This potentially disastrous encounter is stopped by brahmA and agni and finally skanda is taken by agni to rudra. Then he has the encounter with indra who is alarmed by this new being. Here he develops into 6 children who are then suckled by the kR^ittkA-s. Here, kumAra is said to be born in the himAlaya-s (gaurI-giri) from the tejas (euphemistically for retas) of shiva swallowed by agni and then cast into ga~NgA by him, and then by her into the shara-vana. It is a condensed purANa-like narrative, giving the kumAra-saMbhavaM, which follows the same general frame seen in several Sanskrit purANa-s and the itihAsa-s.
![subramanya shadakshari mantra subramanya shadakshari mantra](https://www.astroved.com/images/lp/elite-plus-skanda-shasti400.jpg)
The second chapter of the skanda-sadbhAva called saMbhava is of some interest in establishing its affinities and origins. Hence, the skanda-sadbhAva helps us to glean the elements of the kaumAra sthApana system outside of the saiddhAntika sphere. While such sthApana tantra-s are quite stereotypic in subject matter, it is precisely in the realm of sthApana that saiddhAntika influence has been dominant on the kaumAra system. Then the text goes on to given an index of the 18 chapters: 1) saMgraha 2) saMbhava 3) mantroddhAra 4) archana 5) agnikArya 6) dIkSha 7) samayAchara 8) prAsAda vidhi 9) adhivAsa vidhi 10) sthApana 11) pratimA-lakShaNaM 12) snapana vidhi 13) utsava vidhi 14) bali-karma 15) prAyashchitta 16) yAtrA 17) pravesha 18) samudAya.įrom this it is clear that it follows the common place pattern of sthApana tantra-s seen in the saiddhAntika, vaikhAnasa and pA~ncharAtra realm. He mentions that earlier it was narrated to the muni-s in a form with 12000 shloka-s (a typical Tantric number for the older longer texts), but he is narrating it now in an abbreviated form, the skanda-sadbhAva (SS) in 18 chapters.
![subramanya shadakshari mantra subramanya shadakshari mantra](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DzPPaOkpQh0/mqdefault.jpg)
Here, shiva in response to nandin’s query states that in the interest of the world he would narrate the tantra in totality. Saṃkṣepāt tu pravakṣyāmi & skandasadbhāvam uttamam /Īdhyāyāṣṭādaśopetaṃ skandasadbhāvasaṃyutam // ) Ślokair dvādaśasāhasrair & munīnāṃ kathitaṃ purā // Śṛṇu lokahitārthaṃ me & tantram etad aśeṣataḥ / SaMskShepAt tava vakShyAmi skanda-sadbhAvaM uttamam |ĪdhyAya-aShTa dashopetaM skanda-sadbhAva saMyutaM || 1.3-1.4 (the manuscript from which I entered this has no numbers of shloka-s a very likely emendation of the unmetrical elements in above has been kindly suggested by the learned scholar Somadeva Vasudeva: Shlokair dvAdasha sAhasrair munInAM kathitaM purA || ShR^iNu loka hitArthaM me tantram etad asheShataH | The frame of the Tantric narrative is set in kailAsa, where nandin asks maheshvara about the rare and pristine shAstra named skanda sadbhAva. The text, as I have examined, has 18 chapters, and internally states that it is an abbreviation of the larger skanda-sadbhAva: It does appear to be one of those major kaumAra tantra-s whose core shows minimal saiddhAntika or any other later form of influence. To our knowledge the text has never been published and may currently only influence a minority of kaumAra shrines in the drAviDa and andhra countries. The one text that we have found to throw some light on precisely in this regard is the obscure tantra named skanda-sadbhAva (saMgraha).
![subramanya shadakshari mantra subramanya shadakshari mantra](https://demo.pdfslide.net/img/380x512/reader018/reader/2019122721/5a786dbe7f8b9a77438cce5d/r-2.jpg)
This raises the question as to whether in the kaumAra temple system there are any remnants of worship prior to the saiddhAntika and much later mAdhva influence. However, direct observation suggests that their temple rituals are similar to what mAdhva-s perform with respect to the viShNu temples in their control. They are organized under some major subrahmaNya maTha-s and are very secretive about their rituals. It is likely that they were originally kaumAra-s and were converted to the mAdhva-mata, but retained their role as kaumAra officiants. Another smaller but still notable fraction of the kaumAra officiants in South Indian temples are mAdhva-s, who are vaiShNava-s in their personal practice. We have earlier touched upon this phenomenon and shown how the saiddhAntika mantra-s have been inserted and overlaid upon some basic kaumara mantra-s. In South India the majority of priests at kaumAra shrines are actually saiddhAntika’s who have taken over the worship of kumAra within the saiddhAntika system. Even though there are kumAra shrines ranking amongst the richest of the Indian temples, kaumAra worship can be generally characterized as being in the decline, especially in terms of the ancient forms.