SRI RAMACHARITRA MANJARI

SRI RAMACHARITRA MANJARI

(In this episode, birth of Kartikeya has been narrated. In the next episode, birth of Ganga will be explained. Please read, comment and share. SDN)

Lord Rudra, who was the supreme commander of the armed forces of the gods and deities till then, went away to Kailasa to do penance. The post of supreme commander of the celestial armed forces fell vacant. The deities appealed to Lord Brahma to immediately appoint a supreme commander of their army. Lord Brahma told the deities that the semen ejected by Lord Rudra and Uma Devi had been submitted to Ganga, who will deliver a baby boy soon. That boy would be the next supreme commander of the celestial armed forces. Goddess Uma Devi, who became angry with Mother Earth, would not get angry with Ganga for conceiving the semen of Lord Rudra, he said. Fire God, Lord Agni, pushed the spirit of the semen of Lord Rudra, which was lying in the shape of a hill, into the Ganga for two reasons. He had been directed to do so by Lord Brahma. Secondly, he was incapable of carrying or keeping the spirit of semen of Lord Rudra as it was so powerful and hot. The spirit of semen of Rudra let out by Agni Deva started spreading into Ganga River. Even Ganga Devi was unable to bear the heat of that spirit and therefore, she sought the permission of Agni Deva and dropped it by the side of Himalaya Mountain. The semen fell out of the hands of Ganga Devi in the form of Gold. While falling on to the ground, it came in contact with the Holy Grass Darbha and got precipitated into six parts. From those six parts was born a six-faced baby boy. Since he baby boy had six faces, it came to be known as Shanmukha, where Shat or Shashti means six and Mukha means faces. He became the supreme commander of the Gods’ Army or the divine army. Since he grew up with the breast-feeding of six deities, who are together called as Krithika Star, he came to be known as Kartikeya.  Since he was born out of the ejection, which is the meaning of Sanskrit word Skhalana, of semen, he is called as Skanda and by virtue of being the son of Agni Deva, he is called as Agneya.