The Origin and Early Development of the Nine Planetary Deities (Navagraha)

The veneration of the planets has constituted a significant religious focus for the people of India since at least the second millennium B.C. Although the earliest textual references are found in the Vedic literature (1500-1000 B.C.), it was not until the second century A.D. that the planets were represented in anthropomorphic form. The personification of the planets was engendered by the introduction of Hellenistic astrological theories and imagery into India through the trade contact between Rome and the dynastic realm of the Western Ksatrapas. As a corollary to the scientific and cultural beliefs, the Western calendrical system of the seven-day week was also introduced in the early fourth century and gradually gained currency. This interdisciplinary investigation of textual, art-historical, and epigraphical evidence concludes that the origin of the Indian representations of the planetary deities was directly dependent upon the adoption of the seven-day week. The temporal order of the planetary deities according to their regency over the days of the week was subsequently observed in all astrological and religious texts. The earliest surviving group representations of the planetary deities, which are from Madhya Pradesh and date to ca. A.D. 500, also followed the temporal order, as do all later portrayals. Inscriptional references to the divinities appeared at approximately the same time and place as the artistic representation and exhibit a similar pattern of distribution and development. In the early sculptures there are only seven or eight planetary deities depicted: Surya, (the Sun), Candra (the Moon), Ma ngala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Brhaspati (Jupiter), Sukra (Venus), Sani (Saturn) and sometimes Rahu (the demon of eclipses). Beginning in the early seventh century, Ketu (the personification of comets) was added to form the group known as the Nine Planetary Deities (navagraha). Except for Surya, Rahu, and Ketu, the early depictions of the divinities share an undifferentiated iconography. Images in the medieval period exhibit a more individualistic iconography, and their occurrence is more widespread.