---
title: "The 9 Grahas (Planets) of Vedic Astrology"
url: "https://abhisheksoni.in/learn/graha"
language: "en"
updated: "2026-10-27"
description: "The nine grahas of Vedic astrology, Surya to Ketu: what each signifies, the signs it rules, its exaltation and debilitation, and its Vimshottari dasha years."
---

# The nine grahas of Vedic astrology

Vedic astrology reads nine grahas, in this classical order: Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Guru (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu (North Node) and Ketu (South Node). Each page gives the graha's significations, the signs it rules, its dignities and its Vimshottari dasha years.

## What is a graha?

A graha is one of the nine bodies a Vedic chart is read through: Surya (the Sun), Chandra (the Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Guru (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), and the two lunar nodes, Rahu and Ketu. The word comes from the Sanskrit root grah, to seize or take hold of, and the idea is that a graha takes hold of some part of a life and colours it. "Planet" is only a rough translation: the Sun is a star, the Moon is a satellite, and Rahu and Ketu are not bodies at all.

## Why are Rahu and Ketu grahas if they are not planets?

Rahu and Ketu are the two points where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's path across the sky. Eclipses happen near them, which is how they entered the old story of the head and tail that swallow the Sun and the Moon. They have no mass and give no light, so the texts call them chhaya grahas, shadow grahas. They always move backwards through the zodiac and always sit exactly opposite each other: Rahu in the 10th house means Ketu in the 4th. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not part of the classical nine, and I do not use them.

## What does each graha signify?

Every graha is a karaka, a signifier, for certain people and themes. The table gives the short classical list for each, the signs it rules and the length of its dasha, the period of years it governs in a life. Each name opens its own page with the rest: exaltation and debilitation, friendships, aspects and the nakshatras it rules.

| Graha | English | Rules | Signifies | Dasha |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Surya](/learn/graha/surya) | Sun | Simha | soul, father, authority, vitality, government, bone structure | 6 years |
| [Chandra](/learn/graha/chandra) | Moon | Karka | mind, mother, emotion, fluids, public, memory | 10 years |
| [Mangala](/learn/graha/mangala) | Mars | Mesha, Vrishchika | energy, siblings, land, courage, conflict, surgery | 7 years |
| [Budha](/learn/graha/budha) | Mercury | Mithuna, Kanya | speech, logic, trade, skin, maternal uncle, writing | 17 years |
| [Guru](/learn/graha/guru) | Jupiter | Dhanu, Meena | wisdom, children, wealth, dharma, teacher, liver | 16 years |
| [Shukra](/learn/graha/shukra) | Venus | Vrishabha, Tula | spouse, beauty, art, luxury, vehicles, reproduction | 20 years |
| [Shani](/learn/graha/shani) | Saturn | Makara, Kumbha | longevity, discipline, labour, delay, sorrow, nerves | 19 years |
| [Rahu](/learn/graha/rahu) | Rahu | none | obsession, foreign, illusion, technology, sudden rise, taboo | 18 years |
| [Ketu](/learn/graha/ketu) | Ketu | none | detachment, moksha, past life, occult, loss, healing | 7 years |

## How is a graha read in a birth chart?

Never on its own. Three things come first: the sign it sits in, and whether that sign strengthens or weakens it; the house it occupies, which is the area of life it acts on; and the houses it rules, which is whose business it carries. Shani in the 7th house of a Vrishabha ascendant rules the 9th and 10th; Shani in the 7th of a Simha ascendant rules the 6th and 7th. Same placement, different story.

Then time. Each graha runs a dasha of fixed length, from Surya's six years to Shukra's twenty, and the period you are running decides which grahas are in the foreground now. That is why two people with the same placement describe such different years.

## Is any graha good or bad?

The texts call Guru, Shukra, Budha and a waxing Chandra natural benefics, and Shani, Mangala, Surya, Rahu and Ketu natural malefics. That describes the kind of experience a graha brings, not whether your life goes well. Shani stands for delay and hard work, and also for the patience that makes slow things last. I read every graha by what it is doing in your chart, and I do not sell fear of any of them.

- [☉ Surya (Sun)](/learn/graha/surya): Surya · Sun · सूर्य · soul, father, authority, vitality, government, bone structure
- [☽ Chandra (Moon)](/learn/graha/chandra): Chandra · Moon · चंद्र · mind, mother, emotion, fluids, public, memory
- [♂ Mangala (Mars)](/learn/graha/mangala): Mangala · Mars · मंगल · energy, siblings, land, courage, conflict, surgery
- [☿ Budha (Mercury)](/learn/graha/budha): Budha · Mercury · बुध · speech, logic, trade, skin, maternal uncle, writing
- [♃ Guru (Jupiter)](/learn/graha/guru): Guru · Jupiter · गुरु · wisdom, children, wealth, dharma, teacher, liver
- [♀ Shukra (Venus)](/learn/graha/shukra): Shukra · Venus · शुक्र · spouse, beauty, art, luxury, vehicles, reproduction
- [♄ Shani (Saturn)](/learn/graha/shani): Shani · Saturn · शनि · longevity, discipline, labour, delay, sorrow, nerves
- [☊ Rahu (North Node)](/learn/graha/rahu): Rahu · राहु · obsession, foreign, illusion, technology, sudden rise, taboo
- [☋ Ketu (South Node)](/learn/graha/ketu): Ketu · केतु · detachment, moksha, past life, occult, loss, healing