Why is the sequence of days in a week from Monday to Sunday?

The word ‘वार’ has originated from the word ‘होरा’, which means ‘अहोरात्र.’ This indicates the period from sunrise to the sunrise occurring on the next day. ‘होरा’ means hour. ‘अहोरात्र’ means 24 hours. Every ‘होरा’ belongs to a planet. As per astrology, the name given to the day resembles the planet to which ‘होरा’ at the time of sunrise belongs to. The day begins with the sunrise.

1. Reason behind the days being in a specific order

‘मंदात् शीघ्रपर्यंतम् होरेशा:’, means that the ‘होरा’ traverses from planets with slow speed to the planets with high speed. The speed of revolution of the planets Mercury and Venus, which are located inside the orbit of earth is higher. The speed of revolution of planets located outside the orbit of earth reduces as they go farther away. Hence, they are termed as ‘मंद ग्रह’ or mild planets. For example, Saturn is a mild planet and it takes 2.5 years to traverse one zodiac sign. Chandra (Som), a fast planet, takes 2.25 days to traverse a zodiac sign. The speed of revolution of the planets around the Sun determines their speed of traversing between zodiac signs.

2. Sequence from mild planets to fast planets

Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon (Som). Example: On Saturday, the first ‘होरा’ is of the planet Saturn, second is of Jupiter, third Mars, fourth Sun, fifth Venus, Sixth Mercury and seventh Moon. In this manner once this sequence is repeated thrice, i.e. after 21 hours, 22nd hour is of Saturn, 23rd of Jupiter and 24th of Mars. In this way once 24 hours pass away, sunrise occurs for the next day with the subsequent ‘होरा’. In this way, Sunday occurs after Saturday.

3. Chart of ‘होरा’

Almanac has the chart of ‘होरा’, however if one does not have the almanac, based on the above rule, the order of होरा’ can be understood. chart of ‘होरा’ as per the almanac is given below.

Note : Hours are counted from sunrise

4. Activities to be performed as per ‘होरा’

One can derive benefits by performing specific tasks as prescribed for the ‘होरा’.

Mrs. Prajakta Joshi (Astrologer), Sanatan Ashram, Ramnathi, Goa (16.1.2017)

Source : Dainik Sanatan Prabhat