Background of the navagraha peetam

Hindu priests are commonly used to help Hindu devotees to perform any kind of Hindu religious ceremonies. All of the ceremonies start with praising Lord Ganesh with short pooja (worship), and follow the pooja for a wished form of God such as Vishnu, Siva, Sakthi etc. Most of the ceremonies perform a Navagraha (9 planets) payer to praise 9 planets to give wealth and health and remove any past deeds as part of the principle worship. It is during the Navagraha prayer that the priest spreads 9 unique grains that each represent a planet on a flat surface and arrange each grain in a specific shape and location relative to each other. Those unskilled in this ritual may spend significant time in the process of arranging the grains in the correct shape and location, they may accidentally mix the grains or may inadvertently arrange the grains in the wrong relative position or shape. Since both skill and knowledge are required for placement and arrangement of the unique grains, priests are commonly called upon to perform the ceremony even though a priest is not specifically required to do so. Also, it is common for the 9 grains of Navagraha to be sold together in a retail setting in individual and distinct packages or as a combined bulk package. However, the practitioner of the ceremony must know how to identify each grain type and how to arrange the grains in proper shape and 9 relative location to correctly perform the ceremony. Sri Satyanarayana Vratham is one of the Hindu poojas, included the worship of Navagraha after Ganesh prayer. Most of the events such as New housewarming, Wedding ceremonies, Family wellness meet etc. are celebrated with Sri Sathya Narayana Swamy Vratham which is inclusive of Navagraha prayer with a Navagraha Peetam (place of worship).

Orientation of the planets

Physical orientation of the design configuration (Peetam) are well laid out, direction such as: Center, Right, Left, Top, Bottom, Top Right, Top Left, Bottom Right, Bottom Left. Relative orientation may also be thought of in cardinal directions where the practitioner of the ceremony is headed toward the east and the directions are then: Center, EAST, WEST, NORTH, SOUTH, NORTH EAST CONER (NE), SOUTH EAST CORNER (SE), SOUTH WEST CORNER (SW), AND NORTH WEST (NW). While words indicating physical orientation may be included in the design configuration, they are not important to the design itself. Important features on the design configuration are debossed cavities representing 9 planets important to Hindu religion using thermoforming process, but manufacturing process is not limited to the thermoforming process.

• Planet Surya (Sun) is positioned at the center of the Peetam, with a round shape and filled with Wheat.
• Planet Chandra (Moon) is positioned at the SE of the Peetam, with a square shape and filled with Rice (paddy).
• Planet Mangala (Mars) is positioned at the South of the Peetam, with a triangle shape and filled with Red Gram.
• Planet Budha (Mercury) is positioned at the NE of the Peetam, with an arrow or round shape pierced by an arrow shape and filled with Green gram.
• Planet Guru (Jupiter) is positioned at the North of the Peetam, with a rectangle shape and filled with White Chickpeas.
• Planet Sukra (Venus) is positioned at the East of the Peetam, with a pentagon shape and filled with White Gram.
• Planet Sani (Saturn) is positioned at the West of the Peetam, with a bow shape and filled with Black Sesame seeds.
• Planet Rahu is positioned at the SW of the Peetam, with a trapezoid shape and filled with Black Gram.
• Planet Ketu is positioned at the NW of the Peetam, with a south pointing chevron shape and filled with Horse Gram.

Nine Demi gods may be represented by the configuration described where the configuration has additional debossing of various shapes and relative locations such as Indra is positioned at the East of the Peetam, Agni (fire) is positioned at SE, Yama is positioned at south, Niruthi is positioned at SW, Varun is positioned at West, Vayu is positioned at NW, Kubera is positioned at North, and Eashny a is positioned at NE as shown in the Fig.

God of the ceremony Swami is positioned between Varun and Sani as shown in the Fig. When the configuration of the embodiment is prepackaged with the 9 grains already filling their respective cavity, an additional treatment to the configuration may be provided such that the grains are captured within their respective cavity and not allowed to mix with adjacent grains. One example of this is a design enhancement is by placing a clear polymeric film over the grains to form individual compartments for each grain and thereby prevent the grains from falling out or mixing with grain in adjacent ompartments. When the film has a pressure sensitive adhesive on one side, the film adheres easily to the embodiment of the design configuration described but some of the grain may also adhere to the adhesive acked plastic film and thereby make purchase of the assembly less desirable. This may be addressed by using a mask to apply adhesive to the transparent film in a manner that avoids the cavities created by the configuration of depressions of the Peetam and allows adhesive to be applied to areas that are not recessed in the Peetam so that the grain will not stick to the transparent film but the film will fully adhere to the Peetam. Another way to prevent the unattractive presentation of grain adhered to the transparent polymer display film is by using an additional layer of anti-static transparent polymer film die cut and positioned over the adhesive backed transparent film. When aligned correctly, the adhesive backing of the first transparent film will contact the Peetam configuration as described and not the individual grains contained and confined by the configuration thus forming a sealed top to the depressions of the Peetam. An additional benefit of using antistatic film is that it prevents the possibility of grain kernels being attracted to the polymeric film and thereby lowering the attractiveness to potential buyers / customers. So, when properly configured, the embodiment of the design may attractively display 9 important grains in a shape and relative location for use in religious ceremonies. And, the grains are fully constrained by the configuration described where the grains will not spill from their respective cavity when the assembly is moved, stored or displayed and grains will not stick to the clear display film which may be considered un-attractive. Further, the grains are easily accessible by simply pealing away the protective plastic film to provide the practitioner direct access to the whole grain kernels.