Grahas (Planets)

The grahas are the celestial bodies of Vedic astrology: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, together with the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu, making nine in all. The Sanskrit word means "seizer" or "grasper", reflecting an understanding of them as forces that take hold of a life rather than as inert points on a chart.

Each graha rules signs, governs significations, and gives results according to its dignity, house and combinations. The two nodes, Rahu and Ketu, are not physical bodies but the points where the Moon's path crosses the ecliptic, and they are treated as shadowy planets with powerful effects.

Vedic astrology's nine grahas differ from the Western seven: they add the two lunar nodes as full planets and, in the classical tradition, do not use the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, though some modern Indian astrologers have adopted them. The grahas are the actors of a Vedic chart, and the dasha period systems time when each delivers its results.

The atlas gives each graha its rulerships, significations, friendships and enmities with the others, and its role in the tradition. The signs they rule are the rashis, and their periods the dashas, each treated in its own category.