[paragraph continues] Skanda had done what was gratifying to his mothers, Svaha said to him, 'Thou art my genuine son. I desire the love difficult to obtain which thou givest.' Skanda then asked her, 'What love dost thou desire?' Svaha replied, 'I am the beloved daughter of Daksha, by name Svaha. From my childhood I have been enamoured of Agni; but, my son, Agni does not thoroughly know me, who am enamoured of him.' Skanda replied, 'Whatever oblation of Brahmans is introduced by hymns, they shall always, goddess, lift and throw it into the fire, saying Svaha (happiness). Thus, O beautiful goddess, Agni shall dwell with thee continually." Then Brahma Prajapati said to Skanda, Go to thy father Mahadeva, the vexer of Tripura. Thou, unconquered, hast been produced for the good of all worlds by Rudra, who had entered into Agni, and Uma, who had entered into Svaha.'"

The allusion to Rudra's entering into Agni is explained in the Ramayana. The gods, fearing that the descendants of such a pair as Siva and Parvati would be too dreadful to live with, entreated those deities not to have offspring. Siva consented, but Uma, being angry, declared that as she could not have children the other goddesses should suffer similar deprivation. Unfortunately, the gods came too late to prevent the production of Kartikeya; the germ from which he was born having been received by the earth. Agni and Vayu entered it, and deposited it with Ganga, the sister of Uma, and thus this deity was produced.

The "Siva Purana" [**] gives a different account of his origin, and teaches that he was produced to effect the destruction of Tarika. This demon, who was King of Tripura, was " exceedingly ambitious and oppressive.

He forced Brahma, by his penance and austerities, to promise him any boon that he should demand. Among his austerities he went through the following series, each of the eleven specific mortifications continuing 100 years:--1. He stood on one foot, holding the other and both hands up towards heaven, with his eyes fixed on the sun. 2. He stood on one great toe. 3. He took only water as sustenance. 4. He lived similarly on air. 5. He remained in water. 6. He was buried in the earth, but continued as under the last infliction, in incessant adoration. 7. The same in fire. 8. He stood on his head. 9. He hung on a tree by his hands. 10. He bore the weight of his body on one hand. 11. He hung on a tree with his head downwards. [**]

"Such merit was irresistible, and Indra and a host of demi-gods, alarmed lest their sovereignty should be usurped through the potency of this penance, resorted to Brahma for consolation. Brahma, however, said that, although he could not resist such austerities, he would, after rewarding them by granting the boon demanded, devise a method of rendering it ultimately inoffensive to them.