The Birth of the War-God

When the Pandavas in their exile asked the deathless sage Markandeya how the gods had won their great war against the demons in the old days, the sage told them of the birth of the war-god Skanda, the six-faced commander of the celestial host, and of the long extremity that brought him into the world.

"There was once," said Markandeya, "a demon of fearful power named Taraka, who by long and severe penance had won from the Grandfather of the worlds a terrible boon. He had asked to be unslayable by every existing being - by all the gods, by all the demons, by every creature then alive. And it was granted. So Taraka, certain that no power in creation could touch him, fell upon the three worlds. He drove the gods from heaven, overturned the sacrifices, oppressed the sages, and seized the rule of all things, and there was none who could stand against him, for none who existed was able to do him harm. The gods, cast down and helpless, went to seek a way out of a doom that seemed to have no door."