Budha

2023-01-10T20:15:06Z

178.120.50.28:

{{Short description|Deity of Planet Mercury}}
{{distinguish|Buddha (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox deity 
| type = Hindu
| image = Budha graha.JPG
| name = Budha
| caption = Budha, British Museum-13th century, Konark
| affiliation = [[Graha]], [[Deva (Hinduism)|Deva]]
| abode = Budhaloka
| god_of = [[Nature]] <br/> '''[[Mercury (planet)| Mercury]]''' <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.astroved.com/astropedia/en/planets/budha|title = Lord Budha, Planet Mercury ,Hindu God Budha - AstroVedPedia}}</ref>
| day = Wednesday
| member_of = [[Navagraha]]
| consort = [[Ila (Hinduism)|Ila]]<ref name=Dalal2010/>
| mount = [[Yali (mythology)|Yali]] lion, or chariot hauled by eight horses of deep yellow colour
| planet = Mercury
| father = [[Chandra]] [[Brihaspati]]
| mother = [[Tara (Hindu goddess)|Tara]]
| children = [[Pururavas]]
| number =
}}
'''Budha''' ({{lang-sa|बुध}}) is the [[Sanskrit]] word for the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]].<ref name=Dalal2010>{{cite book |last=Dalal |first=Roshen |year=2010 |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |page=88 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA88}}</ref><ref name="Life Story of Gautam Budhha in Hindi">{{cite web |title=Best Life Story of Gautam Budhha in Hindi |website=motivatorindia.in |date=September 2019 |url=https://www.motivatorindia.in/2019/09/gautam-buddha-in-hindi.html}}</ref> Budha is also a deity.<ref name=Mahoney2013/>

He is also known as '''[[Soumya]]''' (Sanskrit: सौम्य, lit. ''son of Moon''), '''Rauhineya''' and '''Tunga'''<ref name=Mahoney2013/> and is the [[Nakshatra]] lord of [[Ashlesha (nakshatra)|Ashlesha]], [[Jyeshtha (nakshatra)|Jyeshtha]] and [[Revati (nakshatra)|Revati]].{{cn|date=November 2022}}

==Planet==
Budha as a planet appears in various Hindu astronomical texts in [[Sanskrit]], such as the 5th century ''Aryabhatiya'' by [[Aryabhatta]], the 6th century ''Romaka'' by Latadeva and ''Panca Siddhantika'' by Varahamihira, the 7th century ''Khandakhadyaka'' by [[Brahmagupta]], and the 8th century ''Sisyadhivrddida'' by Lalla.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chatterjee |first=Bina |year=1970 |title=The Khandakhadyaka (an astronomical treatise) of Brahmagupta, with the commentary of Bhattotpala |pages=59–64 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |oclc=463213346 |lang=Sanskrit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKOtRmgr1nkC |via=Google Books }}</ref><ref name=Burgess1989/>{{rp|pages=vii–xi}} These texts present Budha as one of the planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion.<ref name=Burgess1989/>{{rp|pages=vii–xi}} Other texts such as ''Surya Siddhanta'' dated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various planets with deity mythologies.<ref name=Burgess1989/>{{rp|pages=vii–xi}}

The manuscripts of these texts exist in slightly different versions, present Budha's motion in the skies, but vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and revised over their lives. The texts slightly disagree in their data, in their measurements of Budha's revolutions, apogee, epicycles, nodal longitudes, orbital inclination, and other parameters.<ref name=Burgess1989/>{{rp|pages=ix-xi}} For example, both ''Khandakhadyaka'' and ''Surya Siddhanta'' of Varaha state that Budha completes 17,937,000 revolutions on its own axis every 4,320,000 years, and had an apogee (aphelia) of 220 degrees in 499 CE; while another manuscript of ''Surya Siddhanta'' increases the revolutions by 60 to 17,937,060, and the apogee to 220 degrees and 26 seconds.<ref name=Burgess1989/>{{rp|pages=ix-x}}

The 1st millennium CE Hindu scholars had estimated the time it took for sidereal revolutions of each planet including Budha, from their astronomical studies, with slightly different results:<ref name=Burgess1989/>{{rp|pages=26-27}}

{| class="wikitable" align=center style = " background: transparent; "
|+ Sanskrit texts: How many days for Budha (Mercury) to complete its orbit?
|-style="text-align: center;"
! width=200px | Source
! width=340px | Estimated time per sidereal revolution<ref name=Burgess1989/>{{rp|pages=26-27}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
! width=200px style="background: #ffad66;" | ''Surya Siddhanta''
| width=340px | 87 days, 23 hours, 16 minutes, 22.3 seconds
|-style="text-align: center;"
! width=200px style="background: #ffad66;" | ''Siddhanta Shiromani''
| width=340px | 87 days, 23 hours, 16 minutes, 41.5 seconds
|-style="text-align: center;"
! width=200px | [[Ptolemy]] ([[Almagest]])
| width=340px | 87 days, 23 hours, 16 minutes, 42.9 seconds
|-style="text-align: center;"
! width=200px | 20th century calculation
| width=340px | 87 days, 23 hours, 15 minutes, 43.9 seconds
|}
[[File:Mercury in color - Prockter07-edit1.jpg|thumb|Budha as the benevolent planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]]|286x286px]]

==Legends==
Budha appears as a deity in Indian texts, often as the son of [[Soma (deity)|Soma]] (a moon god, alternatively known as [[Chandra]]) and [[Taraka (goddess)|Tara]] (wife of [[Bṛhaspati]], the god of Jupiter). He is described as the son of goddess [[Rohini (goddess)|Rohini]] (a daughter of [[Daksha]]) and the god [[Chandra]].<ref name=Mahoney2013/> Budha had only one offspring, King [[Pururavas]], by his spouse [[Ila (Hinduism)|Ila]].

