How I Cursed the Moon

As I was eating some sweets, it reminded me of the story where I cursed the moon so I thought I would write up a story about that. It wasn't funny when it happened but that was eons ago. Now It makes me laugh every time I think about it!

So here is how the story goes... One day, loooong ago, I was on my way home from visiting Kubera, the God of Wealth. I rode my vahana, the mouse. About halfway home, my vahana collapsed on me. I wondered why this happened, and then I remembered that I ate so many sweets at Kubera's house. I must have been double my weight, and my poor mouse couldn't handle it. I picked him up and put him in my pocket.

As I was walking the remainder of the way home, I was so full that I became sleepy. I did not see the large stone in front of me and I stumbled and fell. During the fall, I managed to split my belly open and all of the sweets that I ate at Kuber's rolled out all over the ground! I was devastated! I put my belly together and gobbled up all the sweets before anyone saw anything. I felt so embarrassed.

Unfortunately, as soon as I began to walk again, I heard a loud bellowing laugh. I looked around, but couldn't see anyone. I kept walking, faster this time because that laugh was so creepy. A few minutes later, I heard the laugh again! This time, it sounded like it was coming from the sky, so I looked up. Apparently, the Moon had seen everything that happened to me during my walk home and found it really funny. I was furious!

"What is it? Why are you laughing, Chandra?" I yelled.

"I just found it really funny when you fell and spilled everything from your belly," replied Chandra. "You should really control your eating habits because you are getting pretty large and soon you won't be able to walk on your own!"

I was appalled by what Chandra said! How dare he say such hateful things to me. He didn't even bother to help me when I was struggling.

"Chandra!!!" I howled. "How dare you speak to me like that! Because you made fun of me I am going to curse you! I order you to disappear forever and never show your face in the sky again!"

Chandra immediately came down from the sky and changed to his human form. He begged me to forgive him for what he did.

"Please forgive me for my mistake, Ganesha! From now on, I will do no harm to you or anyone else!" begged Chandra.

"No, there is no forgiveness for you," I said, "However, I can reduce your punishment."

I continued, "Instead of disappearing forever, you can slowly reduce your appearance in the sky. You will only have one day where you will show yourself fully and one day where you will disappear completely."

Chandra was happy with that decision, "I cannot take back what I said, but I will follow your instructions as long as I exist."

And with that, Chandra flew back up into the sky and followed my orders. That is how the waxing and waning phases of the moon began.

I continued my walk home, and slept soundly that night, knowing that Chandra got the punishment he deserved for disrespecting me.

Author's Note:

There are many other stories about Chandra and Ganesha and different variations. One was where Chandra had too much pride and for that reason, Ganesha cursed him. Another story concluded that if anyone saw the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi, a 10 day festival to honor Ganesha, they would be wrongfully blamed. Another variation was that a snake crossed Ganesha's path and he got scared, resulting in him falling into a thorny bush. Kubera is the God of Wealth and he is also the protector of the world. He resembles Ganesha in the fact that he too has a plump, round body. So it makes sense that they would spend a lot of time together because they must be friends and eat together frequently. Prior to the curse cast by Ganesha, the moon, or Chandra, was always present in the sky in his full form. He was always watching over everyone. After he made fun of and embarrassed Ganesha, he was cursed and was forced to develop waxing and waning phases, which allowed him to be in his full form only one day out of the entire month! He also has to disappear completely for one day as well.

Bibliography:

Ritu, Seven interesting stories of Lord Ganesha (Indian Mythology). Source: Ritsin

Agrawal, Pravin. Beautiful Stories of Ganesha. Source: SpeakingTree