Navagraha “Nine Planets” Ganjifa

The nine entities comprising the Navagraha Ganjifa are:

• Surya (the sun), who rides a chariot pulled by seven horses
• Chandra/Soma (the moon), who rides a deer/antelope
• Mangala/Angaraka (Mars), who rides a ram/goat
• Buddha (Mercury), one of the avatars of Vishnu and the founder of Buddhism, who rides a lion/Yali (fantastical creature with body of a lion, trunk of an elephant, and tail of a serpent)
• Brihaspati (Jupiter), the celestial guide of the gods, who rides an elephant
• Shukra (Venus), the guide of the asuras (demons), who rides a horse
• Shani (Saturn), the stern cosmic judge, who rides a buffalo/crow/vulture
• Rahu (north/ascending node of the moon), the severed head of the demon Swarbhanu
• Ketu (south/descending node of the moon), the headless body of the demon Swarbhanu, often portrayed as emerging from a serpent

The last two aren’t celestial bodies but lunar nodes: the two points at which the moon’s orbit around the earth crosses the plane of the earth’s orbit around the sun. According to myth, the demon Swarbhanu disguised himself as a god and managed to drink the nectar of immortality. After Surya (the sun) and Chandra (the moon) exposed him, Vishnu cut off Swarbhanu’s head; however, because the demon had already become immortal, his two halves endured as Rahu and Ketu. The story provides a mythological explanation for eclipses, with the vengeful Rahu periodically swallowing the sun or the moon.

Navagraha decks follow the traditional ganjifa arrangement of each suit having ten pip and two court cards: pradhan, or minister and raja, or king. (Note: Navagraha decks can be confusing about which card is the pradhan and which is the raja, so I simply referred to them as court cards.)

Three of the four Navagraha decks here have the expected number of nine suits, one for each planet (108 cards). Appana Mahapatro’s deck is an extended version featuring three added planets (Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune) totaling to 12 suits (144 cards).

Most ganjifa decks have either eight, ten, or twelve suits: Navagraha stands out in having an odd number. It’s unclear whether it’s used to play games or is more of an artistic or collectible project. In either case, it’s nowhere near as widespread as the Mughal and Dashavatar Ganjifa.