PLANATARY SYSTEM IN INDIAN ASTROLOGY

                                      ARUN ROY MUKHERJEE

There are nine planets under the Indian system of Astrology. Those are Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. Earth is not considered as a planet. But Sun and Moon are considered as planets but Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not. Instead Rahu and Ketu are.

The first question that arises in our minds is why earth is not considered as a planet though it is one of the planets in the Solar system and where we live. Astrology came into being in Babylon in the very early days of civilization. Later it spread into other countries in the middle-east. Greeks also became interested in the subject and they developed the subject further. The people in those countries believed that earth is at the center of the universe and all objects in the sky including Sun, Moon, different planets and Stars revolve around the earth. We must however, note that those people, even in those early days of civilization, could distinguish between a planet and a star and rightly identified Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn as planets as distinct from the stars. Originally those people did not know about Rahu and Ketu and did not consider those two as planets or any entity at all in their scheme of things. Rahu and Ketu were included as planets by the Indian astrologers.

Astrology came to India through the middle-east countries and after the invasion of Alexander, the Great, the improvements made by the Greek astrologers also became known to the Indian astrologers. Astrologers, in India, also believed that earth is at the center of the universe and all astral bodies including Sun, Moon, planets and stars revolve around the earth. This is the reason that in Indian astrology Sun and Moon are considered as planets and not as a star and a satellite of earth respectively. And this is also the reason that earth and its position is not indicated in a horoscope. In the horoscope its position is at the center.

Indian astrologers had no knowledge of the existence of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and those have not been included in the list of planets. The knowledge of their existence came at a much later time but astrology in India did not include those in the system because they did not find reference about their nature, qualities etc. in any of the ancient texts. Some astrologers, however, take those also into account and attribute some characteristics but such ideas are generally not followed by all.

Here is a peculiar situation that many new ideas like “Sade Sati” “Kaal Sarpa” etc. have been invented and incorporated in Indian astrology and those ideas have been accepted by almost all the astrologers and they also make predictions on that basis and also prescribe remedies to get relief from the supposed ill effects of “sade sati” and “kaal sarpa”. The most possible reason may be that the astrologers may not have found any personal advantage in taking Uranus, Neptune and Plato and incorporating those in the system but could see a great financial advantage to themselves by incorporating the ideas of “sade sati” and “kaal sarpa”. 

In the final analysis we find that in astrology Sun is a planet, Moon is a planet and Rahu and Ketu are also planets. In fact we have a “Stotra” which is known as “Nava Graha Stotra” which gives a short description of each of those and extol their virtue.  The basic facts on which horoscopes are drawn and predictions made are erroneous and yet millions of people in India depend on the system and have faith on it.  

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