Navagraha are nine heavenly bodies and deities that influence human life on Earth according to Hinduism and Hindu astrology. The sage Brihaspati is the Navagraha deity representing the giant planet Jupiter. He is a wise god who is considered to be the lord of sacred speech.
Due to his immense wisdom, he was appointed as the mentor of all the devas and thus he is also known as Guru Brihaspati. Hence Thursday is called both Brihaspativaar and Guruvaar which is the day associated with the deity.
Brihaspathi being the official Guru of the Devas was concerned with the consistent war between the Devas and the Asuras. Although the Devas had consumed the Amrit from the Samudra Manthan, The Asuras with the help of their Guru Shukracharya would rise from the dead with to his Mrita Sanjeevani mantra. This resulted in constant tiring out for the Devas, who went pleading to their Deva Guru for a permanent solution to stop the demons from harassing the heavens. Eventually Brihaspati found out that this mantra when once instructed (upadesh) to a shishya (disciple), the teacher would lose his power of using this mantra.
So Brihaspati once sent his son Kacha to learn the secret of the Mrita Sanjivini mantra from Shukracharya, the guru of the Asuras. The idea was to help the Devas with the knowledge of this secret who was about to lose the war. Brihaspati also advises him to first impress Devayani in order to impress Shukracharya, who was very fond of his daughter. Kacha follows his advice and unknown to him Devayani falls in love with him.
Brihaspti is often depicted with a glorious golden complexion with four arms, carrying a lotus, kamandalu, and rosary. The celestial god is said to embody qualities like spirituality, wisdom, dignity, morality, and luck. The golden complexioned god is offered articles that are yellow in colour, like gram pulse or flour, yellow flowers and turmeric.
