The nine grahas

Nine grahas, one method

The classical texts read a chart through nine grahas: the Sun and the Moon, the five planets the eye can see, and Rahu and Ketu, the two points where the Moon’s path crosses the Sun’s. Graha means “one that grasps”: each holds certain matters of life, and the house it sits in, the signs it rules and its dasha decide where those matters show. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not part of this tradition, and we do not use them.

Every position here is calculated on the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa, and Rahu and Ketu use the mean node. No graha is good or bad for everyone: the same Shani that slows one person’s plans steadies another’s career. That is why each page below ends with what a placement does not mean, and why the box at the top of each page reads your own chart rather than a sign you share with millions.

The nine at a glance

How to use these pages

Start with the graha you are curious about, or the one whose dasha you are living through; your free kundali shows your running mahadasha and antardasha. Each page gives the facts from our engine, what the texts say the graha stands for, how it tends to show when strong and when strained, what its dasha and its transit bring, and plain steps you can take. Sources are named on every page.

Three things decide how a graha shows in a life: its dignity (the sign it sits in — its own, exalted, a friend’s or an enemy’s), its house from your lagna, and the houses it rules. A fourth decides when: its dasha and antardasha, and its transits over sensitive points. Read together, they turn a list of meanings into a picture of one person.

• SuryaSurya, the Sun, is the graha of the self, authority, vitality and the father. The classical texts call it…
• ChandraChandra, the Moon, is the graha of the mind, emotions, the mother, comfort and the public. In Vedic…
• MangalMangal, Mars, is the graha of energy, courage, drive, younger siblings, land and competition. The texts call…
• BudhaBudha, Mercury, is the graha of intellect, speech, learning, trade and everyday cleverness. The texts call…
• GuruGuru, Jupiter, is the graha of wisdom, teachers, children, wealth and good counsel, and the most benefic of…
• ShukraShukra, Venus, is the graha of love, partnership, beauty, comfort, art and the pleasure of living well. It…
• ShaniShani, Saturn, is the graha of discipline, time, patience, hard work and structure. It is the slowest of the…
• RahuRahu is the north node of the Moon, a shadow graha that is a calculated point, not a body. The texts link it…
• KetuKetu is the south node of the Moon, a shadow graha opposite Rahu. The texts link it with detachment…