Benefic when unassociated with malefics; malefic when conjoined with or aspected by malefics. Its class follows its company and its house.
Reading
Budha is the flexible graha: the texts call it benefic by nature but say it turns malefic in the company of malefics, and some add that it is benefic when it rises before the Sun and malefic when it sets after it. This is the clearest case of the classical rule that a graha's benefic or malefic quality is not fixed by its name alone.
Budha is Mercury, the graha of the discriminating intellect, speech, writing and trade. It owns no single field the way the other grahas do, because it is the faculty rather than the subject: the reasoning that organises counting, language, contracts and the dexterity of the hands. A strong Mercury is a mind that can hold and arrange many things at once, and that is why it is the graha of the administrator and the merchant alike.
☥ Deities
Tradition · Vedic
Alternate Names
BudhThe Mercury Graha
Gender Expression
Masculine
Titles
The Navagraha of MercuryLord of SpeechSon of Chandra
Budha is the Navagraha of Mercury in Vedic astrology, the son of Chandra (the Moon) and Tara, and the god of intellect, speech, commerce and learning. Wednesday (Budhavara) is his day, green his colour and emerald his gemstone; he is invoked for intelligence, communication and success in business.
Modern Practice
Invoked for study, eloquence, commerce and clear communication; his gemstone is prescribed in Jyotish for a weak Mercury.