Chandra

Accounts in the Vedic, epic and Purāṇic corpus portray Chandra as the personified Moon who enters into familial and genealogical roles among gods. In one prominent narrative he has an illicit relationship with Tara, wife of Brihaspati; this affair leads to a war between Devas and Asuras, and Brahma eventually intervenes to restore order. The child born of Chandra and Tara is named Budha. Chandra is also described as husband to the 27 daughters of Daksha, who are the personified Nakshatras; through these marriages he is embedded in the ordering of the lunar mansions and their genealogies. Sources vary on finer genealogical origins and in some lists Chandra appears among the Dikpāla (directional guardians).

The supplied summaries emphasize Chandra's identity as the Moon deity rather than a single fixed anthropomorphic icon. Epithets recorded in the literature include forms like Shashank (hare-marked) and Indu, which echo traditional lunar imagery (the 'hare' on the Moon). The sources stress relational features—husband of the 27 Nakshatra personifications and lover of Tara—more than a detailed physical description in the provided excerpts.

Sources link Chandra with vegetal and ritual domains (association with plants and vegetation; Vedic Soma ritual corpus), with hydrological and terrestrial epithets in Vedic layers, and with astrological agency as one of the Navagraha whose movement through the 27 Nakshatras reflects the lunar cycle and influences ritual and astrological practice. Mythic narratives attribute to him procreative/genealogical agency (fathering Budha) and the capacity to cause cosmic dispute through interpersonal action (the Tara episode) that requires Brahma's adjudication. Post-Vedic material also connects Chandra to the locus of divine nectar of immortality in some accounts.