Vikramaditya, a heroic king, once ruled over the beautiful city of Ujjayini in India. A brave warrior as he was, king Vikrama was also a great patron of art, learning and righteousness. Ever curious, he gathered around himself people of great learning and wisdom.
His passion for righteousness translated into his immense love for his subjects and the subjects in turn respected him like a child loves the benevolent father.
He radiated in all his glory and attracted the wisest and most learned people of his times "like bees are drawn to a particularly nectarian flower". King Vikrama would deliberate with these experts of economics, agriculture, politics, astrology, religion, morality, statecraft on the issues of the times and deliberate over the best decisions to make.
There was one particular question that King Vikramaditya had in his heart for quite some time. One auspicious day, after having deliberated on questions about the statecraft and policies, King Vikrama finally asked his wise men the question most dearest to him-
Which of the Nine Planets is the greatest?
Among the gathered wisest of all men, were the nine priests, who were each great advocates and disciples of their individual planets. Each of them fiercely believed in the greatness of their planets and with many lifetimes of worship and devotion had embodied the planet in their own persona. Each of these nine wise proponents of the Nine Planets, resembled their beloved planets in their physical, mental, and aural bodies.
They each came forward one at a time. They each described the Greatness of their Planet.
Stillness stayed in the court, descending around the throne of King Vikrama. Every bit of life in the court listened with one pointed concentration to the greatness of the Nine Planets as they were being delivered in King Vikrama's court.
Human eyes, from the Earth that we inhabit, when look up to the sky see seven non-star objects that move around in the night sky very predictably. When the story of The Great Saturn was born, the eyes called these seven predictably moving non-star objects as planets. The seven non-star objects in the night sky that were of immense interest to human hearts, the planets! were the day time planet, the giver of life, the fiery Sun; the reflector and reflection of the Sun- the Moon; the red pretty warrior in sky, the Mars, the tiny gem dancing around, the Mercury; the beloved that is always is either chased by Sun or is chasing it, the Venus, the majestic planet of the Jupiter, and the slowest and sternest of all, the Saturn.
Then, there are the two invisible to naked eye, (any eye for that matter) the twin aspects of Rahu and Ketu, the invisible points on the sky that eclipse the moon! The heartless Rahu and the headless Ketu along with seven non-star objects formed together the nine planets!
These planets as we may note only partially coincide with what our human tongue now calls as 'planets'.
Back to King Vikrama's court, where the supremacy of one of the nine planets was to be established, the first priest that speak aloud the greatness of his planet was the priest of Sun. Exuberant and radiant like sun itself, he began expounding the glory and greatness of The Sun.
(To be continued...)
His passion for righteousness translated into his immense love for his subjects and the subjects in turn respected him like a child loves the benevolent father.
He radiated in all his glory and attracted the wisest and most learned people of his times "like bees are drawn to a particularly nectarian flower". King Vikrama would deliberate with these experts of economics, agriculture, politics, astrology, religion, morality, statecraft on the issues of the times and deliberate over the best decisions to make.
There was one particular question that King Vikramaditya had in his heart for quite some time. One auspicious day, after having deliberated on questions about the statecraft and policies, King Vikrama finally asked his wise men the question most dearest to him-
Which of the Nine Planets is the greatest?
Among the gathered wisest of all men, were the nine priests, who were each great advocates and disciples of their individual planets. Each of them fiercely believed in the greatness of their planets and with many lifetimes of worship and devotion had embodied the planet in their own persona. Each of these nine wise proponents of the Nine Planets, resembled their beloved planets in their physical, mental, and aural bodies.
They each came forward one at a time. They each described the Greatness of their Planet.
Stillness stayed in the court, descending around the throne of King Vikrama. Every bit of life in the court listened with one pointed concentration to the greatness of the Nine Planets as they were being delivered in King Vikrama's court.
Human eyes, from the Earth that we inhabit, when look up to the sky see seven non-star objects that move around in the night sky very predictably. When the story of The Great Saturn was born, the eyes called these seven predictably moving non-star objects as planets. The seven non-star objects in the night sky that were of immense interest to human hearts, the planets! were the day time planet, the giver of life, the fiery Sun; the reflector and reflection of the Sun- the Moon; the red pretty warrior in sky, the Mars, the tiny gem dancing around, the Mercury; the beloved that is always is either chased by Sun or is chasing it, the Venus, the majestic planet of the Jupiter, and the slowest and sternest of all, the Saturn.
Then, there are the two invisible to naked eye, (any eye for that matter) the twin aspects of Rahu and Ketu, the invisible points on the sky that eclipse the moon! The heartless Rahu and the headless Ketu along with seven non-star objects formed together the nine planets!
These planets as we may note only partially coincide with what our human tongue now calls as 'planets'.
Back to King Vikrama's court, where the supremacy of one of the nine planets was to be established, the first priest that speak aloud the greatness of his planet was the priest of Sun. Exuberant and radiant like sun itself, he began expounding the glory and greatness of The Sun.
(To be continued...)
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