Kartikeya (Sanskrit: कार्त्तिकेय, romanized: Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda,[7] Murugan (Tamil: முருகன்), Shanmugha (IAST: Ṣaṇmukha) and Subrahmanya, is the Hindu god of war.[8][9][10] He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the younger brother of Ganesha, and a god whose legends have many versions in Hinduism.[11] Karitikeya has been an important deity in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times, worshipped as Mahasena and Kumara in North India and is and predominantly worshipped in the state of Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Malaysia as Murugan.
Murugan is widely regarded as the “God of the Tamil people”.[12] [13] It has been postulated that the Tamil deity of Murugan was syncretised with the Vedic deity of Subrahmanya following the Sangam era. Both Muruga and Subrahmanya refer to Kartikeya.[8][9][11][14]
Kartikeya is an ancient god, traceable to the Vedic period. He was hailed as ‘Palaniappa’ (Father of Palani), the tutelary deity of the Kurinji region whose cult gained immense popularity in the south. Sangam literature has several works on Lord Murugan such as Tirumugratrupadai by Nakkirar and Tirupugal by poet-saint Arunagirinathar. Archaeological evidence from the 1st-century CE and earlier,[15] where he is found with the Hindu god Agni (fire), suggests that he was a significant deity in early Hinduism.[8] He is found in many medieval temples all over India, such as the Ellora Caves and Elephanta Caves.[16]