―You forgot to tell us how Budha was born,‖ remarked the sages. ―Nor did you tell us anything about Chandra‘s birth.‖ Lomaharshana filled in the blanks. The sage Atri was Brahma‘s son. Atri once performed very difficult tapasya. A tremendous amount of energy was released as a result of this meditation and the moon-god, Chandra or Soma, was born from this energy. Brahma appointed Chandra ruler over all stars, planets and herbs (oshadhi). Twenty-seven of Daksha‘s daughter were married to Chandra. These were the nakshatras (stars). Chandra performed a rajasuya yajna (royal sacrifice) and the ceremony was an outstanding success. Bt all this sucess. But all this success and glory went to Chandra‘s head. The preceptor of the gods was the sage Brihaspati and Brihaspati‘s wife was Tara. Chandra‘s eyes fell upon Tara and he forcibly abducted her. On several occasions Brihaspati asked Chandra to return Tara, but the moon-god would not listen. A terrible war then raged between the gods and demons over Tara. The gods fought on Brihaspati‘s side and the demons aided Chandra. Shiva also fought on the side of the gods. As the war raged, Shiva let fly a terrible divine weapon named brahmashirsha at Chandra. Chandra countered this with another terrible divine weapon named somastra. These two weapons of destruction threatened to burn up the entire universe. Brahma decided that it was time for him to intervene. ―Stop this nonsense at once,‖ he told Chandra. ―What you have done is most improper. Return Tara at once.‖ These words ashamed Chandra and he returned Tara. But Chandra and Tara had already had a handsome son named Budha. Budha became very skilled in the handling of elephants. In fact, the knowledge of tackling and handling elephants goes back to Budha. You already know that Budha married Ila and that they had a son named Pururava.