Tara (Hindu goddess)
is the Hindu goddess of felicity and sanguineness. She is also known as the "Wisdom Goddess" in Nepal and Tibet. Tara is the consort of Hindu god Brihaspati, the god of planet Jupiter. According to some Puranas, Tara sired or mothered a child named Budha, the god of Mercury through Chandra and had a son named Kacha through Brihaspati.
Story
According to the Devi Bhagvata Purana and Padma Purana, Tara was the wife of Brihaspati, the guru of Devas. As her husband spent most of his time with the problems and matters of Devas, she felt ignored by her husband. One day, Chandra, the moon god visited Brihaspati. There he saw Tara and was captivated by her beauty. Tara also fell for Chandra due to his beautiful form, and the two ran away.Brihaspati, lovesick and infuriated, demanded Chandra to return his wife. Chandra told Brihaspati that Tara was happy and satisfied with him. He enquired as to how an old man could be the husband of a young woman. This made Brihaspati more annoyed and he warned Chandra for battle. Indra and other Devas gathered to fight a war. Chandra was not ready to give Tara back and he took help from the Asuras and their preceptor, Sukra. The Devas were assisted by Shiva and his companions. Devas and Asura were about to fight a war, but Brahma, the creator god, stopped them and convinced Chandra to return Tara, who came back pregnant.
A legal proceeding went down. Bhrihaspati and Chandra both claimed that the child was theirs. Tara stood there shy, and refused to answer who the actual father of the child was no matter how much anyone tried to make her quit her silence. Exasperated, even the child in her belly finally asked 'of whose seed was I born, mother?' This made Tara answer that that the child was Chandra's. However, Brahma still decided that since Tara was legally Bhrihaspati's wife, the baby is also legally his. Bhrihaspati only wanted his wife, not his wife's affair child. So he cursed the child, Budha, to be born without gender. The child thus, after growing up, preferred the company of his biological father over his foster one, and his son Pururvas went on to establish the lunar dynasty named after his biological grandfather.The Padma Purana skips this entire legal battle, and instead after Tara confesses that the child is Chandra's, Chandra takes the baby and blesses him by placing him in the solar system. Here, Budha is genderless just because he can be, without further reasons provided on the why.
In the story, Tara is not punished, and in several retellings she is praised in erotic detail, despite being involved in a scandalous extra-marital affair.
In some other Puranic versions, Tara is abducted by Chandra and raped. The storyline following this is the same regarding the birth of Budha.