The 9 Planets (Navagraha)

Vedic astrology works with nine planets or grahas: the Sun and Moon (luminaries), the five visible planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, and the two lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu (shadow planets). Each graha is a karaka, a significator of specific areas of life, and its results depend on the sign it occupies (its dignity), the house it sits in, and the planets it joins or aspects. Select a planet for its full significance, then explore its results in every sign and house.

The nine grahas at a glance

Why nine, and not ten

Jyotish uses nine grahas and stops there. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not part of the system, and the two extra bodies are not planets at all: Rahu and Ketu are the lunar nodes, the points where the paths of Surya and Chandra cross. They have no physical body, which is why they are called chhaya grahas, the shadow grahas, and they are the reason eclipses happen. They own no sign and take on the character of their dispositor.

How a graha is judged

Four questions, in order. What is its dignity by sign, covered in exaltation and planetary strength? Which house does it occupy, and which houses does it rule for your lagna? What drishti does it cast and receive, set out in the drishti lesson? And is it conjunct another graha, which blends the two into one force? Only then does timing come in, through the Vimshottari dasha, whose lengths are in the last column above.

Each graha also rules three of the 27 nakshatras, and the star your Moon occupied at birth decides which dasha you were born into. There are 27 nakshatras in total, nine grahas, three each.