page_title: Chandra
section_title: Soma
hierarchical_section_title: Chandra / Soma
caption_attribution_description: A full moon seen from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
context_page_description: Chandra is a lunar deity and is also one of the nine planets in Hinduism. His chief consort is Rohini. Chandra is synonymous to Soma. Other names include Indu, Atrisuta, Sachin, Tārādhipa and Nishakara.
  Chandra is described as a young and beautiful man, two-armed and carrying a club and a lotus. In Hindu mythology, he is the father of Budha.
  Chandra, who is also known as Soma and Indu, is the basis of Somvaar, which is Hindi, and Induvaasaram, which is Sanskrit, for Monday in the Hindu calendar.
context_section_description: Soma (Sanskrit: सोम) connotes the Moon as well as a medicinal deity in post-Vedic Hindu mythology. In Puranic mythology, Soma is a moon deity, but the name is sometimes also used to refer to Vishnu, Shiva (as Somanatha), Yama and Kubera. In some Indian texts, Soma is the name of an Apsara; alternatively it is the name of any medicinal concoction, or rice-water gruel, or heaven and sky, as well as the name of certain places of pilgrimage.
  The Soma Mandala in the Rigveda mentions Soma as a ritual drink as being of importance among the early Indo-Iranians.
  Soma is synonymous with Chandra, Indu (bright drop), Atrisuta (son of Atri), Shashin (marked by hare), Taradhipa (lord of stars) and Nishakara (the night maker).
  In Buddhist sources, Soma and Chandra (Pali: Candimā) appear to be separate entities.
  In Sambhava Parva section of Mahabharata's Adi Parva, Soma is identified as the father-deity of Abhimanyu.
caption: Soma, the moon deity
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