India, Aug. 20 -- Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

In Vedic times, graha meant malevolent spirits who hurt mothers and babies. It had nothing to do with planets. The 3,000-year-old Vedic Jyotisha had nothing to do with predicting the future. It was a practical science of time-keeping - fixing solstices, calibrating the lunar calendar, scheduling sacrifices.

The Rig Veda mentions no grahas at all. It does, however, preserve a shadowy figure called Svarbhanu who causes a solar eclipse before the sage Atri drives him off.

By the Puranic era, 2,000 years ago, the sky had become a divine family. Vivasvan, the sun, fathered planets including Shani (Saturn) and the old eclipse-demon was elaborated into a fulle...