Budha is the Hindu deity of the planet Mercury, one of the Navagraha, a mild, learned god of intelligence and commerce, and, as the tradition is careful to note, not to be confused with the Buddha, a different word and figure entirely. His birth is a divine scandal: he is the son of Chandra, the Moon, and Tara, the wife of Brihaspati (Jupiter), the preceptor of the gods, whom Chandra carried off, so that the quick-witted planet is born of the union of the Moon with another god's wife.
Budha marries Ila and fathers Pururavas, the founder of the Lunar dynasty (Chandravamsha) of kings, one of the two great royal lineages of Indian legend. In Jyotisha he governs the intellect, speech, reason, trade and analytical skill, and Wednesday (Budhavar) is his day. He is shown gentle and scholarly, and his benefic or malefic influence in a chart is held to depend heavily on the company he keeps among the other planets.