Vamana Purana — Birth of Skanda (Kartikeya), Shloka 44
The Birth and Consecration of Skanda (Kartikeya) at Kurukshetra
स्कन्द इत्येव विख्यातो गौरीपुत्रो भवत्वसौ गुह इत्येव नाम्ना च ममासौ तनयः स्मृतः
skanda ityeva vikhyāto gaurīputro bhavatvasau guha ityeva nāmnā ca mamāsau tanayaḥ smṛtaḥ
“അവൻ ‘സ്കന്ദൻ’ എന്ന പേരിൽ തന്നെ പ്രസിദ്ധനാകട്ടെ; അവൻ ഗൗരിയുടെ പുത്രനാകട്ടെ. കൂടാതെ ‘ഗുഹ’ എന്ന നാമത്താലും അവൻ എന്റെ പുത്രനെന്നു സ്മരിക്കപ്പെടട്ടെ.”
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FAQs
‘Skanda’ foregrounds martial power and the deity’s role as a force that ‘makes enemies fall’ (a warrior-god reading). ‘Guha’ highlights hiddenness—dwelling in caves/secret places—and can also suggest the ‘mysterious’ inner deity known through devotion and initiation.
Purāṇas often harmonize multiple origin-motifs: Skanda is simultaneously linked to Śiva–Gaurī, to Agni, to the Gaṅgā, and to the Kṛttikās. Calling him ‘Gaurī-putra’ anchors him firmly in the Śaiva family while allowing other epithets to preserve alternate narrative strands.
Not directly here; however, the epithet ‘Guha’ frequently invites localization at cave-shrines and hill-temples in later tīrtha traditions. In Purāṇic geography, such names often become anchors for mapping cult-sites.