Just for those who don't know already - Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn). The last two, Rahu and Ketu are not planets, they represent the intersection points between the suns and moon's movements (points where eclipses occur).

Rahu and Ketu are the two nodes of the Moon's orbit around the Earth as it crosses the ecliptic. The ascending node ☊ is called Rahu and the descending node ☋ is called Ketu. The lunar nodes are the points where the Moon's path in the sky crosses the ecliptic, the Sun's path in the sky.

One has to really wonder how the ancients knew so much about the planets...what's your view, Aadil Desai? How come some much of the legend and nomenclature matches reality?

In Indian astrology the two nodes are considered as grahas (seizers or influencers in Sanskrit) and not planets as such. BTW, this comes from a person who does not believe in astrology but loves astronomy!!!

It is all a matter of what you want to believe in and how much you want imaginary external forces to affect your life. If you think that planets can influence your lives then they probably will since you are hell bent on believing so, but if you don't then nothing in the world will affect you.

Aadil, I was asking not about beliefs, but about just being able to name the planets....they are not all visible to the naked eye, are they? Or even knowing about elliptical nodes?

BTW, Surya is a Star and Chandra is a satellite. (and are not NOT Planets as well...)

All the planets that are mentioned here are visible to the naked eye and the two nodes are just intersecting points on the ecliptic which is the path of the Sun in the sky. These are some of the basic information known to all astrologers/astronomers right from the time when man looked up at the night sky and saw the moving planets and identified them as something different than the stars and hence called wanderers.

When people started observing eclipses and studying them and their occurences they had to plot the path of the sun and the moon to know when the next one would appear. Calculations made at those times were pretty accurate whether they were made by the Indians, Arabs, Chinese or the Greeks.

नवग्रह की प्रस्तुति बताती है की अलग अलग होते हुए भी हम सब साथ साथ हैं हम सब के लिए एक सूर्य एक हवा एक जल एक चन्द्रमा एक जैसी शरीर की आकृति एक जैसी आँखे एक जसे कान एक जैसा मुह एक जैसा वसा एक जैसा लिंग है परन्तु दसवां गृह नहीं है क्यों की हमारे स्वभाव एक जैसे नहीं हैं हमारी वाणी एक जैसी नहीं है

Ramjee, the sanskrit word is graha, which connotes neither planet nor star nor satellite. Ancient Indians didn't say they were nine planets.

Surya, Chandra, Budha, Sukra, Mangala, Guru {Brihashpati], Shani, Rahu & Ketu. sometimes the last two are said to represent the eclipse and the comet, rather than nodes. Can Rahu represent either Solar or Lunar eclipses, or only Solar?