Images Of Skanda-Karttikeya-Murugan (An Iconographic Study)

In the Hindu pantheon of gods Skanda Karttikeya the son of Siva, is the only god who is endowed with six faces and twelve hands and named as Sanmukha. His six faces indicate five elements,, ether, fire, air, water and prthvi and the Life Principle is the spirit that is the Supreme Force. With regard to the faces of Siva and Sanmukha, the only differences lies between them is that while the six faces of Siva are endowed with separate names for themselves, the faces of Sanmukha do not have any separate name but exhibit the spiritual purpose lies behind each head in the name of Sanmukha tattva. The multi-faced god Sanmukha, the divine essence of Universal Spirit is being represented in the iconic forms known in the names of Skanda, Karttikeya, Guha, Subrahmanya and Naigameya, and exclusively as Murugan in the Tamil country. Second notable fact is that, in the legend of the birth (incarnations) of any other god we do not come across so much of various explanations and different analysations as we found in the legend of the birth of Skanda from various accounts, i.e., Puranas and other legendary folk tales.