Vedic numerology: the nine grahas behind the nine numbers

Vedic numerology is the Indian tradition that places one of the nine grahas of Jyotish behind each number from 1 to 9. The arithmetic is the Chaldean reduction the course has used throughout; what the Vedic layer adds is a planet for every number, and with it the friendships, colours, days, gemstones, metals and directions that each number inherits from its graha.

The nine grahas and their numbers

Number	Graha	Gemstone	Metal	Direction	Dates of the month
1	Sun	Ruby	Gold	East	1, 10, 19, 28
2	Moon	Pearl	Silver	North-west	2, 11, 20, 29
3	Jupiter	Yellow sapphire	Gold	North-east	3, 12, 21, 30
4	Rahu	Hessonite	Lead	South-west	4, 13, 22, 31
5	Mercury	Emerald	Bronze	North	5, 14, 23
6	Venus	Diamond	Silver	South-east	6, 15, 24
7	Ketu	Cat's eye	Mixed metals	South-west	7, 16, 25
8	Saturn	Blue sapphire	Iron	West	8, 17, 26
9	Mars	Red coral	Copper	South	9, 18, 27

The Moolank and Bhagyank calculators show this row for your number under "Vedic attributes". Everything in it is tradition, listed so that you can recognise it when you meet it. Nothing in it is a remedy, and this site sells and recommends nothing.

Why these pairings?

The order is not arbitrary. 1 is the Sun because the Sun is the centre and the number 1 is the beginning. 2 is the Moon, the Sun's reflection, which gives 2 its receptive, changeable quality. 9 is Mars, the last and most forceful of the single digits. Rahu and Ketu, the two lunar nodes, take 4 and 7, the two numbers that Chaldean practice treats as unconventional and inward respectively. Jupiter (3), Mercury (5), Venus (6) and Saturn (8) take the numbers whose qualities match the graha's: expansion, exchange, harmony, discipline.

Lesson 4 gave each number's qualities. Read that lesson again with the graha in mind and the qualities stop being a list: they are the graha's character, written in number form.

Not every school agrees on the two nodes. Cheiro, writing for a Western audience, linked 4 with Uranus and 7 with Neptune, planets unknown to classical Jyotish. Indian practice keeps Rahu and Ketu, and so does this site.

Where the friend and enemy table comes from

Jyotish has a standing table of planetary friendships. The Sun is friends with the Moon, Mars and Jupiter, and an enemy of Venus and Saturn. The Moon has no enemy among the seven classical grahas, but popular tradition treats Rahu and Ketu, which eclipse it, as hostile to it. Jupiter counts Venus as an enemy, while Venus is neutral towards Jupiter. Saturn opposes the Sun, the Moon and Mars. Like the numerology table, these friendships are not always mutual.

The numerology table in lesson 4 follows this in spirit. 1 and 8 (Sun and Saturn) are enemies in both. 2 opposes 4 and 7 (Moon against the nodes) and also 8, Saturn, which in Jyotish counts the Moon as an enemy. 3 and 6 (Jupiter and Venus) oppose each other. 9 counts 1, 2 and 3 as friends, which is Mars with the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter.

It does not follow one to one. Mercury (5) has the Moon as an enemy in Jyotish, yet in the numerology table 5 is friendly with 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, opposes none, and no number opposes it, because practitioners treat 5 as the number that mixes with all. Where the two tables disagree, this site uses the numerology table, and its reviewing numerologist decides each pair.

How closely does the numerology table follow Jyotish?

The table compares the seven classical grahas. Rahu and Ketu are left out because classical texts do not settle their friendships, and later authors disagree.

Number	Graha	Jyotish friends	Jyotish enemies	Numerology friendly	Numerology opposing
1	Sun	Moon, Mars, Jupiter	Venus, Saturn	1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9	8
2	Moon	Sun, Mercury	none	1, 3, 5	4, 7, 8
3	Jupiter	Sun, Moon, Mars	Mercury, Venus	1, 2, 3, 5, 9	6
5	Mercury	Sun, Venus	Moon	1, 2, 3, 5, 6	none
6	Venus	Mercury, Saturn	Sun, Moon	1, 4, 5, 6, 7	3
8	Saturn	Mercury, Venus	Sun, Moon, Mars	3, 5, 6	1, 8, 9
9	Mars	Sun, Moon, Jupiter	Mercury	1, 2, 3, 5	8

Read across a row and the pattern is clear. The enmities of Saturn carry over most faithfully: 8 opposes 1 and 9, and 2 opposes 8. The friendships of Venus carry over least: in Jyotish Venus is hostile to the Sun and friendly with Saturn, while in numerology 6 is friendly with 1 and only neutral towards 8. The numerology table also adds things Jyotish does not have, such as 8 opposing another 8 and 4 opposing another 4. The number 6 and number 8 pages go through these differences pair by pair.

Lucky colours and days, explained

The colours and days on every result card also come from the graha. Sunday and Monday belong to the Sun and the Moon, which is why 1 and 2 list them. Saturn gives 8 its dark blues and Saturday; Mars gives 9 red and Tuesday. Once you know the graha, you can predict the colour and the day without looking them up.

Rahu and Ketu have no weekday of their own. A Jyotish saying holds that Rahu acts like Saturn and Ketu like Mars, which is why 4 borrows Saturday and Saturn's blues and greys, and 7 lists Tuesday. Tradition gives 7 Monday as well.

A worked example

Someone born on 14 August 1990 has Moolank 5 and Bhagyank 5 (1 + 4 + 0 + 8 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 0 = 32 → 5). The graha is Mercury in both: exchange, speech, trade, quickness. The Vedic attributes add emerald, bronze, north, and the 5th, 14th and 23rd of each month as dates that share the number. The friend and enemy row for 5 lists no enemies, Mercury's mixing quality in number form.

Read as a description: a Mercury person twice over, at home in communication and commerce, whose growth edge, as lesson 4 said, is depth over breadth.

A second example: two different grahas

Someone born on 6 November 1992:

• Moolank: the day, 6. Venus.
• Bhagyank: 0 + 6 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 2 = 29 → 11 → 2. The Moon.

The total is 29, not 11, so under this site's master number setting the 11 is a step in the working and the Bhagyank is read as 2. The master numbers lesson explains the rule.

The two grahas say different things. Venus gives the temperament: harmony, beauty, comfort, ease with people. The Moon gives the direction of life: care, sensitivity, the home. The attributes partly overlap, since both list silver as the metal and white among the colours, and partly differ, with south-east and Friday for 6 against north-west and Monday for 2.

Now the friendships. In Jyotish, Venus counts the Moon as an enemy, while the Moon is neutral towards Venus. In the numerology table, 6 and 2 are neutral to each other in both directions. This is one of the pairs where the site follows the numerology table, so the result card shows the two numbers as neutral, not opposing.

Common mistakes

• Reading the gemstone column as a prescription. It records a correspondence. This course gives no remedies.
• Assuming the numerology table copies Jyotish. As the comparison shows, many pairs differ, and the result cards follow the numerology table.
• Reading "Vedic" as scriptural. The name points to Jyotish, not to a passage in the Vedas.
• Treating Rahu and Ketu numbers as unlucky. 4 and 7 describe unconventional and inward temperaments. Neither is a warning.

Where this leads

The grahas are also the subject of the Astrology course, where they appear in a birth chart with signs, houses and periods. The nine grahas picks up exactly where this lesson stops, and the twenty-seven nakshatras shows the other way a birth is matched to a name.

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