Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s1.21

c5.s1.21

It is difficult to say whether the *Ṛgvedic* Aryans had any definite knowledge of the planets, although ‘the seven Ādityas’, ‘the five Adhvaryus’ and ‘the five Ukṣāṇaḥ (bulls)’ are regarded by different scholars as planets.³⁷ The *Taittirīya Saṃhitā*³⁸ regards Bṛhaspati (Jupiter) as the regent of Tiṣya, while the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*³⁹ applies the epithet *graha* to the sun. The *Maitrāyaṇī Upaniṣad*⁴⁰ uses the word in the sense of ‘a planet’ and the late *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka*⁴¹ seems to use the expression *sapta sūryāḥ* (seven suns) for the planets.