Hindus are unique in worshipping everything in the sky including ‘’Father in the Heaven’’. I have already written about their worship of trees, cows and elephants, fish, eagle/Garuda, rivers/Ganga Yamuna Saraswati, Shoes (sandals), snakes, earth, bells etc. They see God in everything. Most of their customs are based on hygiene or science. But some are inexplicable; one of them is the worship of Nine Heavenly Bodies known to Hindus as Navagrahas.
Believing astrology is different from worshiping them. Billions of people read weekly predictions for their zodiacal signs in India and Western Countries. For many of us it is fun, for some of us it is accurate prediction!! But I am talking about actual worship of Nine Heavenly bodies (planets): Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. In Sanskrit we call them Surya, Chandra, Angaraka, Bhudha, Guru/Bruhaspati, Sukra and Sani.
As a Brahmin I do Sandhayvandhanam every day at least once on the banks of river Thames in London. I am supposed to do three times-- morning, afternoon and evening. It is like a person taking medicine three times a day or vitamin tablets. It is a lifelong tonic for three castes Brahmana (Priestly caste), Kshatriyas (Security forces) and Vaisya (Business men). But now it is the Brahmins who do it on regular basis.
The first part of the Sandhayavandhanam or Sun Worship finishes with Deva Tarpanam. This is where I do the worship of Sun, Moon etc in the same order like in English calendar-Sunday to Saturday (The mantra begins with Adityam Tarpayami, Somam tarpayami…..). Foreign scholars wrote that Egyptians and Greeks taught the days of the week to Indians. I doubt it. If it is ‘’Imported’’ from foreign countries my forefathers would not have included it in orthodox Hindu worship. This was started by my forefathers 5000 or 6000 years ago on the banks of mighty Saraswati River. I have got more proofs to justify my statement.
All South Indian Temples have special places for the Navagrahas. Sun and Moon have been allocated special places in the corridor. There are special Gayatri Mantras for all the Nine ‘Planets’ (strictly speaking Sun is a star; Moon is a satellite of earth; Rahu and Ketu are shadows). There are special shrines for all the nine planets in Tamil Nadu. Millions of people throng the places every day. There nine more Navagraha shrines around Chennai. There are special Homas (Fire ceremonies) for all the nine planets and 27 Stars (Nakshatras) from Vedic Days. They are not imported. We have nine different special woods, nine different special grains, nine different special colour clothes for this Homa. The mantras are very old.
People all over India wear Navagraha rings, set up with nine different gem stones.
Last but one in the tail area of Sapatarishi mandalam is Mizar (Vashista); it is a double star with aAcor (Arundhati);Saptarishi constellation (other names: Big Dipper, Ursa Major, Great Bear constellation)
Proof from 2000 year old Sangam Tamil Literature
Foreigners spread a blatant lie to destabilise India and destroy Hinduism in the name of Aryan-Dravidian Race theory. Those who read Sanskrit and Tamil literature will have a good laugh about this absurd race theory. I can quote over 1000 common customs from old Tamil literature. They are practised by Hindus from Kashmir to Kandy in Sri Lanka and beyond.
The Wonder Boy, Child Prodigy, Youngest Poet in History, Tamil saint Thiru Jnana Sambandhar who lived 1300 years ago sang about these nine planets in the same order in his Kolaru Thiru Pathikam. Elderly saint Appar warned the boy about travelling to Madurai. But he said that these nine planets will have no evil influence on the devotees of Shiva. The miracle boy was right. He did miracles in Madurai and re established Hinduism in Tamil Nadu.
I have quoted two wedding songs (Akam 86, 136) in my post Why Do Hindus Worship Moon? There also the poets talk about the evil influence of the planets when they said why the Tamil weddings are done on the day star Rohini aligned with the moon. There are over six references about Arundhati star ( Vasista’s wife and one of the stars in Ursa Major known as Sapta Rishi Mandalam). All these are slaps on the face o supporters of Racist theories. I have already written about Indra and Varuna worship from the oldest Tamil book Tolkappiam which shows Aryans did not bring them to the south. There was only one culture from the oldest time the Tamils knew.
Tamil literature sings about zodiacal signs and planets like Mars ,Venus and Saturn. The most interesting reference about Jupiter and Venus (Brihaspati, Venus) is they are called Two Brahmins (Anthanar Iruvar). According to mythology Guru/Brihaspati (Jupiter) is the teacher for Devas (angels) and Sukra (venus) is the teacher for Asuras (demons). Devas and Demons had Brahmin Gurus!! This also tears the Aryan Dravidian racist cloth in to pieces. Hundreds and Hundreds of mythological stories have direct reference in Kalitokai and Paripatal. Purananuru, an anthology of 400 verses, is the encyclopaedia of Tamil Life. It has innumerable references to Vedic customs. I don’t want to repeat what I have already given in my posts NO BRAHMINS, NO TAMIL and other 600 posts in this blog.
Venus link to rains
Ancient Egyptians linked Sirius (the brightest star) to floods in the River Nile. Tamil and Sanskrit literature links Venus with rains. Purananuru have got lots of references to Venus and rains. Tamils had very good knowledge of astronomy. Science has yet to come with a theory for this link. The belief about comets (Dhumaketu) is also same in both the literature.
More Proof
There is lots of proof to show that these beliefs are not imported or brought by migrants. The number of words for Nine heavenly bodies (grahas) and 27 stars (Nakshatras) is amazing in Sanskrit and Tamil thesaurus called ‘Nigantu’. No language in the world has some many words for planets and stars!!!! This is the best proof to show India exported this to the world!
Silappadikaram is the best known Tamil epic. It is post Sangam period Encyclopedia of tamil culture. Name anything , you will find it like you find in Mahabharat. This has got reference to all the nine planets and tamil’s belief about them.
For want of space I will give some of the references from Tamil literature:
Worship of crescent moon: Kuruntokai vers 178;307; Akam. 239; Maduraikanchi- line 193; Puram.60 and Prayer 1;silambu-2—38;
Planet Rahu devouring Moon (Lunar Eclipse): Kural 1146; Kurun.395;Natr 128;Akam 114, 313; Kalitokai has five references
Sun’s one wheel chariot- Akam 360
Suns horses: Akam 363; Pattina. Line 122-124
Vasishta’s wife Arundhati: Pari 5-44;Pathitru 31-27;89-17;Perum.line 302
About Krithika (Pleiades) numerous references are there.
Two Brahmins (Jupiter and Venus): Kali-99
Venus-Rain link: Puram 35;117;383;384;386;388Pathitru. 24-24; 69-13;
Oldest Tamil book Tolkappiam has a lot of references to planets and Tamils’ beliefs.
For more about Brahmin’s Sandhya Vandanam, please read:
Why Brahmins Deserve an entry in to Guinness Book of Records
Pictures are taken from various websites; thanks
