Navagrahas
The Navagrahas are the nine grahas: Sūrya, Candra, Maṅgala, Budha, Bṛhaspati, Śukra, Śani, Rāhu and Ketu. They are devas who govern the nine cosmic forces that rule the lives of all beings.
The Agni Purāṇa (Chapters 21 and 51) describes the form of each graha. It also tells how to worship them, as part of the Sūrya-pūjā and in the general pūjā of the five main devas. The Bhavishya Purāṇa (Uttara Parva, Chapter 114) teaches the nature of Śani and the Śanaiścara vrata.
The nine grahas in the Agni Purāṇa
The descriptions below come from Chapter 51 of the Agni Purāṇa.
Sūrya (the Sun)
Sūrya stands on his chariot of seven horses, which has a single wheel. He holds two red lotuses, one in each of his two hands. He wears northern dress (uttarīya garments): boots and a coat. His colour is red. His charioteer is Aruṇa. His attendants are Daṇḍī on the right, who holds writing materials, and Piṅgaḷa on the left. Two women with cāmaras (fly-whisks) stand at his sides. His horse is Uccaiḥśravas.
Candra (the Moon)
Candra holds a kuṇḍika (water pot) and a japamālā (a rosary) in his two hands. His colour is white and his clothes are white. He is linked with coolness, with amṛta (the nectar of life) and with the feeding of all plants.
Maṅgala (Mars)
Maṅgala is also called Kuja, the planet born of the earth. He holds a śakti (a spear) and an akshamālā (a rosary) in his hands. He is linked with energy, courage and the warrior’s way.
Budha (Mercury)
Budha holds a dhanus (bow) and an akshamālā in his hands. He is linked with intelligence, trade and skill in the arts. His colour is bright and clear.
Bṛhaspati (Jupiter)
Bṛhaspati is the teacher of the devas. He holds a kuṇḍika and an akshamālā in his hands. He is linked with wisdom, dharma and the authority of the priest. His colour is golden.
Śukra (Venus)
Śukra is the teacher of the asuras. He holds a kuṇḍika and an akshamālā in his hands. He is linked with beauty, pleasure and the arts. His colour is bright white.
Śani (Saturn)
Śani holds small bells (muvvalu, a string of bells) in his hand. He is linked with justice by karma, with discipline and with the results of past actions. His colour is dark blue. He is the son of Sūrya (Mārtaṇḍa) and Chāyā.
Rāhu
Rāhu holds an ardha-candra (a crescent moon) in his hand. He is the severed head of the asura Svarbhānu. Svarbhānu drank the amṛta during the Samudra-manthana (the churning of the ocean), and Bhagavān Vishṇu’s Sudarśana cakra cut him in two. Rāhu is the ascending node of the Moon and the cause of eclipses of the sun and moon (grahaṇa). His colour is dark.
Ketu
Ketu holds a khaḍga (sword) and a dīpa (lamp) in his hands. He is the descending node of the Moon. He is the severed body of the asura whose head became Rāhu. His form is smoky or like a comet (dhūmra-varṇa), and his body trails off into a comet-like tail. He is linked with moksha (liberation) and with the karma of past lives.
Worship in Sūrya’s retinue
The Agni Purāṇa teaches the worship of the Navagrahas as part of the Sūrya-pūjā in Chapter 73. First comes the main worship of Sūrya himself. Then his retinue is honoured. Daṇḍī and Piṅgaḷa are worshipped first, at the door of the pūjā room. Then come the nine grahas in order: Soma, Maṅgala, Budha, Guru (Bṛhaspati), Śukra, Śani, Rāhu and Ketu, following Sūrya. With them are worshipped the Rājñī (Chāyādevī, the consort of Sūrya) and her form Sūrya-śakti.
The chapter ends with the worship of the eight nāgas (serpents). They have the hoods of cobras and great radiance, and they stand with the grahas in the retinue of Sūrya. The Agni Purāṇa names Ananta, Takshaka, Karoṭaka, Padma, Mahāpadma, Śaṅkha, Kulika and others.
Chapter 21, the general chapter on pūjā, also places the Navagrahas in the full Sūrya-worship. It says:
piṃmmat soma-aṃgāraka-budha, guru-śukra-śani-rāhu-ketuvulu
This names Soma (Candra), Aṅgāraka (Maṅgala), Budha, Guru, Śukra, Śani, Rāhu and Ketu. All of them are worshipped in order after the main worship of Sūrya.
Their place in the temple
Chapter 56 of the Agni Purāṇa teaches the dikpāla-yāga, the rite of the guardians of the directions. The Navagrahas are set in place in relation to the dikpālas. The dikpālas guard the outer side of the temple. The Navagrahas rule the inner cycles of time and karma that touch all who worship in the temple. The navagraha-pīṭha (the altar of the nine grahas) is set in a prominent place where all worshippers can reach it.
Bāla-grahas and graha mantras in the Agni Purāṇa
Chapters 299 and 300 of the Agni Purāṇa speak of the grahas in healing and in the protection of children.
Bāla-grahas, the afflictions of childhood (Chapter 299)
The Agni Purāṇa says the planets are linked to grahīs, female spirits that afflict. They take hold of newborns and young children one after another, from the day of birth to the age of seventeen. The text names the grahīs of each of the first thirteen days, of each month from the first to the twelfth, and of each year from the second to the seventeenth. It gives the signs of each and the remedies. The remedies are bali offerings (offerings of food), a herbal paste (lepa) and fumigation.
