Sapphires in Jyotish (Vedic Astrology): What the Tradition Asks For

Jyotish is the astrological tradition of the Indian subcontinent. Within it, gemstones are prescribed rather than chosen for their looks: a practitioner reads a birth chart and names a stone associated with a particular planet. The tradition is specific about what that stone should be like, which is why Jyotish buyers tend to arrive at a gem dealer carrying a list rather than a preference.

This page sets out what is on that list, which parts of it a laboratory document can be checked against, and which parts it cannot.

The Two Sapphires the Tradition Names

Yellow Sapphire — Pukhraj

In Jyotish, yellow sapphire is the stone associated with Jupiter, called Guru or Brihaspati, and it is known as Pukhraj. The tradition associates that planet with wisdom, prosperity, good fortune and spiritual growth, and treats it as the most benefic of the planets.

Blue Sapphire — Neelam

In Jyotish, blue sapphire is the stone associated with Saturn, called Shani, and it is known as Neelam. The tradition associates that planet with discipline, karma, hard work and long-term reward, holds it to be the most powerful of the planetary influences, and for that reason treats Neelam as the prescription to approach most carefully. Practitioners commonly describe a trial period before any decision about long-term wear, and commonly discourage wearing Neelam at all without having been prescribed it.

The Other Colours

In the tradition, Venus — Shukra — is classically associated with diamond. Some practitioners name pink sapphire for Venus, and colourless sapphire is sometimes named in its place. Beyond that, the assignments are not ours to summarise: ask your practitioner which stone your chart calls for before you go looking for one.

What the Tradition Asks of a Stone

What follows are the tradition's specifications, not ours. They are not a quality scale, we do not grade stones by them, and we do not keep a Jyotish range. They are set out here because they are what a Jyotish buyer is checking for — and because two of them appear on a laboratory report while the rest do not.

• Natural, not laboratory-grown. Earth-mined corundum. The rationale given in the tradition is that the stone must carry the energy imprint of its natural formation, and that on that view a stone grown in a factory does not, whatever its chemical composition. This is one of the two specifications a report answers: a GIA report identifies the species, printing Natural Corundum. Every stone we sell is natural and earth-mined; we carry no synthetic, laboratory-grown or simulant material.
• Unheated. Practitioners ask for a stone whose laboratory report records no indications of heating. The reasoning given is that heating alters the stone's natural energy — that is the tradition's reasoning, not a gemmological finding. This is the second specification a report answers, and it is the one most often misread; the last section of this page sets out what it does and does not say.
• Eye-clean. Visible inclusions are held in the tradition to interrupt what the stone is meant to transmit. Microscopic rutile needles, called silk, are a normal inclusion in sapphire and we do not treat them as a fault; they are not evidence of treatment history in either direction.
• An even, mid-toned colour. The tradition treats a very pale stone as too weak and a very dark one as carrying the wrong quality, and asks for a mid tone that reads unmistakably as the colour named. We describe colour in our own words and photograph under standardised lighting.
• A weight the practitioner sets. Minimum weights circulate widely and they differ between practitioners and between charts. We publish none, because publishing one would turn somebody else's prescription into a specification on our stock. Ask yours.
• A setting that allows skin contact. The tradition asks for an open-back mount, so that the pavilion of the stone touches the skin. If you are having a stone set, that is something to specify to the jeweller.

The metal, the finger and the day are prescribed too, and they vary by planet and by chart. Those are your practitioner's to give you, so we publish no table of them.

Our loose stones are listed by colour, with each stone's own report wording on its page: yellow sapphires, blue sapphires, and the stones whose reports record no indications of heating.

Common Questions

Which sapphire does Jyotish name for Jupiter?

In Jyotish, yellow sapphire is the stone associated with Jupiter — Guru or Brihaspati — and it is known as Pukhraj. The tradition also sets the weight, the metal, the finger and the day, and those vary by chart. A practitioner gives them; we publish no table of them.

Which sapphire does Jyotish name for Saturn?

In Jyotish, blue sapphire is the stone associated with Saturn — Shani — and it is known as Neelam. The tradition holds Saturn to be the most powerful of the planetary influences and treats Neelam as the prescription to approach most carefully, and practitioners commonly discourage wearing it without having been prescribed it.

Does a sapphire bought for Jyotish have to be unheated?

Practitioners ask for a stone whose laboratory report records no indications of heating, and that finding is printed on the report. It is a finding about heating: it is not a statement that nothing else was done to the stone. If the requirement you have been given is wider than heat, ask us for the report itself and read it.

Where the Heat Finding Is Printed, and What It Covers

Heat treatment is long established in the jewellery trade. Jyotish practice does not accept it — so for a Jyotish buyer the treatment line on the document is the line that matters, and a seller's word for it is not a substitute for reading it.

On a GIA report the finding appears as the printed phrase No Indications of Heating. That is where to look. Together with the species identification, it is the only part of the tradition's list that a laboratory speaks to at all.

And it is narrower than it is usually read. A report that records no indications of heating is making a finding about heating. It is not a statement that nothing else was done to the stone, and no report we have seen says that. If your practitioner's requirement is wider than heat, say so and we will send you the report itself to read rather than our summary of it.

Two further things about such a document. A laboratory issues an opinion, never a confirmation or a guarantee — most of all on geographic origin, where GIA prints its own caveat in those words: "Any statement on geographic origin is an expert opinion based on a collection of observations and analytical data." And a GIA coloured-stone report carries no clarity grade, because in GIA's own words it "doesn't grade or provide quality analysis for sapphire or other colored stones" — so any clarity or colour description you read from us is our own assessment, in our own words, and we say so on the listing.

If you want to read a report before you decide anything, email crescentgems@gmail.com and we will send you whatever document a given stone has — and tell you if it has none. Every order carries a 14-day money-back guarantee. And if you have not read one of these reports before, our guide to how to read a GIA sapphire report walks through every field on it, including the one this page is about.