The moon had twenty seven wives, one of whom was Rohini. The moon loved Rohini very much, which made the rest of his wives very jealous and angry. They went to their father – Daksha and complained about Moon’s behaviour.
Daksha went to Moon and advised him to give proper attention to all of his wives. But it did not have any effect on him and he continued giving special treatment to Rohini.
When Daksha came to know about this, he became very furious. He cursed Moon to become weak and be devoid of radiance. The moon then sent the deities to lord Brahma to seek his help. At first, lord Brahma became very angry with the Moon, but later on he cooled down and told the deities, that Moon can get liberated from the curse, if he chants ‘Mahamrityunjaya mantra’ by going to Prabhas area.
Moon went to Prabhas area and chanted Mahamrityunjaya mantra for ten crore times after sitting in one posture. Lord Shiva appeared before him and asked him to demand anything he wished.
Moon requested lord Shiva to liberate him from the curse given by Daksha. Lord Shiva told moon that the words of Daksha can never become untrue. However he blessed moon by saying that he would wane during the dark lunar phase due to the curse, but wax during the bright lunar phase due to his (Shiva’s) blessings. Lord Shiva also blessed moon that he would be present along with Parvati near him. Thus Lord Shiva established himself as Somanath. The deities constructed a ‘Kunda’ named Chandrakunda. It is believed that the Moon became liberated from the curse by taking a bath in this Kunda!