indian art - miniatures - archecticture - vedic philosophy
 
 
   

 
Demigods - Platenary Deities - Presiding Deities of the Planets
 
   

 

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This is a table whose nine squares contain portrayals of the presiding deities of the planets of the solar system.

In the first row are: the Sun (Surya); the Moon (Chandra); Rahu (a demon who is always trying to swallow the Sun or the Moon, explaining periodical solar and lunar eclipses).

In the second row are: Venus (Shukra), a divine sage, tutor of the demons; Mars (Mangala, alias the God of War Karttikeya or Skanda); Saturn (Shani, the son of Surya).

In the third row are: Ketu, (the headless body of the demon Rahu); Mercury (Budha, the son of the Moon and the North Star); Jupiter (Brihaspati, a divine sage, tutor of the gods).

This table seems to have been painted by a different artist from most of the other pictures. The names of the gods and the planets are written in a form of Sanskrit script. The smaller characters above or beside them are in Bengali.

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There are many stars located 200,000 yojanas [1,600,000 miles] above the moon. By the supreme will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are fixed to the wheel of time, and thus they rotate with Mount Sumeru on their right, their motion being different from that of the sun. There are twenty-eight important stars, headed by Abhijit.

Purport
The stars referred to herein are 1,600,000 miles above the sun, and thus they are 4,000,000 miles above the earth.