KOYILNET

Moon (Chandran) is the nearest planet to the Earth. He is considered Lord Shiva's left eye, and a Saivite; he will be very beautiful. He is the commander for the Number 2 in astrology, i.e. the persons having date in the date of birth as 2, 11, 20, 29. According to legend, when the Devas and Asuras were trying to get Nectar (Amirtham) from Thiruparkadal, the snake Vasuki spat the poison (Aalakaala Visham) from its mouth. Unable to bear the heat generated from that poison, the Devas and Asuras fainted. Lord Shiva swallowed that poison and saved them. At that time Chandran came from Thiruparkadal and woke them from their faint. Thus Chandran was born from Thiruparkadal.

Once, when Chandran performed a yagna called "Raaja Sooya Yagna," on hearing his fame, King Dakshan wedded all his 27 daughters to Chandran. Those 27 wives of Chandran are the 27 stars in the Tamil calendar. Out of the 27, Chandran liked only Rohini and lived with her. The others became jealous of Rohini and complained to their father. King Dakshan requested Chandran to treat all his 27 daughters equally, but Chandran refused. Dakshan, knowing that Chandran's beauty lay in his 16 arts, cursed him that all 16 arts should leave him step by step. Chandran, seeing his beauty deteriorate day by day, approached Lord Bramha for help. Lord Bramha advised Chandran to perform penance on Lord Shiva and promised to help him. Chandran came to Earth, to Somnath, and did penance on Lord Shiva.

Lord Shiva appeared before him when just one art remained, and took him and kept him on His head — since Lord Shiva kept Chandran on His head, the Lord was called "Chandrasekaran." Chandran then got back his arts one by one every day, a period called "Sukla Paksham" (Valarpirai), attaining full growth on the Full Moon (Pournami). From the Full Moon day, Chandran loses his arts one by one, and on the 15th day only one art remains — that period of deterioration is called "Krishna Paksham" (Theipirai). The 15th day from the Full Moon day is the "New Moon" (Ammavasai).

Lord Bramha crowned Chandran as Emperor over Owshadhams, Medicines, Stars, and Bramhins. Chandran then joined as a disciple to Deva Guru Bruhaspathi. Devaguru's wife Thara, mesmerised by Chandran's beauty, fell in love with him. As Devaguru's wife and Chandran became inseparable, Bruhaspathi started a war called "Tharagamayam" with Chandran for want of his wife. Lord Bramha intervened and asked Chandran to give back Bruhaspathi's wife. Thara became pregnant, and Bruhaspathi claimed the child was his, but Thara said the child belonged to Chandran. That child was handed over to Chandran and brought up by Rohini and Krithikai; Lord Bramha, seeing the child's brilliance and intelligence, named him "Budhan." Thus the hereditary line of Chandran began. He is an indicator of the mother and females in general, the public, general well-being and happiness, femininity and beauty, the eyesight, memory, and the mind. In fact, Hindus do not celebrate their birthday on the calendar day on which they were born — instead they celebrate it in the month they were born, when the Moon enters the part of the sign it was in at birth. Such is the importance of the Moon in Vedic culture.