Cite
MLA
“Chandra Dev.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/chandra/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Chandra Dev. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/chandra/
दधिशङ्खतुषाराभं क्षीरोदार्णवसम्भवम्।
नमामि शशिनं सोमं शम्भोर्मुकुटभूषणम्॥
dadhiśaṅkhatuṣārābhaṃ kṣīrodārṇavasambhavam |
namāmi śaśinaṃ somaṃ śambhor mukuṭabhūṣaṇam ||
White, calm, two-armed, holding a mace or lotuses, riding a three-wheeled chariot drawn by white horses, three or as many as ten, or by an antelope. On Bhagwan Shiva he is the crescent in the matted hair, and so Shiva is Chandrashekhara and Somanatha.
01Soma of the Veda
The whole ninth mandala of the Rigveda is given to Soma, the pressed drink of the yajna and the Deva who lives in it. In the later Veda and in all the Puranas, Soma and the Moon are one: the Moon is the cup of amrita that the devas drink from as it wanes and that fills again. Scholars still argue over how far the Rigveda itself makes that identification. Monday, Somavara, is named after him. In the Puranas he is the son of Maharshi Atri and Anasuya, brother of Dattatreya and Durvasa; by Tara, wife of Brihaspati, he became father of Budha, and through Budha’s son Pururavas the Chandravamsha, the lunar line of the Mahabharata kings, begins.
02Daksha’s curse and Somnath
Daksha gave Chandra his twenty-seven daughters, the nakshatras, but Chandra loved only Rohini. The others complained to their father, and Daksha cursed him to waste away. The Mahabharata, in the Shalya Parva, tells how the curse was softened so that he recovers for half of each month after bathing at a tirtha of the Sarasvati: the bright fortnight and the dark. Prabhasa on the coast of Saurashtra keeps the best-known form of the katha: there Chandra worshipped Shiva, who freed him and wore him on his head, and the Jyotirlinga took the name Somanatha, lord of Soma. The Skanda Purana’s Prabhasa Khanda and the Shiva Purana both tell it.
03The Moon in daily worship
Hindu months are lunar, and almost every vrata waits on the Moon. The Sankashti Chaturthi fast is broken only after moonrise, and on Karva Chauth wives look at the Moon through a sieve before they eat. On Ganesh Chaturthi people avoid looking at it, remembering how Chandra laughed at Shri Ganesh and was cursed. On Sharad Purnima kheer is left out under the full moon of Ashvin. Mondays are kept for Shiva and for Chandra both. In the Navagraha circuit of the Kaveri delta, Chandra’s sthala is Thingalur, where Shiva is worshipped as Kailasanathar and Chandra has his own shrine.
In the texts
- Rigveda, Mandala 9 (Soma Pavamana)
- Mahabharata, Shalya Parva
- Skanda Purana, Prabhasa Khanda
- Navagraha Stotra of Vyasa, verse 2
