Saturn - Śani or Śanaiścara

Saturn - Śani or Śanaiścara 
Śani who is also known as Śanaiścara comes from Śanayē Kramati Saḥ, the one who moves slowly, because Saturn takes about 30 years to revolve around the Sun.

Śani is the son of Sūrya and his wife Chāyā (Shade). He is the elder brother of Yama, the god of death, who is also the Lord of Dharma or justice.

Surya’s two sons Śani and Yama judge and punish all beings for their bad karmas:

Śani supervises the results of our deeds in this life through appropriate joy and sorrow; Yama grants the results of our deeds after death.

It is said that when Śani opened his eyes as a baby for the very first time, the sun went into an eclipse, which clearly denotes the impact of Śani on astrological charts.

He is known as the greatest teacher and well-wisher for the righteous as well the greatest punisher for those who follow the path of evil, betrayal, backstabbing and unjust revenge.

He is depicted dark in colour, clothed in black; holding a sword, arrows and two daggers and mounted on his vehicle the carrion crow which consumes the rice-balls offered to the dead.

Saturn rules the direction west, Saturday is its day, black is its colour and blue sapphire is the gemstone of Saturn. Saturn rules number 8 in Indian numerology.

Shani – Saturn bīja mantra:

ॐ प्रां प्रीं प्रों सः शनैस्चराय नमः

oṁ prāṁ prīṁ proṁ saḥ śanaiscarāya namaḥ

Vedic mantra for Shani:

नीलांजनसमाभासं रविपुत्रं यमाग्रजम् छायामार्त्तण्डसम्भूतं तं नमामि शनैश्चरम्

nīlāṁjanasamābhāsaṁ raviputraṁ yamāgrajam
chāyāmārttaṇḍasambhūtaṁ taṁ namāmi śanaiścaram

I bow to Śani ( Saturn) , as black as the black collyrium, who is the son of the Sun and the brother of Yama(God of death) and born to Surya through Chāyā, and moves very slowly.