Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 243: Shri Caru candra kaladhara (OM chAruchandrakalAdharAyai namaH)

In Namams 199 to 248, the Divine Mother’s Saguna or infiniteness power and glory are described. 

The Divine Mother wears a beautiful crescent Moon which does not wane or wax. 

The Divine Mother wears like ornament, Sun in Her right side and the Moon in Her left side on Her crown. This Moon gives much pleasure to look at. Due to growing and waning nature, the crescent Moon gets eternal “sada” state; it is beautiful in that state.  For the devotee, his left side nostril represents the Moon Kala and his right side nostril represents the Sun Kala. This left side nostril is called Candrakala as the Divine Mother resides in there.

Like Lord Shiva, due to Her unison with the Lord, the Divine Mother has third eye like Him. This has been mentioned in many ancient documents; even the meditation sloga before we recite Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam contains the word “ Thriyanam” with the meaning that The Divine Mother has the third eye. The other two eyes are similar to Lord Shiva represent the Sun and Moon. 

Archarya Baskararaya recalls a story from Devi Bhagavata: A beautiful princess in Kasi (Varanasi) was called Candrakala. She was very sattvic, meaning pure and balanced in her approaches, and had all the auspicious attributes. The Divine Mother showed up in the dream of this princess and told her “O, beautiful girl, marry prince Sudarasana, my devotee, who will be able to fulfill all your wishes. You will have all the happiness and prosperity. The Divine Mother thus became a refuge and supporter of this Canadrakala. 

Here again, how the Divine Mother saved Abirami Bhatter when he had mistakenly told the King a new moon day as full moon day, needs to be recalled. Bhatter was under King’s orders to be put in the fire for this mistake; Bhatter was doing Abirami Anthathi songs on the Divine Mother; when he had sung his seventy-ninth Anthathi song, the Divine Mother took out Her left side earring and threw out in the open air which was much brighter than the full moon light. The King realized the Bhatter’s devotion towards the Divine Mother and apologized to him. It is an incident to show that She comes to rescue Her devotees without asking for Her help. 

In the Divine Mother meditation verse “Taranayaka” the king of stars – Moon is mentioned. The Divine Mother and the Moon associations are well known. The crescent Moon is in the Divine Mother’s crown.

 

Lord Shiva wears a crescent Moon in His head

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 23 September 2020.

 

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3. The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar