The Red Planet Mars, and the Marriage Affliction

Mangala, also Angaraka and Lohita, the red one, is the Hindu deity of the planet Mars, one of the Navagraha, a fierce, celibate warrior with red skin and four arms who rides a ram. In Jyotisha he governs energy, courage, aggression, land and brothers, and he is the lord of the well-known astrological affliction called Mangal Dosha (a person is said to be manglik): when Mars occupies certain houses in a birth chart, difficulty in marriage is anticipated, and the belief has real social force, with charts still matched for compatibility on this point. His parentage varies by text: in some he is the son of Bhumi, the earth-goddess, and Vishnu, born when the god raised her from the cosmic waters in his Varaha (boar) avatar, which gives Mangala the name Bhauma, son of the earth; in others he springs from a drop of Shiva's sweat or blood. Tuesday (Mangalvar) is his day, and he is sometimes linked with the war-god Kartikeya.