How the week days got their names.

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P.K.Ramakrishnan

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Apr 16, 2015, 10:50:22 PM4/16/15
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aryabahtiyam

bhaanaam-adhas-sanaischara-
guru-bhowm-arka-sukra-budha-chandraah.  /
theshaam adhascha bhumih
medhiibhuutaa kha madhyasthaa //


Bhanaamadhah = under the stars
sanaischara = saturn
guru = jupiter
bhauma = mars
arka = sun
sukra = venus
budha = mercury
chandra = moon

theshaam adhascha bhumih = under them the earth
medhiibhuthaa = acting like an axle
khamadhyasthaa = remains in space.

saptaite horesaah
sanaischaraadyaa yathaakramam siighraah /
siighrakramaat chathurthaah
bhavanthi suuryodayaat dinapaah //

saptaite = these seven
horesaah = are the lords of the (24) hours
progessively faster from Saturn
sighramaat chaturthaah = the fourth speedier ones
bhavanthi suryodyaat dinapaah = become the lord of the day from sunrise.

(Explanation = The lords of the hours are - saturn, jupiter, mars, sun, venus, mercury and moon - and again in the same order.  In three rounds they are the lords of 21 hours.
Again when there are 24 hours the next three are saturn, jupiter and mars.
So for the first hour of the next day sun becomes the lord. He is also declared the lord
of the day.
 
So we get Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Sanivar, Ravivar, Somvar, Mangalvar, Budhavar, Guruvar, and Sukravar.

The division of the day into 24 hours is a Greek method. Hora is a greek word for hour.
The Hindus still divide the day into 60 nadikas.

There is no mention of the week day both In Ramayana and Mahabharata.
 
(Originally Saturday was the frist day of the week.  The Chirstians made Sunday
as the first day. It appears thar Jesus Christ was cruisified on a Friday and he
came back to life on the next Sunday.)








 
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P.K.Ramakrishnan
http://peekayar.blogspot.com

G S S Murthy

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Apr 17, 2015, 7:57:33 AM4/17/15
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Thanks. Interesting info.
Regards,
Murthy

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Hnbhat B.R.

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Apr 17, 2015, 8:23:43 AM4/17/15
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There had bveen an earlier discussion on the topic:

Arvind_Kolhatkar

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Apr 17, 2015, 11:49:21 AM4/17/15
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How the order of the days of the week is created has been made clear in this and the earlier discussions.  What is missing is the fact that this order is a remnant of the beliefs of the olden days when the universe was arranged in the geocentric way.  The earth was believed to be at the center and all heavenly bodies - the stars (all taken together as नभोमण्डल), followed by ग्रहs were ordered by their apparent periods of revolving around the Earth .  This order was Saturn (248 years), Jupiter (11.86 years), Mars  (687 days), the sun (365 days), Venus (225 days), Mercury (88 days) and the Moon (29 days).  The ग्रहs were believed to hang in the sky in that order one below the other.  The Sun was treated like other ग्रहs and so was the Moon.  Saturn, the slowest, was actually called मन्द.

Arvind Kolhatkar.

Subrahmanian R

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Apr 18, 2015, 8:52:45 AM4/18/15
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Sir,

Nice reasoning for the sequence of the days of the week.

However,  Sanivar, Ravivar etc are Hindi names and not of Sanskrit.

In Sanskrit the ‘vasara’ is used to represent the day of the week and the seven days are Indu vasaram, Bhaumavasaram, Saumya vasaram, Guruvasaram, Bhriguvasaram, Sthiravasaram and Bhanuvasaram.

 

In the Words Saturday, Sunday and Monday they do represent the three ‘planets’ Saturn, Sun and Moon. But Tues, Wednes, Thurs or Fri do not represent directly any planet or heavenly body.


Regards

R Subrahmanian


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Arvind_Kolhatkar

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Apr 18, 2015, 1:04:56 PM4/18/15
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All names are of the planets even in names like Tuesday, Wednesday etc.  They are derived from Old English/Middle English names that correspond to the Latin names of planets.  For this please see http://www.crowl.org/lawrence/time/days.html

Shankar Balkrishna Dixit, in his authoritative book 'भारतीय ज्योतिषशास्त्राचा इतिहास' (History of Hindu Astronomy)(1897) brings out that in Hindu astronomical works the periods of revolutions of planets are always shown in the order of Sun, Moon, Mars etc and not in the more natural ascending or descending order from Saturn to Moon and this indicates that the concept of week days and knowledge of their rotation periods came into India from outside. (p.396)

Arvind Kolhatkar.

विश्वासो वासुकिजः

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Apr 18, 2015, 4:10:18 PM4/18/15
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शनिवार, 18 अप्रैल 2015 को 5:52:45 पूर्व UTC-7 को, malamanian ने लिखा:
Sir,

Nice reasoning for the sequence of the days of the week.

However,  Sanivar, Ravivar etc are Hindi names and not of Sanskrit.

In Sanskrit the ‘vasara’ is used to represent the day of the week and the seven days are Indu vasaram, Bhaumavasaram, Saumya vasaram, Guruvasaram, Bhriguvasaram, Sthiravasaram and Bhanuvasaram.


नेदं सत्यम्। तत्र प्रमाणम् - https://archive.org/stream/Anandashram_Samskrita_Granthavali_Anandashram_Sanskrit_Series/ASS_039_Samskara_Ratnamala_of_Bhatta_Gopinatha_Dikshita_Part_2_-_KS_Agase_1899#page/n37/mode/2up ("वारानाह बृहस्पतिः" इत्यादिः पठ्यताम्।)
 

 

In the Words Saturday, Sunday and Monday they do represent the three ‘planets’ Saturn, Sun and Moon. But Tues, Wednes, Thurs or Fri do not represent directly any planet or heavenly body.

पुनश्च प्रमादः। प्रमाणं यथा पूर्वं दर्शितम्।

Sandip Shah

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Apr 20, 2015, 11:40:12 AM4/20/15
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नमस्ते विश्वासमहोदय,

अत्र "इन्दु वासरम्" अस्ति वा "इन्दु वासरः"
धन्यवादः

सन्दीपः

विश्वासो वासुकिजः (Vishvas Vasuki)

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Apr 20, 2015, 11:46:36 AM4/20/15
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वासर

वासर पुं-नपुं।
 दिवसः

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Hnbhat B.R.

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Apr 20, 2015, 12:31:06 PM4/20/15
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निर्गतज्वाला भूतिर्भसितभस्मनी (१.१.१३५) .... इमे स्त्रीत्वे तदाऽऽद्यास्तिथयो द्वयोः (१.४.२५३) घस्रो दिनाऽहनी वा तु क्लीबे दिवसवासरौ (१.४.२५४)
इत्यमरः।

Hnbhat B.R.

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Apr 20, 2015, 2:34:58 PM4/20/15
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वासर¦ पुंन० । वस--अरण् । १ दिवसे । "वा तु क्लीबे दिवसवासरौ (१.४.२५४)" इत्यमरः।

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