The protective mantra for the pacifying (śānti) of all bāla-grahas begins “Oṃ namaḥ sarva-mātṛbhyaṃ” and runs to “rudrottāpayati”. The text calls it sarva-kāma-prada, the giver of all wishes. A second mantra, from “Oṃ namo bhagavatī” to “vaśa vaśa”, is recited as a rakshā (protection) mantra during the bali offering. The text calls on Brahmā, Vishṇu, Śiva, Skanda, Gaurī and the Gaṇas to guard the child from jvara (fever) and dāha (burning).
The graha mantras (Chapter 300)
Chapter 300 gives the graha-upahāra-mantra system, the mantras that calm the grahas in all beings. The Agni Purāṇa says that by the anger of Rudra many graha-forces arise. They live in rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, crossroads, empty houses and lone trees, and they afflict those who pass through such places.
The chief remedy is the worship of Sūrya. The form of Sūrya for this pūjā is different from his usual form. He has four faces, eight arms and twelve eyes. He sits on a lotus inside the solar maṇḍala (circle), attended by the Āditya-gaṇas. In his right hands he holds the pāśa (noose), the aṅkuśa (goad), the akshamālā and the kapāla (skull-cup). In his left hands he holds the khaṭvāṅga (staff), the kamala (lotus), the cakra and the śakti.
The bīja-mantra of Sūrya for the calming of grahas gives “Hrāṃ Hrīṃ Saḥ” as its root seed (mūla-bīja). The full mantra is: “Yauḥ Rauṃ Aiṃ Hrīṃ Kalaśārkāya Bhūrbhuvaḥ Svar Oṃ jvālinī-kula-muddhara.”
The worship goes through the setting up of the yoga-pīṭha, then the eight śaktis on the petals, and then the nine grahas in their places. Candra, Budha, Bṛhaspati and Śukra stand in the four main directions from Sūrya. Maṅgala, Śani, Rāhu and Ketu stand in the four directions between.
The bīja-mantra of each graha is made from the first syllable of its name with a bindu (anusvāra) added. When they are worshipped well, all the grahas become saumya (gentle) and bala-dāyaka (givers of strength). The Agni Purāṇa gives their colours: Bṛhaspati is golden-yellow, Śukra is white, Śani is dark (kṛshṇa), and Rāhu and Ketu are smoke-coloured (dhūma-varṇa). All hold the abhaya-mudrā (the gesture of fearlessness) in their right hands.
Śani in the Bhavishya Purāṇa
The Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa (Chapter 114) gives the fullest teaching on the nature of Śani and on the Śanaiścara vrata.
Nature of Śani
Śanaiścara means “the slow mover”. He is one of the Navagrahas, the son of Sūrya and Chāyā, and the brother of Yama. He is dark and strict. He moves very slowly through the zodiac, about two and a half years in each rāśi (sign). He is the graha of karma, discipline, long life and the fruits of past actions. He does not bring hardship out of ill will. He brings it according to what Brahmā wrote for each ātmā (soul) by its karma. When he is worshipped well, he gives every good.
The Pippalāda episode
The Śanaiścara worship rests on the account of the ṛshi Pippalāda Maharshi. As an infant he was left alone in a famine. By divine grace he was raised under a pippala tree. Nārada taught him, and Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him darśana. When he had grown to the full power of his tapas, he looked up at the sky and, with the power of his gaze, threw Śani down from the sphere of the planets. Śani fell to the earth.
The devas were shaken, for the order of the cosmos was broken. They brought Brahmā to step in. Brahmā came before Pippalāda and explained that Śani is not an enemy. He is a deva doing the work that Brahmā himself set for him. No being in any loka is free from the power of Śani. Even Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva come under Śani’s power in their own time. Śani only gives out what karma has ordained.
Pippalāda accepted the teaching of Brahmā. He set Śani free and gave him the honour due to a deva. Brahmā then set up the Śanaiścara vrata, the Saturday observance for Śani, and declared:
“When a devotee worships Śani on Saturday with the prescribed rites and then recites the name ‘Pippalāda,’ all Śani affliction for seven births is removed.”
King Nala and the Śani stotra
The Uttara Parva also tells of King Nala, who lost his kingdom under the power of Śani. In a dream he received the Nala-Śani stotra. By reciting this prayer, Nala won back his fortune, his kingdom and his wealth. The stotra is part of the Śanaiścara vrata. It includes these verses:
Kroḍaṃ nīlāñjanaprakhyaṃ nīlavarṇa samaśrajam |
Chāyāmārtaṇḍa saṃbhūtaṃ namasyāmi śanaiścaram ||
I bow to Śanaiścara, who is like dark collyrium, blue in colour, wearing a garland, born of Chāyā and Mārtaṇḍa.
Namo’rkaputrāya śanaiścarāya nīhāravarṇāñjana mecakāya |
śrutvā rahasyaṃ bhava kāmadaśca phalaprado me bhava sūryaputra ||
Salutation to Śanaiścara, the son of Arka (Sūrya), dark as mist and collyrium. Having heard the secret, be the giver of my wishes and the giver of fruit to me, O son of Sūrya.
Sources
- Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 21, 51, 56, 73, 299–300
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 114