MOON. Luna.
In Hindu mythology, Chandra, the moon, is fabled to have been married to the twenty-seven daughters of the patriarch Daksha, who are in fact personifications of the lunar asterisms. His favourite amongst them was Rohini, to whom he so wholly devoted himself as to neglect the rest. They complained to their father, and Daksha repeatedly interposed, till, finding his remon strances vain, he denounced a curse upon his son in - law, in consequence of which ho became affected by consumption, and remained childless. The wives of Chandra having interceded in his behalf with their father, Daksha modified an im precation which he could not recall, and pro nounced that the decay should be periodical only, and that it should alternate with periods of recovery. Hence the successive wane and increase of the moon. Robini, in Hindu astronomy, is the fourth lunar mansion, containing five stars, the principal of which is Aldebaran. Hindus have long been aware of the astronomical facts of the moon's deriving its light from the sun, and by its positions forming the days of the lunar month on which particular ceremonies are to be observed. In the latter case it is supposed to mood in the Mandala, the sphere or orbit of the sun, and when in conjunction, as at the new moon or Amavasya, funeral obsequies are especially to be celebrated. According to their mythological notions, also, the moon is the grand receptacle and storehouse of amrit or ambrosia, which it supplies during the fortnight of its wane to the gods, and on the last day to the Pitri or deified progenitors. Also as personified, in Hinduism, the moon is the father of Budha and grandfather of Pururavas. The half-moon is worn by Siva upon
his forehead. With the Rajputs, as with the Scandinavians, the moon is a male divinity. The Tatar nation also considered him a male divinity, like Adonis. The moon has, in many nations, been considered to exercise an influence on the body, producing and modifying diseases, and has played an important part in the development of the character of nations, and in determining the destinies of the human race. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night' (Psalm cxxi. 6). Eastern races believe firmly in the evil effects of moonlight upon the human frame, New moons, and full moons, and moonless heavens at the conjunction, have been kept with ceremonies or fastings. Eclipses, whether of the sun or moon, have been looked on as evidences of divine displeasure ; the influence of the moon on marriage and child-bearing was considered great Accord ing to Egede, the Greenlanders believe that the moon visits their wives now and then ; and that staring long at it when at its full will make a maid pregnant. Amongst the Jews, according to Rabbi Abravancl, the full moon was believed to be lucky, and the other phases disastrous, and the belief of the Greeks and Romans was similar.
The day of the full moon was by the Greeks the best for marriage. Hesiod, Aristotle, Lucilius, Horace, Pliny, Galen, Lord Bacon, and others have all made similar notices.— Winslow on Light ; Hindu Theatre ; 7'od's Rajasthan. '