The Spear Made From a Mother's Fire

Soorapadman was an asura who had taken on long, hard devotion. Through it, he won a boon from Brahma. It made him far too strong to defeat in any normal way. With this power, he turned against the gods. He spread his rule and terror across the three worlds: heaven, earth, and the realm beneath. The devas could not hold their ground against him. They found themselves without a champion able to end his tyranny.

With no other choice left, the gods turned to Shiva. What the moment called for was not simply greater force. It called for a being made just for this task, someone whose very origin fit the job. According to the Kanda Puranam, the Tamil rendering of the Skanda Purana tradition, Shiva released six divine sparks of light. These sparks were caught and cared for by the Krittikas, six celestial mothers. They cared for the sparks until they merged into one being. This was a six-headed warrior child, who would become Murugan, also known as Kartikeya and Skanda.