BUDHA GRAHA

Budha Graha (बुध) is a Sanskrit word (संस्कृत) that connotes the planet Mercury.
Budha (बुध), in Puranic Hindu Mythology (4rth Century), is also a Deity.
- Puranas (पुराण / "ancient, old") is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore.

Budha (बुध) is also known as Saumya (सौम्य / "Son of Moon"), Rauhineya (राउहिनिया) and Tunga (तुंगा).

Budha (बुध) appears as a Deity in Indian texts, often as the son of Soma (सोम / Moon God - चन्द्र, Chandra) and Tārā (तारा, Tārakā /wife of बृहस्पति, Brihaspati, Jupiter God).
The Mythology of Budha (बुध) as a Deity is not consistent in Hindu Puranas (पुराण), and he alternatively is described as the son of Goddess Rohini (रोहिणी / "the red one" / a name of Aldebaran / also known as ब्राह्मी, Brāhmī) and God Soma (सोम).

One of the earliest mentions of Budha (बुध) as a Celestial Body appears in the Vedic text (वैदिक), Pancavimsa Brahmana (पंचावमसा ब्राह्मणम्), and it appears in other ancient texts such as the Shatapatha Brahmana (शतापथा ब्राह्मणम्) as well, but not in the context of Astrology.
In the ancient texts, Budha (बुध) is linked to three steps of the Hindu God Vishnu (विष्णु / one of the Principal Deities of Hinduism / the Supreme Being or Absolute Truth in its Vaishnavism tradition / the "Preserver" in the Hindu Triad - त्रिमूर्ति, Trimurti).
- The Brahmanas (ब्राह्मणम्, Brāhmaṇam) are a collection of Ancient Indian texts with commentaries on the hymns of the four Vedas (वेद / "Knowledge" / a large body of religious texts originating in Ancient India).

Budha (बुध) as a planet appears in various Hindu astronomical texts in Sanskrit (संस्कृत), such as:
- Aryabhatiya (आर्यभटीय, 5th Century) by the major mathematician-astronomer from the classical age of Indian Mathematics and Indian Astronomy, Aryabhata (आर्यभट).
- Romaka (रोमाका, 6th Century) by the astronomer, Latadeva (लतादेव), based in Byzantine Astronomy.
- Pancasiddhantika (पैनकासिधांटिका, 6th Century) by the polymath astronomer, Varahamihira (वराहमिहिर).
- Khandakhadyaka (खण्डखाद्यक, 665 AD) by the mathematician and astronomer, Brahmagupta (ब्रह्मगुप्त).
- Sisyadhivrddida (सिसियादहिर्डिडा, 8th Century) by the mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, Lalla (लल्ल).

These texts present Budha (बुध) as one of the planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion.
Other texts such as Surya Siddhanta (सूर्यसिद्धान्त), dated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th Century, present their chapters on various planets with Deity Mythologies.

Budha (बुध) is the root of the word "Budhavara" (बुधावरा) or Wednesday in the Hindu Calendar.
The word "Wednesday" in the Greco-Roman and other Indo-European Calendars is also dedicated to planet Mercury ("day of Woden or Oden" in Germanic Mythology).

Budha (बुध) is part of the Navagraha (नवग्रह, 9 Astral Bodies or 9 Realms or 9 planets in Hindu and Vedic Astrology / 9 Mythical Deities of Hinduism) in Hindu Zodiac system, considered benevolent, associated with an agile mind and memory.
The Zodiac and naming system of Hindu Astrology (ज्योतिष, Jyotiṣa or Jyotisha / ज्योतिश्या, Jyotishya), with Budha (बुध) as Mercury, likely developed in the Centuries after the arrival of Greek Astrology with Alexander the Great (शानदार अलेक्जेंडर), their Zodiac signs being nearly identical.

Budha's (बुध) iconography is as a benevolent but a minor male Deity with light yellow colored body (or green), draped into yellow clothes, with a chariot made of air and fire, drawn by eight wind horses.
He is also represented holding a scimitar, a club and a shield, riding a winged lion in Bhudhan Temple (a Hindu temple dedicated to the Deity शिव, Shiva / it is located in Thiruvenkadu, a village in Nagapattinam district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu).
In other illustrations, he rides a lion and has four arms.

Budha (बुध) is not etymologically, mythologically or otherwise related to Buddha (बुद्ध), the founder of Buddhism.