiva came out of his nuptial chamber. Since his seed had already been produced, however, it could not be wasted. He let it drop in a heap which Agni was asked to swallow. The intensity of Shiva`s semen was so great that even Agni was unable to retain it.He let it fall into the river Ganga, who in turn washed it onto her banks. Here, from the semen, arose a six-headed boy, as beautiful as the moon and as bright as the sun. The gods delivered this boy to the six Krittikas to be nourished by them. They offered him their breasts and the six-headed boy was nurtured. From them, he was named Kartikeya, the descendant of the Krittikas. After he became a young man, Kartikeya was made the god of wars, and commander of the celestial armies. He grew up to kill Tarika.