A Student Takes His Guru's Wife
Chandra, the moon deity already known from a separate story on this site involving his favouritism toward his wife Rohini, was, in most tellings, once a student of Brihaspati, guru of the devas. Brihaspati's own wife, Tara, was a woman of exceptional beauty, and Chandra, either through genuine mutual attraction or, in harsher tellings, through outright abduction, took Tara away from her husband's household, refusing to return her even after Brihaspati demanded it.
Brihaspati, humiliated and furious, appealed to the devas for support in reclaiming his wife, and the situation escalated into a full conflict, sometimes called the Tarakamaya war, with different devas and asuras taking sides. Shukracharya, guru of the asuras and traditionally opposed to Brihaspati in most matters, sided with Chandra, while Indra and the majority of devas sided with Brihaspati, turning a personal dispute into a cosmic confrontation.
A Child Born While the Question of Fatherhood Hung Unresolved
Brahma eventually intervened to end the war, compelling Chandra to return Tara to Brihaspati, and Tara, already pregnant by this point, returned to her husband's household. When the child, an extraordinarily beautiful and radiant boy, was born, both Chandra and Brihaspati claimed him as their own son, and the paternity remained genuinely uncertain even to those around them.
Brahma intervened once more, this time asking Tara directly to state the truth, and, under this direct questioning, she confirmed the child was Chandra's. The boy was named Budha, and, reflecting his origin from the moon god, was established as the deity of the planet Mercury, associated with intellect, communication and shrewdness, qualities the tradition connects to the unusual, morally complicated circumstances of his conception.
A Planet at the Root of the Lunar Dynasty
Budha's own later marriage to Ila, the once-male king transformed by the forest sacred to Kartikeya, told elsewhere on this site, produces Pururavas, founder of the Chandravansha, the lunar dynasty, making Budha's own contested and unusual birth the literal starting link of one of Hindu itihasa's two great royal lineages, the lunar dynasty standing alongside the solar dynasty that Rama's own family descends from.
Budha's association with Wednesday, Budhwar in Hindi, and his continued place among the navagrahas, the nine planetary deities central to traditional Hindu astronomical reckoning, keeps this ancient story of a guru's stolen wife and a child of disputed parentage present in the ordinary rhythm of the Hindu week even for people entirely unaware of the dramatic episode behind the planet's name.
Quick Answers
Was Chandra ever punished for taking Brihaspati's wife?+
The core story does not describe a direct punishment beyond the humiliation of the war and Brahma's forced intervention compelling him to return Tara, though this episode is sometimes connected in wider commentary to Chandra's already established reputation for favouritism and impulsiveness seen in the separate Rohini story.
Did Brihaspati raise Budha as his own son?+
Once Tara confirmed under Brahma's direct questioning that the child was Chandra's, Budha was established as Chandra's son and the planet Mercury's deity, rather than being raised within Brihaspati's household as his own, resolving the paternity question in Chandra's favour.
Is Budha connected to Wednesday in the Hindu week?+
Yes, Budha is the deity associated with Wednesday, Budhwar, in the Hindu calendar, and remains one of the navagrahas, the nine planetary deities central to traditional astronomical and astrological reckoning in Hindu tradition.
About the author
Anjali Mehta · Editor, M.A. Religious Studies
Anjali is the managing editor for Vandnaa and oversees the festival and vrat coverage. She holds an M.A. in Religious Studies and reviews every published article for accuracy, accessibility, and tradition-fidelity.
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