Translation

Indian Astrolgy or Jyotish Vigyaan is the science of predicting the future. The Indians still give due regard to the existance of Pluto for predicting the future.

It is believed that each planet has some impact on every person's life. Mathematical computations are used to calculate the incidence of a planet on a person's life. For this, the astrologers require:

1. Person's Date of Birth
2. Time of Birth
3. Place of Birth

Based on this data, charts are prepared for predicting the happenings of future events.

The role played by planets in this regard is critical.
Indian astrologers had their own names for these planets:

1. Mercury is called "Buddh" (named after Lord Buddha)

2. Venus is called "Shukra" (named after Sage Shukracharya - the guru of the Demons - a very learned sage)

3. Moon (Earth i.e. Prithvi has been rerplaced by moon only for astrological purposes)= "Chandra". Though Prithvi is a planet, ancient indian astroogers compute their findings by keeping Chandra as a planet inplace of Prithvi

4. Mars is called "Mangal" (derived from sanskrit word Mangalam)

5. Jupiter is called "Brihaspati" (Brihaspati is the Indian God Of Learning)

6. Saturn is called "Shani" (Shani is the Son of the Sun God)

7. Sun is called "Surya" has been regarded as a planet for astrological purposes only.

8. Uranus is called "Arun" (Arun is the Indian God of Dawn)

Some Indians call "Uranus" as "Indra" (the Indian God of "Heavens"/king of angels/god of thunder)

9. Neptune is called "Varun" (Varun is the Indian God of Water/Seas)

10. Pluto is called "Yama" (Indian God of Death / Hell)

11. Rahu (In Hindu mythology, Rahu is a snake that swallows the sun or the moon causing eclipses.)

12. Ketu (In Vedic astrology, Ketu is the Moon's South (descending) node.) legends have a different view from astrology. There was a demon who got his head chopped off by God Vishnu. He was trying to drink nectar. VISHNU CHOPPED OFF HIS NECK SO THAT THE NECTAR COULD NOT GO FULLY INTO HIS BODY. The head is called "Rahu" and the remaining body is called "Ketu".

Initially the ancient indian astrology used the following planets for making their calculations:
Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Shani, Sun, Rahu & Ketu
(called Navagraha - 9 planets)

Modern Astrologers included 3 more to make the computations more precise:
Uranus, Neptune & Pluto.


I hope that I've been able to present a gerneric view of
the etymology and significance of these planets.