Chandra

Chandra, the moon god, is also called Soma. He is shown as a youthful, fair figure holding a lotus and a club, riding a chariot drawn by antelopes or horses, with a crescent on his crown. He is one of the nine Navagrahas and a Dikpala of the north in some lists. Shaiva tradition has Shiva wear his crescent on the head. In Odisha, Kumar Purnima in the month of Ashwin is a full-moon festival when women worship the moon. Temple rites are adjusted around lunar eclipses.

According to the Puranas, Chandra is the son of the sage Atri, or in another account arose from the churning of the ocean. The Vishnu Purana and the Mahabharata tell that he married the twenty-seven daughters of Daksha, the nakshatras, but favoured Rohini above the rest. Daksha cursed him to wane...