Mahabharata - Story of Kartikeya

In the battle between demigods and the demos, the demons used to always win and therefore Indra, the king of gods began searching for a general of his army. Once while roaming in the mountains he heard that a woman was desperately calling for help. He wanted to probe further and went nearby to find that a  woman was being kidnapped by a demon named Keshi. When Keshi saw Indra he said that he would like to marry that lady and hence Indra should not oppose him. Indra fought with him to protect the last and in the end Keshi was defeated and fled. The woman then told Krishna that her name was Devasena. Her sister Daityasena was kidnapped by Keshi and he married her and he was trying to forcefully marry her as well. She was the daughter of Daksha prajapati. Indra said that she was his maternal aunt's daughter and was therefore a close relation of his. He would do anything to protect her and fulfill her wishes. Devasena said that she wanted to marry a very powerful person who would be able to defeat all the demons. Indra then took her to Brahma, the Lord creator. Brahma said that by his design, Devasena would soon be able to marry her chosen groom and that Indra will get a very powerful general who would defeat all his enemies.

In the meanwhile Agni, the fire god who was present in the sacrificial altar of the seven great rishis, went to the forest and was followed by Swaha, daughter of Dakhsa. Swaha married Agni six times and they had a beautiful son named Skanda born in a gold pit. The son had six heads and was very powerful when born. After killing the demon Tripura, Mahadeva had kept his bow aside. Kartikeya or Skanda took up that bow easily and started roaring. Frightened by his roar people took his refuge. Then sage Viswakarma did the necessary rituals on behalf of the child as when a child is born in a Hindu family certain rituals are necessary. Swaha had assumed the form of the wife of the six holy sages while marrying Agni six times. Because of that transgression the divine sages renounced their wives. Although Viswamitra who had witnessed everything told the sages that their wives were innocent, they did not believe him. The wives therefore took refuge with Skanda who paid respect to them as his own mother. Since Skanda was born of Agni and Rudra, the terrible form of Shiva is present in Agni, Kartikeya is therefore regarded as the son of Shiva and Parvati.

Seeing Skanda's might, the gods including Indra became afraid, lest he comes and claims heaven.He first sent the Matrikas, a group of vicious ladies who kills newborns, infants and children because of transgressions of human beings. The Matrikas however were amazed to see Skanda and they developed a lot of motherly love and affection for him. All of them fed him like mother. The gods became very angry at this. They were named as Krittika etc. and hence Skanda was named as Kartikeya after them.

Therefore they waged a battle against Skanda but very soon found themselves cornered. Indra therefore made a truce with Skanda and also gave his sister Devasena in marriage with him, thus fulfilling his vow and the prophecy of Brahma. Skanda was chosen as the general of the army of the gods and everybody was delighted by such a choice.

An Asura named Mahisha had waged a terrible war against gods and he would become a menace to the world of men and gods alike. He was inimical to the Vedas and Rishis and would kill Brahmins. Gods were afraid of him. Skanda or Kartikeya now took up the battle with this demon king. After a long and terrible fight in which many soldiers on both sides were killed Kartikeya hurled a powerful shula or javelin against the asura which killed him. Thus the sworn enemy of the gods were killed and everybody rejoiced. Kartikeya thus was celebrated across the three worlds and was reverred by gods and men alike for his valour.