What is Navagraha Homam? – The Nine Grahas, Their Samidhas and the Vidhanam

The nine grahas of Vedic astrology are the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, together with the two lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu. A Navagraha Homam addresses all nine in a fixed order, with a fixed set of correspondences — wood, grain, colour, direction, mantra — that are among the most consistently documented parts of Vedic ritual. This guide sets those out, explains how the homam is performed and who it is performed for, and lists what to settle before you book one.

Quick Answer

The Nine Grahas

Graha is usually translated “planet”, but the word means “that which grasps” — an influence that takes hold. Seven of the nine are the visible bodies that give the days of the week their names; Rahu and Ketu are the ascending and descending nodes of the Moon, the points where eclipses occur, and have no body of their own. Each graha has a presiding deity, a direction, a colour and a set of substances associated with it, and the homam works through those correspondences.

In a chart, a graha is read by the sign and house it occupies, the periods it rules, and its relationships with the others. The homam is addressed to the graha in its own right, as a deity with a form, a vehicle and a lineage — which is what the dhyana verses of the Navagraha Stotram describe.

Samidhas, Grains and Colours

Each graha has a traditionally assigned wood — its samidha — used for its oblations, and a grain, colour and weekday that are used in setting out the mandala and in the offerings. The table is the commonly documented set.

Several of these woods — arka, apamarga, khadira in particular — are not stocked by every pooja store, and substitutions are customary. A Purohit will say which he intends to use; a ready-made navagraha samidha bundle from a pooja store usually contains all nine, though the quantities are small.

The Navagraha Mandala

Before the homam the nine grahas are installed on a mandala — a square drawn in rice flour or rangoli and divided into nine cells, each holding its graha's grain, a cloth or coloured rice in its colour, and an idol or betel-nut representation. The arrangement is fixed: Surya occupies the centre and the others take the eight directions around him.

This is the same arrangement used for the navagraha shrine in South Indian temples, which is why a devotee circumambulating the shrine there passes the grahas in a set order. Some traditions vary the facing directions; the positions are stable.

Navagraha Stotram – The Nine Dhyana Verses

The Navagraha Stotram attributed to Vyasa gives one verse to each graha, describing its colour, its parentage and its nature. It is recited at the invocation of every Navagraha pooja and homam, and it is the set of mantras a household is most likely to chant along with. The verses are given here in Devanagari with a transliteration and a plain meaning.

Phalashruti

“Whoever recites with attention this hymn sung by Vyasa, by day or by night, obstacles will be stilled.” The closing verse states the traditional purpose of the recitation: the quieting of obstacles, not a specific material gain.

In the homam itself the oblations are offered with each graha's Vedic mantra — for Surya the verse beginning Aa Krishnena rajasa, for Chandra Aapyayasva, and so on — recited by the Purohit. The Stotram above is the layer a family can join in; the Vedic mantras are the Purohit's.

The Vidhanam, Step by Step

The sequence below is the common household form. A homam performed as a preliminary to a larger ceremony follows the same steps in a compressed form and hands over to the main ritual after the purnahuti.

1. 1

   Preparation of the Venue

   The place is cleaned and the kundam is set on bricks or a tray, with room for the Purohit on one side and the family opposite. The mandala is drawn to the east or north of the kundam, and the nine grains, cloths and representations are laid in their cells.

2. 2

   Achamanam, Deepam and Ganapathi Pooja

   The lamp is lit and Ganapathi is worshipped first, as in every Vedic fire ritual. A short Ganapathi pooja with a few oblations to Ganapathi in the kundam is common.

3. 3

   Sankalpam

   The Purohit states the place, the day, the family's names and gotram, and — for a remedial homam — the graha, the dasha or the affliction being addressed. This is the point at which the reading from the chart enters the ritual; have the details ready.

4. 4

   Kalasha Sthapana and Punyahavachanam

   A kalasham is established and the water in it sanctified. The place and the participants are sprinkled, and the ritual space is declared fit.

5. 5

   Navagraha Avahanam

   Each graha is invoked into its place on the mandala, Surya first, with its dhyana verse from the Stotram and its Vedic mantra. Each receives a short pooja — sandal, kumkum or vibhuti as its colour requires, flowers, and its grain.

6. 6

   Agni Prathishta

   The fire is kindled in the kundam and Agni is invoked and worshipped. The base fire is built from dried mango or palasha sticks; the graha samidhas are kept aside for the oblations.

7. 7

   Oblations, Graha by Graha

   The homam proper. For each graha in turn the Purohit offers its samidha, ghee and havis into the fire with its mantra, the family adding oblations at the Purohit's cue. The order is the mandala order beginning with Surya and ending with Ketu. In a targeted remedy the affected graha receives the largest count.

