Relation Between Ganesha & Kartikeya

There are many stories revolving around Ganesha and his younger brother Karthikeya in Hindu mythology. While Lord Ganesha is worshipped throughout India, Karthikeya has more influence towards South India. In south, Karthikeya is also known as Murugan, Subramanya and Arumugam. Lord Ganesha and Karthikeya are two contrasting personalities in mythology.  It is quite interesting to know the differences that exist between the two siblings.

While Lord Ganesha is known to be comfortably plump, kind and patient, brother Karthikeya is full of energy and impulsive. While Ganesha prefers his mouse as his vehicle, Karthikeya prefers a flashy peacock as his vehicle. In fact, even the conversations and the interactions between the two are child-like and quite interesting. There is one legend that is distinct and worth a mention.

Once, a mango that was believed to be filled with divine knowledge was brought to Mount Kailash. The mango couldn’t be cut or shared. There was just one mango and both Ganesha and Karthikeya wished to have it. In order to get rid of this dilemma, Lord Shiva and Parvati decided to have a competition.

It was decided that the one who completes three rounds of the planet will win the mango. On hearing this, Kartikeya immediately left on his journey. But Ganeshas at there and was thinking as this was an impossible task for him.

Within sometime, Ganesha found an answer. He made Shiva and Parvati sit together and then worshipped them and circled them thrice. Later, he said that according to the Vedas circling parents is same as circling the world.

Lord Shiva and Parvati were impressed and convinced with his logic and handed over the mango to him. Meanwhile, Karthikeya returned and was furious to know about this. In a fit of anger, Kartikeya left for Mount Krouncha, also known as Palani and it is believed that Shiva goes to visit on new moon (amavasya) and Parvati goes to visit him on full moon day (purnima).

However, this never hampered the relation between Ganesha and Karthikeya. They were cordial yet again. Till date, Ganesha and Karthikeya are considered as the epitome of sibling relation.