THE MOON (CHANDRA) 3 Dear friends,
If we look at the moon on fullmoon day or any day near, we can see visible marks on the surface of MOON. There is a thinking these marks are indication of some uncultured natureof Moon. There are two mythological stories told about it. This posting is based on thesemythological stories read by me with added humour. Sincerely Gopala Krishnan 22-4-2012 Reposted on 26-5-2021 after editing and updating information. R. GopalaKrishnan 11. Tharabalam Chandra balam thathaiva… The first episode I am titling asabove. The moon god Chandra became famous. Chandra desired to conduct a bigyagya and all VIPs were invited. One of the VIP invitees was Devaguru told asGuru or Brihaspati (Jupiter). 11a. Wives of Guru. Deva guru had three wives by namesSubha, Mamta and Tara. Tara was the 3rdwife. Of the three, Tara appeared much more handsome and impressive and youngand Jupiter felt he would take Thara with him to the yagya. 11b. Tara missing Tara was actively andimpressively participating in the yagya giving appearance and MOON got very muchattracted and he abducted her. Tara was missing and Moon God kept himselfignorant. Somehow it became clear Tara wasabducted and Jupiter asked Moon to give Tara back. MOON was not ready to giveTara to Guru. Many times Guru asked, requestedthrough mediators and finding no reaction from MOON and war was also started andit got prolonged for years. No sign on either side ofstopping war or hearing justice. Guru was very specific to get her back, andMOON never heeded to give her back. 11c. Brahma ordered to stop war and return Tara. Finally Brahma wanted to make an end and ORDERED – I amseeing these wars for long time. Immediately stop war and return Tara. Moon heeded to Brahma’s orders,at this stage, fearing consequences if not obeyed and returned Tara. Tara joined Guru back and Guru washappy to get her back. 11d. Birth of Budha. Tara was conceived from moon, bythe time she joined back Guru. In due course she delivered a son. He is theplanet Budha or Mercury. 11e. Thara balam Chandra balam thathaiva… Whatever the differentinterpretations, the most logical which I think is the following. Chandra hadalready 27 wives and Guru had already three wives. Why Chandra desired Tara specially and why does Guru was specific to gether back? Already Chandra had his most favouredwife Rohini. So she could be some sort offorce. Hence Moon desired her and Guru desired her back. When our sasthrikal recite themanthra- Thara balamChandra balam thathaiva, along with the meaning told as strength of star andstrength of moon as its meaning for the occasion, this too comes tomy mind. Thara is a female name amongHindus. There areactresses by name Nayan thara, Sitthra, Thara Kalyan etc. 12. Ahalaya episode Earlier I had written aboutchurning of milky ocean and finally Dhanwantari appeared with nectar pot.Before that many things appeared and one among them was beautiful girl AHALYA. 12a. Kandum kondu ninnavan pennineyaum kondu poyi. (The onlooker leftwith the girl.) Sage Gowthama was one of the onlookers of the churning of milky ocean. AHALYA was a very beautiful girl, andwhen appeared she had a sight of INDRA by looking at him. Indra assumed for a moment- yes, thisbeautiful girl is for me. But missed or hesitated to put the request. Brahma handed over her to sage Gowthama,the onlooker for bringing up and from this the sub title saying. If Indra would have placed arequest she might have been given him. He missed to place a request. 12b. Sage Gowthama marry AHALYA Obediently, when she has grown upand come to age, Sage Gowthama took her to Brahma for further directions. Brahma was in his best mind, askedthe sage to marry and live with her. Sage obeyed Brahma’s instructions. 12c. Disturbed mind of Indra. Knowing this Indra got disturbedin mind. But nothing could done. Years passed by, but Indra felt more and morefor Ahalya. 12d. Indra approaches AHALYA Indra asked MOON to assist inapproaching AHALYA. There was a definitecloseness between MOON and INDRA on many grounds. So MOON agreed to assist Indra without anyobjection. Indra hatched a plan. In an earlymorning, both would go to the hermitage of sage Gowthama, MOON would take theform of a cock and howl (Kooval). Sage would get up and leave for ablutions andbath. In the meantime, Indra would assume the form of sage Gouthama and willapproach Ahalya. 12e. Ahalaya do not resist Indra’s approach. It is a version that at first look itself Ahalaya was impressed ofthe Deva king INDRA and had a desirefor him. So when Indra approached her in the form of sage, she did not resisthim. While going to river the sagefelt it was too early and returned, found Indra in his form. He cursed Ahalaya to be a stone. Indra was given a very severecurse, on account of which he could not move out and got relieved after prayingTrimoorthy at Sucheendram. He did it after normal poojas on account ofappearance after curse. It is believed every day now alsoIndra comes and clean sanctum after pooja at Sucheendram temple nearNagerkovil. Since Indra clean the sanctum the name – SUCHEE INDRAM. It is a practice the priest whoperform night Pooja does not open sanctum next morning since it is notpreferable the not to see the displacements not seen by the priest. Either by this incident or forany other reasons Sucheendram was a punishment centre for Nampoothiries onthose days. On those days Kaimukkal (Putting hand on boiling ghee to show theinnocence) was conducted in Sucheendram temple. This was conducted by Tamil Brahmins/Moothathu.Sukupuram Nampoothiries are priests in this temple (Ref- Nampoothiri.com) Ahalya received Moksham afterSree Rama touched the stone (HER). Later feeling guilty Ahalaya, lived withsage Gouthama for years. I will continue more about the MOON. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/764373748.74577.1622003929184%40mail.yahoo.com.
