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Therefore, he was taken as an offspring of all these deities.
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Kartikeya took three additional forms and greeted them all together. Later, when the child approaches Shiva, Uma, Agni and Ganga, all wonder whom he would first greet. A child was produced from it and he was nursed by the six Krittikas, and thus called Kartikeya. Agni passed it to Ganga, however she also failed to sustain it and deposited it on the Himalayas. The retas (energy) of Shiva fell into Agni and the latter was not able to sustain it. The Shalya Parva mentions the birth of Kartikeya was to kill the demon Taraka. The narrative ends with Skanda defeating demon Mahisha. The text then connects the parentage of Skanda with Shiva, equating Agni with Rudra and Rudra with Shiva. The six wives of the Saptarishis were blessed as his mothers and they were established as Krittikas (asterism Pleiades). In her seventh attempt, she fails to impersonate Arundhati, the latter being devoted to her husband. Svaha, a daughter of Daksha, is in love with Agni and impersonates the wives of the Saptarishis. Being aware of his improper desire, Agni retires to a forest. The first narrative in the Vana Parva mentions that once Agni gets enamoured with the wives of the Saptarishis (seven sages). The Mahabharata recounts the birth of Kartikeya at three different places. The birth of Kartikeya is of a complex nature and in multiple narratives, Agni, Ganga, Krittikas and Shiva are variously attributed as his parents.
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The deityhood of Kartikeya was established during the Epic and Puranic periods as he is only vaguely referred to in the Vedic period. The Odisha State Museum in Bhubaneswar has a unique sculpture depicting an event of the birth narrative of Kartikeya.