The terminology for weekdays is consistent across cultures. In many European languages, the weekdays are named after the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn, in that order.
Weekdays in English, for example, are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Sunday, Monday, and Saturday are easily identified as having been named after the Sun, Moon, and Saturn, respectively. Tuesday is named after the Norse god of single combat, Tyr, and is derived from "Tiv's day." Wednesday is named after "Woden's day," Thursday after "Thor's day," and Friday after "Freya's day." Tyr is associated with Mars, Woden with Mercury, Thor with Jupiter, and Freya with Venus among the Norse gods and goddesses. This nomenclature is also similar to that in Northern European languages such as Danish, Dutch, or Swedish. Similarly, the weekdays in French, Italian, and Spanish are named, for the most part, after the Roman days of the Sun, Moon, Mars, and so on to Saturn.
The Greeks or the Babylonians are credited with the weekday nomenclature, according to European sources. However, there is little evidence to back up these claims, which are mostly based on conjectures, circular logic, and uninformed opinions.
Let's trace their origin in ancient Indian Texts Surya Siddhanta and Aryabhatiya :-
Both are well-known, frequently referred to, and highly regarded. They are poems in Sanskrit, as are many other Indian classical works. They cover cosmology, planetary motions, eclipses, conjunctions, star positions, risings/settings, mathematics, geography, instrumentation, and model-making, among other topics.
While the 2 works have some similarities, Surya Siddhanta is much older. Aryabhatiya is thought to be from the 5th century CE. While Surya Siddhanta has been updated several times (the most recent update being in 580 CE), the actual epoch may have been as far back as 7300 BCE- 7800 BCE in antiquity.
Aryabhatiya
To date, the best explanation for this particular ordering of the weekdays and their association with various grahas comes from a verse in the Aryabhatiya, composed by the Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhatta (Aryabhatiya, KalaKriya Pada, Verse, 16):
सप्तैते होरेशा: शनैश्चराद्या यथाक्रमं शीघ्रा:|
शीघ्रक्रमाच्च्तुर्था भवन्ति सूर्योदयाद् दिनपा: ||
The (above mentioned – mentioned in previous verse) seven Grahas beginning with Saturn, which are arranged in the order of increasing velocity, are the lords of the successive hours. The Grahas occurring fourth in the order of increasing velocity are the lords of the successive days, which are reckoned from Sunrise (in Lanka).
(Sanskrit word ‘Graha’ is generally translated as ‘planets’ in astronomical context. This is a mistake. The meaning of ‘graha’ is ‘one that grasps’. Thus, in the astronomical context, the word ‘graha’ means an astral object that grasps another astral object (e.g. ‘Graha’ approach-ing a nakshatra – a visual delusion, of course). It also means an astral body that exerts attractive force on the earth.)
The lords of the 24 hours (with hours being measured from sunrise at Lanka) are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, respectively, and the lords of the seven days are: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, respectively.
The lord of the day is the lord of the first hour of that day, the day being measured from sunrise.
Surya Siddhanta
Surya Siddhanta has similar explanation (Bhugoladhyaya -78)
मन्दादध: क्रमेण स्युश्चतुर्था दिवसाधिप:
होरेशा सूर्यतनयादधोध: क्रमशस्तथा
Starting from the Saturn downward, the fourth graha is called the lord of the day. The graha starting from the Saturn successively downwards are the lords of the hour.
The only logical explanation for the weekday nomenclature comes from an Indian source. No other culture explains why a specific graha (planet) is associated with a specific day of the week. Only the Indian Jyotish (Hora-shastra) provides a rationale, and it is an astronomical one, not a folklore one.
Division of Day in 24 Parts -
Internet search produced the following that is worth mentioning:
Our 24-hour day comes from the ancient Egyptians who divided day-time into 10 hours they measured with devices such as shadow clocks, and added a twilight hour at the beginning and another one at the end of the daytime. Nighttime was divided in 12 hours, based on the observations of stars. The Egyptians had a system of 36 star groups called ‘decans’ — chosen so that on any night one decan rose 40 minutes after the previous one. In the Egyptian system, the length of the ‘daytime’ and ‘nighttime’ hours were unequal and varied with the seasons. In summer, daytime hours were longer than nighttime hours while in winter the hour lengths were the other around.
We were aware of multiple time measurement systems in Indian astronomy but could not think of any system that divided the day into 24 parts. This is crucial for explanation of ‘mnemonic devices’ provided by Aryabhatiya and Surya Siddhanta. While both of them provided measurement system of time, the division of the day into 24 parts was not suggested. Ancient Indian literature does present multiple time measurement systems and existence of a system that divided a day into 24 parts is intuitive for a civilization that has Luni-solar calendar, 12 months, six seasons, etc.
Srimad Bhagavad Purana, Skandha 3, Adhyaya 11, Shlok 1-14 provided one such evidence. It presents time measurement system as follows:
1 Ahoratra (day & night) = 8 Prahar = 24 hours
1 Aha= 1 ratra = 4 Prahar = 12 hours
6 or (7) Nadika (Danda) = 1 Prahar = 3 hours
2 Nadika (danda) = 1 Muhurta = 60 minutes
15 Laghu = 1 Nadika = 30 minutes
15 Kashtha = 1 Laghu = 2 minutes (120 Sec-onds)
5 Kshana = 1 Kashtha = 8 seconds
3 Nimesh = 1 Kshana = 1.6 seconds
3 lav = 1 Nimesh = 0.53 seconds
3 Vedha = 1 lav = 0.17 seconds
100 Truti = 1 Vedha = 0.056 seconds
3 Trasarenu = 1 Truti = 0.00056 seconds
3 Anu = 1 Trasarenu = 0.00019 seconds
2 Paramanu = 1 Anu = 0.000063 seconds
1 Paramanu = 0.000032 seconds
Key Observations:
1. While we were aware of ancient Indian time measurement system where: ‘1 AhoRatra (24 hour day) = 30 Muhurtas’ and thus ‘1 Muhutra = 48 minutes’, the above time measure-ment system from Srimad Bhagavad Purana refers to ‘1 Muhurta = 60 minutes = 1 hour = 1 hora’.
2. This is then not unlike the difference between US and UK Gallon: same unit of measurement (Muhurta) with different magnitude (60 min vs. 48 min). Three significantly different sizes are in current use: Imperial gallon (~4.546 L), US gallon (~3.79 L) and US Dry gallon (~4.40 L).
3. The fact that 6 or 7 Nadika corresponds to 1 Prahar, also means 24-28 Nadika corresponded to 1 Aha (daylight). This flexibility appears to be result of changing length of the day (and night) between 12-14 hours, with changes in the season. Flexibility in the length of daytime (sunlight) is useful for civic purposes (not unlike ‘daylight saving time’ adjustments).
4. The system of dividing a day into 24 parts called ‘hora’ seems to be relevant only in consideration with the theory of week days and astrology. Otherwise astronomy works seem to employ different time units.
5. Above observations point to the fact that this system of time measurement described in Srimad Bhagavad Purana was suitable for both astronomy and astrology purposes, for the astronomy timekeeping and also for the civic timekeeping.
6. Varahamihira has suggested Sanskrit origin of ‘hora’ by explaining that the word is ‘coined’ by taking the middle portion of the word ‘ahoratra’, leaving out ‘a’ and ‘tra’.
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