Kartikeya

Kartikeya, also called Kumara, Skanda, Subrahmanya and Kartikeswar in Odia, is the Hindu god of war and youth, the son of Shiva and Parvati. He is shown as a young man with a spear, riding a peacock, sometimes with six faces. He is worshipped chiefly in the Shaiva tradition, with his strongest following in South India. In Odisha he appears as one of the side deities of Shaiva temples, and he is remembered at Kumar Purnima, the full moon of the month of Ashwin, when young Odia women pray for good fortune.

According to the Skanda Purana, the longest of the Puranas, the gods were troubled by the demon Taraka, who could be killed only by a son of Shiva. After Shiva's meditation was broken and his seed was carried by Agni and the river Ganga, the child was raised by the six Krittikas, the Pleiades...