Modern Facts of the Nine Planets

In the scheme of Navagrahas Chandran comes next to Suryan and they are traditionally grouped together. Sun is thought of as the purveyor of hot rays and Moon purveys cool rays. Moon is attractive to everyone. The obvious contributing factor could be the ability to see the moon in all its phases (eclipses are important too) unlike the sun.

The Mind God

Chandran is shown seated on a circular pedestal in a chariot (with two wheels) drawn by ten horses (only nine horses are clearly seen). Holding a white Lilly his hand this "mind" god has jewellery all over the body and his garland has 12 colours. His hair is well groomed.

Behind his cool, peaceful face there is a circle of light. On top of his white umbrella a flag with lion is fluttering in the breeze. The symbol of Kataka rasi (Cancer sign of the zodiac) to which he belongs is also shown. To his right Rohini (one of the stars in Taurus sign) is shown with a star to denote her status. The principal devata) Neer (water), is at extreme right; the secondary devata, Gowri, is at the left.

Diana (or Luna), who was the Roman Goddess of the Moon, Animals and Hunting is shown. The symbol for moon is a crescent moon shown with dotted lines. Typically, like the planets in the Indian scheme, here also the Greek/ Roman gods and goddesses have attained planet status in then mythologies.

Moon is the only heavenly body on which humans have set foot.

Rocks brought back from the moon have been determined to be between 3.2 and 4.6 billion years old. This puts the age of moon as the same as the presumed age of earth. The same elements are found in both places but in different proportions. Recently an abundance of valuable elements, such as titanium, have been discovered.

Moon Stories

Indian mythological stories about Moon differ in detail in some instances. Author "Ayilyan" in his book Navagrahas states that (the first of three sons of ascetic Athri and Anusuya), Soman, became Chandran. In the Navagraha book by K. V. Jagannathan, Chandran is the second son of an elderly mother. The first son was Sun and the other two were Varunan (Rain) and Vayu (Wind).

Chandran learnt all the sacred works and mastered various fine arts and did penance to Narayana for a very long time.

Narayana finally appeared in person and granted his wish to be of service to everyone -celestial beings, demons and humans--in addition to making him an important planet.

In another episode, on Narayana's advice, Chandran performed the elaborate Rajya Suya Yagam. Lots of persons from various backgrounds had offered their daughters in marriage to him. Chandran admired the beauty of Daksha Prajapathi, who in turn was impressed by Chandran's intellect and beauty.

Ganapati's Curse

Another interesting story involves Ganapati cursing him when Chandran laughed at his walk after a heavy meal (with his pot belly).

The waxing and waning of Moon is the result of this curse, according to mythology. Even the mythological stories about Moon are fascinating as he is both intellectually sharp and romantic in nature. Most of the time he gets into Interesting situations.

Muthuswamy Dikshithar described Chandran best (in his Navagraha kriti on Moon) as the face of Brahma and Murugan (son of Siva).