Navgrah Vatika

In astrology it is believe that there are 9 planets which are controlling the destiny of person. To minimize the ill effect of nav grahas one of the easiest method is to plant the nav-grah vatika (garden) near the temple. Each planet is associated with a sacred plant which has to be plant in a 3 by 3 grid as follows.
Ark(for sun) in the centre
Palash(for moon) in the South east
Khair (for mars) in the South
Apamarga(for mercury) in NorthEast
peepal (for Jupiter) in North
Doomar(For venus) in East
shami(For Saturn) in West
Durvaa (for Rahu) in South West
kusha (for Ketu) in North West

Til- an easy remedy

As per classics “sesame” popularly known as “Til” in northern region of India was produced from the body of sage Kashyap. It is believe that if a person offer it to God,Pittras or Brahmin he would be free from the ill effect of malefic planets. Offerings can be made in the form of Snaan,Daan,Tarpan,Havan or Food. As per mythology Saturn belongs to Kashyap Gotram.So sesame is considered as the best remedy for pacification of Shani. One should light a lamp of sesame oil in the evening. This process is called “Deep daan”. During Makar sakranti in the month of January when the sun enters the Capricorn(the zodiac sign of Saturn who is a son of Sun god), it is very auspicious to offer sesame to fire god at night. People distributes jaggery(Gud) with sesame(til) on this day. It is a symbolic representation of Sun and Saturn respectively.

Shani dev and King Vikramaditya

Once nav greh(the nine planets) reached the court of King Vikramaditya to decide who is more superior among them. King  Vikramditya was famous for his wisdom. He prepared 9 thrones of different material and numbered them. He assigned number 1 to the throne made up of Gold and number 9 to the throne made of iron. Shani(saturn) knew that his throne is of iron so he felt humiliated on assigning low rank. He decided to take revenge from King Vikramaditya. He started controlling his destiny.One day Vikramaditya bought an unusual horse and went for riding and lost the way in the forest.he took shelter in the house of a businessman.he stayed there for many days. One  day  daughter of businessman lost her neckless.The merchant blamed Vikramaditya for stealing. His hands were amputated by the soldiers as punishment.To earn his livelihood he started working with Teli(oil seed crusher) . One day he was singing the song, when the princess of that kingdom heard it and got fascinated.Finally the marriage of Vikramditya and the princess was performed. One night Shani appeared in the dream of Vikramaditya and told him that all his suffering happened due to ill treatment by him. Vikramaditya asked for forgiveness. Shani dev accepted his apology. Next morning, all the limbs of Vikramditya were restored. The dreadful period of Shani called sade saati was over. He decided to  keep fast on Saturday as a mark of honor of  Shani dev.  He returned to his kingdom and live happily thereafter.

Shani -The lame planet

At the time when Ravana's son was about to born all the planets were in favourable position except Saturn who was about to change the position.Ravana , a person of immense occult power, commanded Saturn to come and stay in the 11th House of his son, Indrajith, the 11th House being the best house for Saturn to be in. Saturn, with his innate laziness, came and stayed at the 11th house but put his foot in the 12th ( the worst house for Saturn to be in ). An enraged Ravana cut off his leg and the entire mass of blood and bones went and stayed at the Ascendant ( Lagna ) as Gulika !!!
It is believe that person having saturn in 12House of horoscope is more prone to feet injury

Birth Of Shani

Suryadev(son of Brahma) was married to Sangya.Sangya was the daughter of Vishwakarma. Yama, the God of death and the river Yamuna and Vaiswat Manu are believed to be the childern of Sun & Sangya.Sangya finding it unbearable to live with the harsh glare of Surya's light, created her own replica and named her as chaya and asked her to behave as Surya's wife and perform all the duties and savour the privileges of a wife. She made her promise that under no condition would she reveal to Suryadev that she was not Sangya and promised to help her when needed.

Sangya went back to her father Daksha. When Daksha saw that his daughter coming back, he advised her that she better live with her husband only. The dejected Sangya did not follow her father's advise and instead transformed herself into a mare and resided in the Himalayas and started penance.

Chaya performed the role of dutiful wife. Shani was the son of Chaya & Sun. Surya did not have any doubts about Chaya. One day Sun observe that Chaya didnit treat the Yama & his siblings lovingly. This raises doubts in his mind.Chaya confessed that she was a 'shadow' of Sangya and that Sangya had gone to the Himalaya for penance. On listening he dejected chaya. This cause the enemosity between Sun & Saturn.
It is said that when he opened his eyes as a baby for the very first time, the sun went into an eclipse, which clearly denotes the impact of Shani on astrological charts (horoscope).

Shani ki drishti

When King Ravana succeeded in getting the control over all the nine planets, he installed them face downward on the nine steps that led to his throne. Each morning, he would step on their back to ascend his throne, causing insult and anguish to them. One day the sage Narada came to Ravana, and upon seeing the state of the nine planets asked Shani, how as the mightiest and the most terrible of the planets, he can bear this insult? Shani replied that because he is laying face downward he is helpless, if only he can cast his gaze on Ravana, matters would change. After Narada was shown around the magnificent palace of Ravana the proud king wanted his opinion. The wise sage replied that everything was excellent at the palace of Ravana, except for one. That was, how can Ravana get the pleasure of subduing the nine planets when they are lying face downward? It is better if they were to lay face upward so that when Ravana stepped over their chests, he could get the pleasure of seeing their discomfort on their faces. This suggestion appealed to the mighty king and he quickly ordered his staff to turn the nine planets around on their backs. As soon as that was done, Shani's gaze fell on Ravana and his reason abandoned him. Within a few months he kidnapped Sita, the wife of Lord Rama that led to Lord Rama's invasion of his kingdom. Ravana and his entire family was killed, all this during the seven and half year cycle of Shani.