Navagraha

The Navagraha — Surya, Chandra, Mangala, Budha, Guru, Shukra, Shani, Rahu, Ketu — are the nine planetary deities of Jyotisha, worshiped in a standard temple-shrine ensemble and propitiated through the Graha-shanti rites.

Overview

The seven classical planets plus the eclipse-nodes (Rahu and Ketu — the head and tail of the swallowed demon); the temple arrangement (the square ensemble in South Indian temples, worshiped in sequence); the weekday mapping (each graha’s day — the planetary week’s Indian adoption); the Puranic personifications (Surya’s chariot, Shani the slow judge, Guru the benevolent teacher).

Worship

The Navagraha-shanti (the pacification rite — homa, mantra, and dana for afflicted grahas); the specific propitiations (the Shani-worship of Saturdays, the Til-oil offerings; the Surya-arghya of the daily sandhya); the gemstone-correspondences (the navaratna ensemble — the nine gems worn together).

Significance

The grahas as karma’s administrators (not fate’s dictators — the theological frame where propitiation works within karma’s economy); the astrological system’s religious arm (the jyotishi’s prescriptions becoming temple-ritual); the calendar’s planetary layer (the horā and muhurta systems).

Verification notes

• The ensemble, rites, and mythology follow documented tradition.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).