One of the earliest mentions of ''Budha'' as a celestial body appears in the [[Vedas|Vedic text]] ''[[Pancavimsa Brahmana]]'', and it appears in other ancient texts such as the [[Shatapatha Brahmana]] as well, but not in the context of astrology. In the [[Vedas]], Budha is linked to three steps of the Hindu god [[Vishnu]].<ref name=Mahoney2013>{{cite book |last=Mahoney |first=Terry |title=Mercury |year=2013 |publisher=Springer Science |isbn=978-1-4614-7951-2 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iC65BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Calendar and Hindu astrology==
Budha is the root of the word 'Budhavara' or [[Wednesday]] in the Hindu calendar.<ref name=Dalal2010/> The word "Wednesday" in the Greco-Roman and other Indo-European calendars is also dedicated to planet Mercury ("day of Woden or Oden").

Budha is part of the [[Navagraha]] in Hindu zodiac system, considered benevolent, associated with an agile mind and memory. The role and importance of the Navagraha developed over time with various influences. Deifying planetary bodies and their astrological significance occurred as early as the [[Vedic period]] and was recorded in the [[Vedas]]. The earliest work of astrology recorded in India is the [[Vedanga Jyotisha]] which began to be compiled in the 14th century BCE. The [[Classical planet|classical planets]], including Mercury, were referenced in the [[Atharvaveda]] around 1000 BCE.

The Navagraha was furthered by additional contributions from [[Western Asia]], including [[Zoroastrian calendar|Zoroastrian]] and [[Hellenistic astrology|Hellenistic]] influences. The ''[[Yavanajataka]]'', or ''Science of the [[Yavana|Yavanas]]'', was written by the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom|Indo-Greek]] named "[[Yavanesvara]]" ("Lord of the Greeks") under the rule of the [[Western Kshatrapa]] king [[Rudrakarman I]]. The Yavanajataka written in 120 CE is often attributed to standardizing Indian astrology. The Navagraha would further develop and culminate in the [[Shaka era]] with the [[Saka]], or Scythian, people. Additionally the contributions by the Saka people would be the basis of the [[Indian national calendar]], which is also called the Saka calendar.

Budha is also the root for name for the week day in many other Indian languages. In modern [[Hindi]], [[Odia language|Odia]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Urdu]], [[Kannada language|Kannada]] and [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], Wednesday is called ''Budhavara''; [[Tamil language|Tamil]]: ''Budhan kizhamai''; [[Malayalam]]: ''Budhanazhcha''; [[Thai solar calendar#Weeks|Thai]]: ''Wan Phut'' ({{lang|th|วันพุธ}}).{{cn|date=August 2016}}

==Iconography==
[[File:Planet budha.JPG|right|thumb|upright=0.8|Budha as depicted on a mural in [[Jawahar Kala Kendra]], [[Jaipur]]]]
Budha's iconography, according to Roshen Dalal, is as a benevolent<ref>{{cite book |last=Lochtefeld |first=James G. |year=2002 |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism |volume=A-M |page=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/n396 324] |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration}}</ref> but a minor male deity with light yellow colored (or green) body, draped into yellow clothes, holding a scimitar, a club, and a shield. He is canonically represented riding a chariot made of air and fire, drawn by eight wind horses; but in some illustrations, he rides a lion and has four arms, and in [[Swetharanyeswarar Temple|Bhudhan Temple]] he is depicted riding a winged lion.<ref name=Dalal2010/>

Budha has been linguistically related to ''[[Gautama_Buddha|Buddha]]'', the founder of [[Buddhism]], though this is controversial <ref>{{cite web |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/prem/mw/b.html |title=[no title cited] |publisher=University of Washington}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gray |first=Patrick |year=2015 |title=Varieties of Religious Invention: Founders and their functions in history |page=46, footnote [19] |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-935972-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHM_CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Days of the week]]
* [[Navagraha]]
** [[Navagraha temples|List of Navagraha temples]]
* [[Nakshatra]]
** [[List of Natchathara temples]]
** [[Jyotisha]]
** [[Saptarishi]]
* [[List of Hindu deities]]

== References ==
{{reflist|25em|refs=

<ref name=Burgess1989>{{cite book
|first=Ebenezer |last=Burgess
|year=1989
|editor1-last=Ganguly |editor1-first=P.
|editor2-last=Sengupta |editor2-first=P.
|title=Sûrya-Siddhânta: A text-book of Hindu astronomy
|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass (reprint); Yale University Press, American Oriental Society (original)
|isbn=978-81-208-0612-2
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0Uo_-_iizwC
|via=Google Books}}
</ref>

}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Svoboda |first=Robert |year=1997 |title=The Greatness of Saturn: A therapeutic myth |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=0-940985-62-4}}

* {{cite journal |last=Pingree |first=David |author-link1= David Pingree |year=1973 |title=The Mesopotamian origin of early Indian mathematical astronomy |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |publisher=SAGE |doi=10.1177/002182867300400102 |bibcode=1973JHA.....4....1P |s2cid=125228353 }}

* {{cite book |last=Pingree |first=David |year=1981 |title=Jyotihśāstra: Astral and Mathematical Literature |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3447021654}}

* {{cite book |last=Ohashi |first=Yukio |year=1999 |editor=Andersen, Johannes |title=Highlights of Astronomy |volume=11B |publisher=Springer Science |isbn=978-0-7923-5556-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQYscrT0fgQC |via=Google Books }}

{{Navagraha}}
{{Hindu astrology}}
{{HinduMythology}}
[[Category:Navagraha]]
[[Category:Mercurian deities]]
[[Category:Hindu gods]]
[[Category: Characters in the Mahabharata]]

IndianPedia - User contributions [en]

Budha