Navagraha Kritis

The Navagraha Kritis are a set of nine songs composed by Muttuswāmi Dīkshitar, a great composer of Carnātic Music. Each song is a prayer to one of the nine Navagrahās. The songs titles, rāga and tāḷa are listed below:Sūryamūrtē Namōstutē Candram Bhaja Mānasa Angārakam Āśrayāmyaham Budham Āśrayāmi Bṛhaspatē Tārāpatē Śrī Śukra Bhagavantam Divākaratanujam Śanaiṣcaram Smarāmyaham Sadā Rāhum Mahāsuram Kētumaham
The set comprises all seven soolādi tāḷas.
The last two were most likely composed by followers of Dīkshitar, to complete the set of nine even though the signature used in the song is that of Dikshitar.
Legend:
It is said that Tambiappan, a disciple of Muttuswāmi Dīkshitar was suffering from a stomach ailment and for long no medicines were able to cure him. Dīkshitar inspecting his horoscope inferred that the planet Jupiter was in an unfavorable position and his ailment could be cured only by propitiating the planet god Bṛhaspati. As laymen would find these rituals complex he created the composition Bṛhaspatē in the Rāga Aṭhānā propitiating the planet, and asked his disciple to sing it for a week. As ordained, his ailment was cured. This incident provided the impetus for Dīkshitar to compose kritis on all the Navagrahās.