Meaning of Navgrah
Nava means nine and grah means planets. In Hindu mythology, nine planets hold an important place. Navgrahas are believed to have a significant impact on everyone. So Hindus adorn these planets as deities. These can bring peace and harmony in their life and harmony in their life and to avert any mishap.
Each planet is supposed to bestow a particular boon to human being. According to Hindu custom, the nine navgrah are placed in a single square with sun in center and none of the deities facing each other. Following table summarises various grahas, stones to wear to appease a graha, their ruling god, etc.
| Planet | Ruling deity | Overrule | Stone | |
| 1. | The Sun (Surya) | Agni, FireGod | Shiva | Red Ruby |
| 2. | The Moon (Soma) | Apas, Water Goddess | Parvati | Moonstone or other natural pearl |
| 3. | The Mars (Mangal) | Bhumi, Earth Goddess | Skanda | Red Coral |
| 4. | The Mercury(Budha) | Vishnu, The Preserver | Vishnu | Emerald |
| 5. | The Jupiter (Brihaspati) | Indra, king of Gods | Brahma | Yellow Sapphire or yellow Topaz |
| 6. | The Venus (shukra) | Indrani, Queen of God | Indra | Diamond |
| 7. | The Saturn (Shani) | Yama, God of Death | Prajapati | Blue sapphire & Black stone |
| 8. | Rahu (Dragon’s head) | Durga, Goddess of power | Sarpa | Honeycoloured Hessonite |
| 9. | Ketu (Dragon’s tail) | Chitragupta, God of karma | Brahma | Cat’s eye |
Surya – The first Navgrah
Surya is the chief solar deity. He has hairs and arms of gold and his chariot is pulled by 7 horses, which represents 7 chakras. He presides as Ravi-var or sunday. He is said to be of sattva Gunna and represents the soul, the king.
Surya, the Sun, represents the Light of Wisdom, he is the Dispeller of Ignorance. He is the Light of Wisdom, and the power, confidence and sense of identity in an individual’s birth chart. He rides a chariot pulled by seven horses, representing all the sevens including: the seven days of the week, the seven levels of consciousness, the seven colors of the rainbow, chakras etc.
The symbol of the Surya, the Sun, is a circle with a dot in the middle. The circle is the manifested existence and the dot is the bindu, or the point of creation. Surya as the Sun is the largest of the planetary bodies, His gravitational pull keeps the other planets in balanced harmony.
Surya Mantra
Chandra
Chandra: It’s a lunar deity, also known as soma. He is one of the Navgrah described as young, beautiful, fair two armed holding a club and a lotus. he rides his chariot across the sky every night, pulled by 10 white horses or antelope. He is said to be of sattva gun and represents mind. He has 27 wives, representing 27 nakshatra. He is presiding over som-var or monday.
Mangala
Mangala: It’s god of mars, the red planet. He is considered son of prithvi. He is red in colour with four arms carrying trident, club,lotus and a spear. He is tamas in nature and represents energetic actions, confidence and ego. He presides mangal-var or tuesday.
Budha
Budha: It’s god of planet mercury and is son of moon and taraka (tara). He is of rajas guna and represents communication. He is represented as being mild, elequent and is of greenish colour. He presides budh-var or wednesday.
Brihaspati
Brihaspati : It’s a vedic deity, and represented as purohit of gods with whom he intercedes for men. He is of sattva gunna represent knowledge and teaching. He is yellow or golden in colur and holding a stick, lotus and beads. He presides over guru-var or thursday.
Shukra
Shukra : It’s god of planet venus. He is of rajas gunna and represent wealth, pleasure and reproduction. He has white complexion and is mounted on came or horse or a crocodile, holding a stick, bead and lotus or sometime bow and arrow. He presides over shukra-var or friday.
Shani
Shani : It’s god of planet saturn. He is tamas in nature and represent learning the hard way, career and longevity. It move svery slowly as compared to other planets. He is son of surya and his wife chayya. He is depicted dark in colour holding a sword, arrow, and two draggers and mounted on a black crow or raven. He presides over shani-var or saturday.
Rahu
It’s a god of ascending/north lunar node. He is depicted as a dragon with no body riding a chariot drawn by 8 black horses. He is tamas by nature and does his best to plung any area of one’s life he control into chaos. Rahukala is considered inauspicious.
According to legend asura rahu drank some devine nectar and before it could pass through his neck, Mohini (female awtar of Vishnu) cut off his head. Thus the head remain immortal and is calles rahu and body is called ketu. It is believed that immortal head occasionally swallows sun and moon causing eclipses.
Ketu
Ketu : It’s lord of descending/south node. It is believed to have tremendous impact on human lives and also the whole creation. In some special circumstances it can help someone achieve the zenith of fame. Tamay by nature represents supernatural influence.
