On some ancient Indo-Scythian coins, his names appear in Greek script as Skanda, Kumara, and Vishaka. On ancient coins where the inscription has survived along with his images, his names appear as Kumara, Brahmanya, or Brahmanyadeva. Others include Aaiyyan, Cheyyon, Senthil, Vēlaṇ, Swaminatha ("ruler of the gods", from -natha king), śaravaṇabhava ("born amongst the reeds"), Arumugam or ṣaṇmukha ("six-faced"), Dandapani ("wielder of the mace", from -pani hand), Guha (cave, secret) or Guruguha (cave-teacher), Kadhirvelan, Kathiresan, Kandhan, Vishakha, and Mahasena. Most common amongst these are Murugan, Kumara, Skanda, and Subrahmanya. Kartikeya is known by many names in ancient and medieval texts. He has 108 names according to Tamil and Sanskrit folklore. Kartikeya ended the dispute by growing five more heads in order to have a total of six heads so that he could look at all six mothers and let them each nurse one aspect of him. These stars, personified as his mothers, all wanted to take care of him and nurse the baby Kartikeya. According to Hindu legends, when Kartikeya appears on the banks of the River Ganga, he is seen by the six of the seven brightest stars of Kṛttikā nakshatra ( Pleiades). Sculpture of the god Skanda, from Kannauj, North India, circa 8th century. He is also found in other parts of India, sometimes as Skanda, but in a secondary role along with Ganesha, Parvati and Shiva. The Kataragama temple dedicated to him in Sri Lanka attracts Tamils, Sinhalese people and Vedda people. The Aru Padai Veedu are the six temples of Tamil Nadu that are dedicated to him. Murugan is found as a primary deity in temples wherever communities of the Tamil people live worldwide, particularly in the Tamil Nadu state of India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Canada, and Réunion. He is found in many medieval temples all over India, such as the Ellora Caves and Elephanta Caves. Archaeological evidence from the 1st-century CE and earlier, where he is found with the Hindu god Agni (fire), suggests that he was a significant deity in early Hinduism. Sangam literature has several works on Murugan such as Tirumugratrupadai by Nakkirar and Thirupugal by poet-saint Arunagirinathar. He was hailed as 'Palaniappa' (Father of Palani), the tutelary deity of the Kurinji region whose cult gained immense popularity in the south. Murugan is an ancient god, traceable to the Vedic period. He has inspired many poet-saints, such as the aforementioned Arunagirinathar. He is described to have aged quickly from childhood, becoming a philosopher-warrior, destroyed the demons Tarakasura, Simhamukha and Surapadma, and taught the pursuit of an ethical life and the theology of Shaiva Siddhanta. Most icons show him with only one head, but some show him with six heads which reflect the legend surrounding his birth. The iconography of Kartikeya varies significantly he is typically represented as an ever-youthful man, riding or near an Indian peafowl, called Paravani, bearing a vel and sometimes with an emblem of a rooster upon his banner. Both Muruga and Subrahmanya refer to Kartikeya. It has been postulated that the Tamil deity of Murugan was syncretised with the Vedic deity of Subrahmanya following the Sangam era. Murugan is widely regarded as the "God of the Tamil people". Kartikeya has been an important deity in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times, worshipped as Mahasena and Kumara in North India and is predominantly worshipped in the state of Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Malaysia as Murugan. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha and a god whose legends have many versions in Hinduism. Kartikeya ( Sanskrit: कार्त्तिकेय, romanized: Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha ( IAST: Ṣaṇmukha), and Murugan ( Tamil: முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war.
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