Like all celestial bodies, Chandra, the moon-god, travels through the twelve solar houses, the Rashis, and twenty seven lunar house, the Nakshatras. Nakshatras are wives of the moon. (Twenty eight daughters of Daksha, son of Brahma). The moon however, prefers only one of them Rohini, lavishing her with attention while neglecting the others. Upset, one of the Nakshatras, Abhijit, withers away in sorrow, while the other twenty seven daughters complain to Daksha, who curses Chandra to suffer from wasting disease. He waxes as he moves towards Rohini and wanes as he moves away from her. A distraught Chandra turns to Shiva, who place him on his forehead. This contact enables Chandra to wax once again.
The story goes, that on twenty eight day, when there in no wife next to Chandra, the sky is dark, with no trace of the moon. On this day moon sits on Shiva’s head. Shiva is therefore known also as Chandrashekhara, on whose head sits the moon.
Inspired by Dr.Devdutt Pattanaik – A Decoding of Hindu Mythology; 7 Secret of Shiva & other sources.
Photo: Zuzana Zwiebel – Murudeshwar, Karnataka, India – One of the biggest Shiva statue in the world.
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