Nine planets (navagraha) in Vedic astrology: a beginner's guide

The nine grahas are Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Guru (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu and Ketu. A graha is not quite a planet in the astronomy sense: it is any body with considerable influence on living beings on earth.

The classical text Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS), a foundational treatise of Jyotish, lists each graha's main governance: the Sun is the soul, the Moon the mind, Mars strength, Mercury speech, Jupiter knowledge and happiness, Venus potency, Saturn grief.

Each also carries natural significations, things it stands for in a chart: the Sun for self, father and career; the Moon for mind and mother; Mars for courage and younger siblings; Mercury for speech and learning; Jupiter for wealth, children, teacher and fortune; Venus for spouse, marital happiness and vehicles; Saturn for servants, longevity and troubles; Rahu and Ketu for occult knowledge, with Rahu also going abroad and Ketu also moksha, which means liberation.

One piece of sky-lore: BPHS pictures the grahas as a royal cabinet. The Sun and Moon are royalty, Mars the army chief, Mercury the prince, Jupiter and Venus the ministers, Saturn the servant, and Rahu and Ketu the army.

Seven of the nine are physical bodies: the Sun, Moon and the five visible planets. Rahu and Ketu are chaya grahas, literally shadow planets: mathematical points, also called the north and south nodes. They are based on the points where the Moon's orbit around the earth cuts the earth's orbit around the Sun.

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not used in Jyotish. P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (PVR), author of the textbook Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, notes that their use 'was not taught by any seers of Vedic astrology'.

B.V. Raman writes that Hindu astrology does not recognise the newly discovered planets, counting seven planets plus Rahu and Ketu.

BPHS gives the rule: the Sun, Saturn, Mars, the waning Moon, Rahu and Ketu are malefics, and the rest are benefics. Mercury becomes a malefic when he joins a malefic.

In Sanskrit the benefics are called saumya or shubha grahas and the malefics krura or papa grahas. So Jupiter and Venus are benefics by nature, the waxing Moon is a benefic, and Mercury is a benefic when alone or with benefics.

PVR explains why this matters: the results given by planets rest on their inherent nature. Malefic describes a planet's nature, not a verdict on a person.

BPHS adds that a planet ruling a kendra, one of the angular houses, loses its natural benefic or malefic quality, so how a planet behaves for a given Vedic ascendant (lagna), the sign rising at birth, also depends on the houses it rules. That is a later lesson.

Exaltation (uchcha) is the sign where a planet is strongest, with a specific degree where it is deepest. Debilitation (neecha) is the opposite sign, where the planet is weakest.

Own sign is the sign or signs a planet rules. Moolatrikona is a set stretch of one sign where the planet does its formal duty.

PVR's analogy: the own sign is like home, where one is most natural and comfortable; the moolatrikona is like the office, where one does one's formal duty; the exaltation sign is like a favourite party; the debilitation sign is like being stuck at a place one hates.

One rule ties the table together: each planet is debilitated in the seventh sign from its exaltation sign, deepest at the same degree.

For Rahu and Ketu, schools differ. PVR gives Rahu exalted in Gemini and Ketu in Sagittarius, each debilitated in the other's exaltation sign.

The BPHS translation gives Rahu's exaltation as Taurus and Ketu's as Scorpio, and notes that some sages give different own signs.

Approximate speeds, from B.V. Raman: the Moon takes about 1 hour 48 minutes per degree, roughly two and a quarter days per sign. The Sun and Venus move roughly 1° a day, about a month per sign.

Mercury never gets more than 28° from the Sun. Mars takes about 45 days per sign, Jupiter about one year, and Saturn about two and a half years per sign.

Rahu and Ketu are the odd ones out: they move from east to west, backwards through the signs, about 18 months per sign.

One more motion to know: planets other than the Sun and Moon at times appear to stop, move backwards for a while and then regain their course. This is retrogression, called vakra in Sanskrit.

In the sample chart, Venus in Pisces is exalted: the table shows Pisces (27°) as Venus's exaltation sign. Saturn in Capricorn is in its own sign, one of the two signs Saturn rules. No planet in this chart is debilitated.

Mars in Gemini is retrograde, appearing to move backwards, which is a condition of motion rather than of dignity.

To find a planet's dignity in any chart, look up its sign in the table above.

Courses teach dignity alongside the planets, before moving deeper: Komilla Sutton's course covers the planets in weeks 2 to 4, then planetary relationships, exaltation and debilitation, strengths, aspects and karakas (significators) in week 5.

B.V. Raman cautions that descriptions 'are only general in nature and should not be applied hastily', and OnlineJyotish suggests treating interpretations 'as traditional associations rather than promises'.

A planet's nature and dignity are starting points: how it actually behaves depends on the house it sits in and the houses it rules.