Planet to Deity in Indian Astrology

Q: As an astrologer (traditional western primarily), I often think about the relationships between planets and deities. I am aware the the ganapati atharvashirsha explicitly identifies Ganesha with brihaspati, or Jupiter, which seems to be in line with the way the ancient Greeks conceived the planets (i.e. as physical manifestations of the gods). I have my own ideas about what planets some of the other Tantrik deities correspond to, but I wonder if this is stated explicitly in any of the other source texts.

Reply:

I would not say that the Gaṇapati Artharvaśīrṣa “explicitly” identifies Gaṇeśa with Bṛhaspati (Jupiter). Particularly as it identifies Gaṇeśa with various elements and deities such as Brahmā, Śiva, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Indra, Agni, Vāyu, Sun, Moon and says he is really Brahman.

Vaidikas use a Vedik mantra (2.23.1) from a sūkta whose devatā is Bṛhaspati, to worship Gaṇeśa as Gaṇapati (lord of divisions/multitudes) and Brahmanaspati (lord of the learned), but this is not a correlation between Gaṇeśa and Jupiter. All Vedic sūkta’s have a devatā associated with their many verses. [Later tāntrik mantras have a devatā specifically associated with individual mantras.] Prescribed Vedik verses (according to Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra) for Śanti of the planets do not have the planets as devatā of the sūktas where we find these verses. For example, the primary Vedic mantra for pacification of the Sun comes from a verse that has Mitra-Varuṇa as a devatā. These Vedik verses are often representing the opposite of the planet’s nature, or praying for things that the planet lacks or needs for its well-being.

The Brahmanaspati verse (2.23.1) is the first place where the term Gaṇapati (leader of the many divisions) shows up in the Vedas. Tāntrik and Hindu practice has put Gaṇeśa as the first deity, but in older realms we see that Agni or Guru were first (Guru is also a name for Jupiter). So there is an overlap of ritual positions here, but there is no direct correlation of Gaṇeśa with Bṛhaspati in astrological usage in any traditional Jyotiṣa or mantra śāstra textual source.  

When we look at the Navagraha sūkta, it worships the planets on three levels: planet diety (graha devatā), adi devatā and pratyādhi devatā. In this traditional prayer, Jupiter is worshipped as himself ‘Bṛhaspati’ at the planet level, as Indra at the adi devatā level and as Brahmā at the pratyādhi devatā level. So the devatā for pacification of Jupiter was being looked at on different levels among the Vaidika.

There is a western concept (which I think is a misnomer) called Interpretatio graeca which is where the Pagan Greeks correlated various Egyptian and other gods to their own pantheon based upon the deities ‘functional’ qualities. This was later used by the Romans to correlate all their gods with the Greek gods and to pantheons throughout Europe- which is how the day of Jupiter was correlated to Thor and became Thursday in the English language. In what we now call India, there were many religions and pantheons which all have their versions of what we could call Interpretatio Indica (though it was used in Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Bali, etc so tough to associate it with a region instead of the archetypal nature of paganism and astrology). In this way, Jupiter is seen as Indra by some Vaidika, Vamanadeva by some Vaiṣṇava, Sambaśiva by some Śaiva, Tārā by the Eastern Indian Śakta. He is Viṣṇu when seen at a tattva deity level (lord of ākāśa). Gaṇeśa is generally associated with Ketu as can be seen with the references to Jaimini Sūtras and Praśna Mārga below. Gaṇeśa can also be associated with Mercury at a tattva devatā level (lord of pṛthvi).

In India, there are secular schools of astrology; texts like Bṛhat Jātaka, Jātaka Parijata, Phaladīpika, etc are representative of this. They were meant to easily be used by any religious group. Any use of deity was meant to be integrated separate by one’s local priests. There are other texts with more direct references to deities such as Jaimini Sūtras, Bṛhat Parāsara Horā Śāstra, Deva Keralam, Praśna Mārga, etc and in these they are still referring you to priests. In India, all priests are supposed to learn astrology for this purpose. I have followed some of the Hellenistic astrology revival and there is not yet a foundation taught for the use of deities as they are used in the Indian context.

My particular lineage is from a syncretic tradition from the 1500s which integrates various pantheons for different functional purposes, similar to texts such as the Śāradā Tilaka Tantra. I would recommend to not make up your own correlation with the Indian pantheons, and to avoid mixing Indian deities into western astrology unless you have been specifically trained to use a particular pantheon and the associated mantra and sadhana or pūjā associated with them.

As an example: Śiva is associated with the Sun and worship of the Śiva liṅga is a pacification of the Sun. Śiva or Bhairava may be used when the Saturn is transiting the ascendant, but not to represent Saturn, but to strengthen the solar energy of the ascendant (bhāva kāraka) to protect it from Saturn. Jupiter can be associated with Śiva but only his personified guru rūpas, not the Śiva liṅga (and only to Śaivas and Śaktas). Śiva’s Mṛtyunjāya mantra is associated with Venus, not Sun or Jupiter because of its functional purpose. There are eight Vedik names of Rudra (Śiva as one of them) associated with the seven traditional planets and Rāhu (used as charakārakas) for ātma level problems. There are forms of Śiva as Jyotirliṅga for each sign of the zodiac, and one can use the Śiva mantra of the exaltation sign of any planet to uplift it- for example Rāhu can be worshipped with Śiva as Nageśvara (the rūpa of the sign associated with Gemini). Śiva is also associated with Saturn, but only as a tattva devatā (lord of vāyu), so the planet needs to attain tattva devatā status or this correlation is used as part of a five element śanti. Śiva is also associated with Supreme Awareness beyond any small planetary limitation. Each and all of these frames for Śiva can be used in the right context.