Agni & Kartikeya: Gods & Goddesses of India- 13 (An Old and Rare Book)

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Agni and Kartikeya, What makes Agni the most exalted vedic deity? What is the significance of lighting a lamp before any important ceremony? Was Kartikeya also a son of Agni? Why his worship is more confined to south India? This small book answers to all these questions plus the Hindi-English translations of the best poems, orisons dedicated to these dieties.

Dr. B.K. Chaturvedi born in a village, Holipura (Agra, U.P.) on 3rd August 1945, in a reputed family, he had his education in Allahabad (M.Sc.) and Bangalore. Having served for a couple of years in HMT, he is now a free- lance author, journalist and poet based in New Delhi for about two decades.

He has many articles/poems/books published in both Hindi and English to his credit. among them is a mattered verse-translation in English the famous epic of modern Hindi: KAMAYANI. He has also rendered "Srimadbhagawat Gita' and 'Sriramcharitamanas' into English. A prolific writer, he often writes for TV and Radio.

There are not many who realise how important Agni or fire is for us. Imagine the time when man had not discovered it. Life must have been very difficult for him with eating only raw flesh, uncooked food and passing nights in the shivering cold when he had not anything to warm up his body. So when Agni was discovered it was eulogised in superlative terms because of its indispensability in our life. It is all these aspects of Agni that have been dealt at length in this book with a logical mindset. In order to impress upon its importance two famous hymns dedicated to this deity have been included in the translation section, not only for the contents but for letting our readers get the taste of old Sanskrit language.

The second part of the book is dedicated to Kartikeya, the celebrated war-deity of the vedic times but almost neglected now. Barring his worship in South, the rest of the country he is not worshipped devoutly despite being the son of Lord Mahadeva and Parvati. He seems to be a victim of a sort of the cultural clash immanently going on with in our civilization. He has included in this book because, as not many might be knowing, he was also, in a way, a progeny of Agni. Nevertheless, his importance in the Hindu pantheon is undiminished.

Lastly, the author wishes to convey his gratitude to Mittal Brothers of "Books for All" for their help and the freedom they extended to him.