8. 8

   Purnahuti

   The full offering that closes the homam: a coconut, a cloth and a large ladle of ghee offered together with the Purnahuti mantra. Everyone present stands for it.

9. 9

   Mangala Harathi, Prasadam and Rakshai

   Aarti is performed to the fire and to the mandala, the ash from the kundam is applied as rakshai, the kalasham water is sprinkled on the family, and prasadam is distributed. The grains from the mandala are traditionally given away rather than kept.

Oblation Counts and Duration

The number of oblations per graha follows the graha's own japa count in most reckonings, which is why the duration varies so much between one Navagraha Homam and another.

The traditional full counts are large and unequal: Surya's is the smallest and Shani's, Rahu's and Ketu's the largest, which is why a full-count homam is weighted towards the slow and shadow grahas by design. Most households commission the reduced form.

Navagraha Homam Samagri

The list below is what a household homam commonly needs. The Purohit will confirm the final list; the samidhas and grains are the items most likely to need sourcing in advance.

• Homa kundam — a copper or brick fire altar, with bricks or a tray beneath to protect the floor
• The nine samidhas, in bundles, and dried mango or palasha sticks for the base fire
• Ghee in quantity — the principal ahuti — with a long-handled spoon (sruk) and ladle
• Havan samagri: the mixed dry herbs, and black sesame
• The nine grains, a fistful or more of each, for the mandala
• Nine cloths in the graha colours, or coloured rice, for the mandala squares
• Kalasham with coconut and mango leaves; a second kalasham in some traditions
• Navagraha idols or betel-nut representations placed on the mandala
• Turmeric, kumkum, akshata, sandal paste, vibhuti
• Flowers and garlands — red for Surya and Kuja, white for Chandra and Shukra, and so on, where available
• Nine varieties of fruit and a naivedyam for each graha where the tradition prescribes one
• Lamps, wicks, oil, camphor, incense, matches
• Betel leaves, betel nuts, coconuts and dakshina for the ritviks
• Rangoli powder or rice flour for drawing the mandala

Who It Is Performed For

The usual reason is a specific affliction in a chart. The second is general propitiation before a ceremony. The two produce different rituals — one weighted, one even — and a practitioner should be able to say which is being proposed and why.

Where the intent is a remedy, the useful question is which graha the reading actually points at. A homam addressing all nine equally and a homam weighted towards one graha are different in duration and cost. A dasha reading or a horoscope consultation is what identifies the graha; the homam follows from it, not the other way round.

Navagraha Homam vs Pooja vs Japam

A Navagraha Pooja is the form without fire; a Navagraha Japam is the counted recitation, customarily closed with a homam of one tenth the count. The three are often combined in a single day for a commissioned remedy.

When It Is Performed

The homam is not tied to a festival. It is timed to the person — the start of a difficult dasha, the onset of Sade Sati, the reading that identified the affliction — or to the ceremony it precedes. Within that, the Purohit fixes a muhurtham from the panchangam, and the weekday of the targeted graha is preferred where practical: a Saturday for a Shani-weighted homam, a Sunday for Surya, and so on. Rahu and Ketu, having no weekday, are commonly addressed on Saturdays or during Rahu Kalam in some traditions.

Check the panchangam for the tithi and the inauspicious periods on the chosen day, and confirm the muhurtham with the Purohit rather than fixing it from a general calendar.

Book a Purohit

What to Settle Before Booking

• Which graha or grahas the homam is weighted towards, and on what reading — a general propitiation and a targeted remedy are different rituals.
• The oblation count per graha, the number of ritviks and the expected start and finish times.
• Who supplies the samidhas and the nine grains, and which substitutions the Purohit intends where a wood is not available.
• Whether a fire ritual is permitted at the venue — apartments usually need the association's consent — and how smoke and ash will be managed.
• Whether the quote includes the preliminary Ganapathi pooja, the kalasha sthapana, the purnahuti and the closing aarti, or only the homam.
• What the ritual means in the Purohit's tradition. Ask for the reasoning, and do not accept a promised outcome.

Anugraha Sidhi arranges Navagraha Homam with verified Purohits in Hyderabad, at home, at a temple or online. Call or WhatsApp +91 90320 22323, or use the enquiry form, with the date, the location and the reason for the homam.

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Om Navagrahebhyo Namah 🙏

Related Navagraha Services and Reading

• Navagraha Homam — Book the ritual
• Navagraha Pooja — The form without fire
• Navagraha Japam — Counted recitation
• Shani Shanti Homam — Shani-weighted remedy
• Navagraha Dosha Nivarana — Remedies overview
• What is Dasha? — The periods a homam is timed to
• What is Kala Sarpa Dosha? — The Rahu–Ketu axis
• Dasha Analysis — The reading that identifies the graha
• More on Poojas — Blog