Chandra

Not part of Riordanverse The following article/section is from the Pandava Quintet continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon.

Spoiler Alert! Warning! This page contains spoilers for Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes.

Chandra
Biographical information
Full name	Chandra
Gender	Male
Family	Daksha (father-in-law) Rohini and twenty-six other Nakshatra (wives)
Item	Rope
Status	Immortal
Physical description
Species	God
Behind the scenes
Appearances	Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Chandra ("CHUHN-drah") is the Hindu god of the moon.

History

Chandra, and thus the moon, was born during the churning of the Ocean of Milk. Soon after, he got in line behind Surya and Rahuketu to drink the Amrita.

Once, Chandra and Tara, the wife of Brihaspati, god of the planet Jupiter, were attracted to each other. One day Chandra abducted her and made her his queen. Tara gave birth to Budha, god of the planet Mercury. Brihaspati got upset and declared a war, but the Devas intervened and Tara was returned to Brihaspati. Chandra was very upset of this loss, he wanted more children with Tara. So he married all twenty-seven of the Nakshatra, goddesses of the constellations, but his favorite wife was Rohini. Their father, Daksha, did not like how Chandra was treating them, so he cursed the god to wither. Chandra appealed to Shiva who soften the cursed so that he would get younger then go back the end of each month, that's why the moon waxes and wanes.

In another myth, Chandra witness Ganesh fall on his stomach and vomited out modaks. The elephant-headed god was returning home on his mouse vahana from a feast by Kubera when a snake scared his vahana. Chandra laughed at Ganesh who got so offended he chucked a tusk at the moon god and cursed him "never to be whole again." This legend explains why Ganesh is missing part of his tusk and why the moon has a giant crater. Also, during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, it is forbidden to mention Chandra.

Trivia

• The glossary of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes explains that there are lots of myths about why the moon waxes and wanes.
• His vahana (divine vehicle) is an antelope and his weapon is a rope.
• Chandra's Greek/Roman counterpart is Artemis/Diana.
• His Egyptian counterpart is Khonsu.
• His Mayan counterpart is Itzamna.