Shukra Ji (Venus)

Shukra, "clear" or "bright," personifies the planet Venus as one of the Navagraha and rules Friday. He is worshipped as the guru of the asuras and is associated with love, beauty, prosperity and the arts.

He is also called Shukracharya or Asuracharya, "teacher of the asuras," a title marking his role as counsellor to the demons in the ongoing mythological rivalry between devas and asuras.

He is generally depicted as a fair-complexioned, radiant figure, riding a chariot or a lotus-drawn carriage, bearing implements associated with learning and, in some depictions, a rosary and staff, iconography that emphasises his role as a wise and cultivated teacher rather than a warrior.

Son of the sage Bhrigu, one of the Saptarishi, he obtained the Sanjeevini Vidya, the secret of restoring the dead to life, from Shiva through tapas, and used it repeatedly to revive slain asuras. In the story of Vishnu's Vamana avatar, Shukra, recognising Vamana's true divine identity, tried to stop King Bali's water-pledge by blocking the kamandalu's spout with his own body, and was blinded when Vamana pierced it with a blade of grass.

Son of the sage Bhrigu. As guru to the asuras he stands as the direct counterpart to Brihaspati, guru to the devas, the two forming a recurring pair of rival preceptors across Puranic story.

As the Navagraha governing love, beauty, wealth, marriage and the arts, he is propitiated especially on Fridays, and is considered, alongside Brihaspati, one of the more benevolent grahas in Vedic astrology.

Like most grahas he is worshipped chiefly as part of the Navagraha temple set rather than through numerous standalone shrines, with devotional practice centred on Friday observances for prosperity, marriage and well-being.