Yantra · The nine planets
Navagraha Yantra: the nine planetary number squares and their meaning
In Vedic astrology the nine grahas, the Sun, the Moon, five planets and the two lunar nodes, are honoured together. The Navagraha Yantra gives each of them a small square of numbers and sets the nine squares out in the same order as the planets stand in a Navagraha shrine.
The Navagraha Yantra
East is at the top, as in the traditional mandala: Surya in the centre, Shukra in the east, Guru in the north, Mangal in the south and Shani in the west, with Budh, Chandra, Rahu and Ketu in the corners.
What the Navagraha Yantra means
The grahas are not seen as distant rocks but as forces that shape the rhythm of a life: the Sun of vitality, the Moon of the mind, Mars of courage, Mercury of speech and learning, Jupiter of wisdom, Venus of love and beauty, Saturn of patience and work, and Rahu and Ketu, the points where the Moon’s path crosses the Sun’s. Honouring all nine together is a way of asking for balance among them, rather than favouring one.
The nine squares
All nine squares share one pattern, the Surya square that adds up to 15. Each planet, in the order of the weekdays and then the two nodes, adds 1 to every number, so each total is 3 more than the one before.
- Surya (Sun): total 15, Sunday. Rows: 6 1 8 / 7 5 3 / 2 9 4.
- Chandra (Moon): total 18, Monday. Rows: 7 2 9 / 8 6 4 / 3 10 5.
- Mangal (Mars): total 21, Tuesday. Rows: 8 3 10 / 9 7 5 / 4 11 6.
- Budh (Mercury): total 24, Wednesday. Rows: 9 4 11 / 10 8 6 / 5 12 7.
- Guru (Jupiter): total 27, Thursday. Rows: 10 5 12 / 11 9 7 / 6 13 8.
- Shukra (Venus): total 30, Friday. Rows: 11 6 13 / 12 10 8 / 7 14 9.
- Shani (Saturn): total 33, Saturday. Rows: 12 7 14 / 13 11 9 / 8 15 10.
- Rahu: total 36. Rows: 13 8 15 / 14 12 10 / 9 16 11.
- Ketu: total 39. Rows: 14 9 16 / 15 13 11 / 10 17 12.
The Navagraha shloka, with meaning
A short prayer to all nine planets together, said in many homes at the start of worship.
How it is traditionally kept
A Navagraha Yantra is often placed in the home shrine at a griha pravesh, a Navagraha puja or the start of a new undertaking, and honoured with a lamp, a few grains of rice and the shloka above. Some families recite the Navagraha Chalisa with it.
Many families keep a yantra in the puja space, facing east; keep it however feels right to you.
Questions
Why is Surya in the centre?
In the Navagraha mandala of temples the Sun, around whom the planets are ordered, stands in the centre, and the other eight face the eight directions around him. The yantra follows the same plan.
Are Rahu and Ketu planets?
Not in the astronomical sense. They are the two points where the Moon’s orbit crosses the Sun’s apparent path, where eclipses happen. Indian astrology counts them among the nine grahas, a word that means “those that seize” rather than “planets”.
Is there a separate yantra for each planet?
Yes. Each small square here is also used alone as that planet’s yantra; the Surya Yantra, the square of 15, is the first of them.
Text and sources
The planetary squares and their totals (15 to 39) are those printed in most Navagraha yantras; the placement of the planets follows the Agamic Navagraha mandala with east at the top. The build checks by program that every row, column and diagonal of each square gives its total. The Navagraha shloka is the widely recited form; the transliteration and meanings are our own.
More in the library
Navagraha Chalisa
One hymn for all nine planets, four verses each, with a simple meaning for every verse.
Surya Chalisa
The full Surya Chalisa, with its twelve names of the Sun and a simple meaning for every verse.
Shani Chalisa
Forty verses to Shani Dev, the just son of the Sun, with a simple meaning for every verse.
Gayatri Mantra
The Sanskrit text, the meaning of every word, and how to chant it at sunrise.