Kartikeya Temple, Pehowa (Haryana)

Kartikeya Temple in Pehowa township of the North Indian state of Haryana is an ancient structure dating back to the 5th century B.C. Kartikeya is a popular Hindu deity in India and is worshiped across the length and breadth of the country. Pehowa is also famous for temples devoted to Shiva and his son Kartikkya. Unlike the other temples, the temple dedicated to Shiva, has no linga. Instead, it has a panch-mukhi (5 faced) idol of Lord Shiva which is said to be one of its kind. Pehowa is at a distance of 200 kilometers from Delhi and 60 kilometers from Karnal. It is also very close to the state of Punjab as it lies on the border of the two states, Haryana and Punjab.

Kartikeya is a popular Hindu deity in India and is worshiped across the country. He is known by many other names, including Senthil, Saravaṇa, Arumugam or Shanmukha (meaning ‘one with six faces’), Kumāra (meaning ‘child or son’), Guha, Skanda (meaning ‘that which is spilled or oozed, namely seed’ in Sanskrit). The Kushanas, who governed from what is today Peshawar, and the Yaudheyas, a republican clan in the Punjab, stuck coins bearing the image of Skanda. The deity was venerated also by the Ikshvakus, an Andhra dynasty, and the Guptas.