Karttikeya at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

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Karttikeya, the legendary god of war, is revered by multiple names - Skanda, Kumara, and Shanmukha, as well as Murugan in southern India, where he enjoys immense popularity. This grand granite sculpture likely originates from the Madanapalle region of Andhra Pradesh. Carved in a majestic round form and perched atop a peacock, the fearless commander of the gods is depicted with six radiant heads (shanmukha) and twelve powerful arms, ten of which proudly hold aloft various weapons. The extraordinary multiple arms and heads of Hindu deities signify their boundless superhuman strength. According to myth, Karttikeya was miraculously born from the split seed of the revered Hindu divinity Shiva. As he grew, his six heads emerged to enable him to nurse from his six devoted mothers, the Pleiades (or Krittikas), a constellation of stars shining bright in the night sky. The intricate accounts of his incredible birth and heroic feats clearly indicate that Karttikeya's character embodies various streams of folk belief.