Kartikeya (Sanskrit: ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿, romanized: K¿rttikeya), also known as Skanda, Kumara, Murugan (Tamil: ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿), Shanmugha (IAST: ¿ämukha) and Subrahmanya, is the Hindu god of war. He is a son of Parvati and Shiva, brother of Ganesha, and a god whose life story has many versions in Hinduism. An important deity in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times, Kartikeya is particularly popular and predominantly worshipped in South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia as Murugan. Kartikeya is an ancient god, traceable to the Vedic period. Archaeological evidence from the 1st-century CE and earlier, where he is found with the Hindu god Agni (fire), suggests that he was a significant deity in early Hinduism. He is found in many medieval temples all over India, such as the Ellora Caves and Elephanta Caves. The iconography of Kartikeya varies significantly, he is typically represented as an ever-youthful man, riding or near an Indian peafowl, called Paravani, adorned with weapons and sometimes with an emblem of a rooster in the flag he holds. Most icons show him with only one head, but some show him with six heads which reflect the legend surrounding his birth.