Somnath

The rishis ask Suta for the origin of every jyotirlinga, as he heard it from his guru. Suta warns that no one could describe their greatness fully in a hundred years, but he will tell what he can. Somanatha, he says, is named first.

The great-souled Daksha had twenty-seven daughters, and he gave them to Chandra, the moon. (The text adds in the same breath that other daughters were given to the twin Ashvins and others.) Their marriage made the moon shine, the way gold sets off a jewel and a jewel sets off gold. In time, though, Chandra came to love one of his wives, Rohini, above the rest. The others were miserable and went back to their father to complain.

Daksha went to Chandra and spoke gently. How, he asked, can there be a superior and an inferior among those who have taken refuge with you? Such unequal treatment, he warned, is said to lead to hell. Chandra did not listen. The Purana says this was Shiva's maya at work, which deludes the whole universe, and it adds that when inauspiciousness is ordained, no good counsel can take hold.

Daksha pleaded a second time and then lost patience. He told Chandra that since he had been asked repeatedly and had ignored it, he would waste away with consumption. As soon as the words were out, Chandra began to decay. The sound of lamentation rose, and the devas and rishis asked each other what was to be done.

Chandra told Indra and the other gods everything. With Vasishtha and the other rishis, they went to Brahma and praised him. Brahma was astonished at what had come about. He spoke of Shiva's maya, then said plainly that Chandra had always been wicked. As an earlier example he recalled that Chandra had abducted Tara, Brihaspati's wife, which led to a war between devas and daityas. When Brahma and Atri forbade it, Chandra returned her. But Brihaspati, seeing she was pregnant, said he would not accept her. When Brahma and Atri forbade that too, he reluctantly agreed, on the condition that she give up the foetus. Tara, asked whose child it was, said it was Soma's, and Brahma removed the foetus and Brihaspati accepted her.

That was in the past, Brahma said, and it could not be reversed. What mattered now was a remedy. Let Chandra go with the devas to the kshetra of Prabhasa, follow the prescribed norms, and worship Shiva with the Mahamrityunjaya mantra. If Shiva is pleased, he will remove the consumption.

The gods and rishis took Chandra to Prabhasa. They invoked the waters of all the noble tirthas, Sarasvati and the rest, set up a parthiva lingam by the proper rules, and worshipped it with the Mahamrityunjaya mantra. Then they installed Chandra there and went home.

For six months Chandra tormented himself with austerities. He chanted the mantra a million times and meditated on Shiva with an unwavering mind. Shankara, affectionate to his devotees, was pleased and appeared. He offered any boon.

Chandra asked for the consumption to be countered, for Shiva to forgive everything else he had done, and for Shiva to always act for his good.

Shiva did not simply cancel the curse. He told Chandra that for one fortnight he would decline by one digit each day, and in the other fortnight he would increase by one digit each day. The devas were overjoyed. All the rishis gathered and pronounced blessings over Chandra. The devas then asked Shiva to remain there with Uma.

Chandra praised Shiva in his formless aspect and in his aspect with form. To increase the fame of the kshetra and the moon's own fame, Shankara stayed in the place named after Chandra. It became known in the three worlds as Someshvara.

Suta says that people who worship there can destroy diseases such as consumption and leprosy. A pond there, established by the devas and later divided between Shiva and Brahma, is called Chandrakunda. One who bathes in it is freed from sin, and six months of bathing destroys incurable diseases. Circumambulating Prabhasa, the text says, yields the fruit of circumambulating the whole earth. One who sees the Somalingam is freed from sin. The devas took the healed Chandra, bowed to Shiva, and left. Chandra went back to his former tasks.

These are the Purana's own statements about its fruits. This page reports them as the text's claims and does not make any claim about what a visit or a bath will do.