Nadi astrology

Agathiyar

Nādi Astrology (nāḍi jyotiṣa) is a form of Hindu astrology practiced in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and adjacent regions in India. It is based on the belief that the past, present and the future lives of all humans were foreseen by Hindu sages in ancient time.

History

In Tamil Nadu, the texts are mainly written in Vatteluttu, which is an ancient Tamizh (Tamil) script. They were written by a Rishi called Agathiyar who had a highly developed consciousness. These ancient records of providence were made famous by practitioners around the Vaitheeswaran Temple in the state of Tamil Nadu. First, the Naadi palm leaves are located based on the thumb impressions (right for men, left for women).^[1]

These Naadi leaves were initially stored in the premises of Thanjavur's Saraswati Mahal Library in Tamil Nadu. The British colonialists later showed interest in the Naadi leaves concerned with herbs and medicine, future prediction, etc. Some leaves got destroyed, and the remaining were auctioned during the British Raj (rule). These Nadi leaves were obtained by the families of astrologers at the Vaitheeswaran Temple and have been passed down the years from one generation to the other.^[2]

There is also another set of astrologers claiming that the content written in the palm leaf is conversation between Shiva and Parvathi. This is called "Shiva nadi josiyam".

Theory

The basic concept of Nadi Astrology is "Nadi" (nāḍi). There are 150 Nādis in a sign or Rāshi (Rāsi); one sign is 30 degrees of the zodiac 360. Twelve signs of zodiac are grouped into three categories: Movable (Chara), Fixed (Sthira) and Dual (Dvisvabhāva) signs. The nomenclature of 150 Nādis is peculiar to each of these three types of signs. There are 1,800 Nādis in 360 degrees. Numbers and names of Nādis are identical among all four Chara signs. Among all four Sthira signs, numbers and names of Nādis are identical, but numbering is different from those in Chara and Dvisvabhāva signs. Similarly, numbering of Nādis in all four Dvisvabhāva signs are identical among themselves, but different from Chara or Sthira signs. For instance, the first Nādi in Chara signs such as Aries is Vasudhā Nādi, but in Sthira signs the order is reversed and Vasudhā is 150th Nādi. In Dvisvabhāva signs such as Gemini, Vasudhā is 76th Nādi; that is, from the middle of 150. Thus, there are 450 distinctive names and numbers in the full zodiac. Nādi texts use this concept of Nādi as the basic unit for prediction. That is why they are called "Nādi amshas".

Chandra Kalā Nadi, which is also known as Deva Keralam, was published by Sagar Publications in 1992, edited and translated into English by R Santhanam. It is a compilation of over 82 hundred verses by Achyut of Kerala, that is why it is called "Deva Keralam". But its original kernel was Chandra Kalā Nādi, which has not been preserved as a separate text. Deva Keralam has borrowed many non-Nādi concepts also in order to make the book fuller, but it preserves the gist of Nādi astrology. However, there are many different trends in Nādi Astrology which are not present in Deva Keralam. There are Nādi texts named after planets, such as Guru Nādi or Shukra Nādi, and there are voluminous unpublished texts like Dhruva Nādi. The palm leaves in Tamil Nādu temples use a style different from that of Deva Keralam, and the Tamil method of Nādi Astrology is paralleled by Bhrigu Samhitā in North India, which has been published in part, but many spurious publications in the name of Bhrigu Samhitā have also appeared in the market.

The basic methodology of these Nādi or Samhitā texts have never been described in these texts, hence astrologers can predict only what they already possess, and are dumb-founded when they do not possess the required leaf about some particular person. The most fundamental trait of Nādi texts is Nādi, which is actually a sum total of all divisions of a sign caused by sixteen divisional charts (shodasha vargas) described in texts like BPHS (Brihat Parāshara Horā Shāstra). 135 divisions out of total 285 are repeated in other divisionals; hence there are exactly 150 distinctive divisions of a sign. But these divisions are unequal; largest division being of half a degree, and the smallest division is 36th part of a degree. Another school of thought assumes that all 150 divisions are equal; the value being 12 minutes (arc) in length.^[3]

When predictions are based on Nādis in which ascendant and planets are placed; it means the combined results of all sixteen divisional charts are being told. Hence, Nādi Astrology is the most detailed and accurate method. But it requires highly precise birth time, and it also requires knowledge of genuine Nādi texts, most of which are unpublished, and the custodians do not allow others to see the manuscripts. The same is the case with Samhitā texts in North India, such as Bhrigu Samhitā or Rāvana Samhitā.

Beliefs

Brahma

In ancient history, this universe and earth were created by the cosmic God of Knowledge, Sri Brahma, who is a higher consciousness of every human being, and the entire universe is controlled by three powerful cosmic Gods, as the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh).

Athma

Athman is the 'real' you with no body, no mind or no desire. Athman is immortal, and characterises the real you. Changes apply only to the physical bodies. Common stages are birth, childhood, teenage, adulthood, oldage, and death. The real you (the Athma) then enters into a different body depending on your Karma and takes form relative to the good or bad deeds you have done. Athman can neither be created nor destroyed. Athman manifests in a physical body as per applicable karmas.

In Karmic terms, a transition like this is like a person working in an organisation getting promoted when he or she works sincerely, honestly and efficiently, or demoted if he or she is a bad worker.

Naadii Astrology is like a mirror of your karmas in the previous birth(s). While this is not entirely accurate, for simplicity's sake, let's say there are two options associated with your Karma. You either live out your mistakes or you can overcome them by performing corrective actions in a proactive manner - this goes for all living beings.^[4]

Navagrahas and siddars

All beings, irrespective of species, nationality, religion, social class, aggressiveness, etc., are controlled by the Navagrahas (nine houses or planets). The Navagrahas are very sincere in their duties as cosmic public servants and never deviate in performing their duties. They cannot be bribed. They affect individual beings as well as entire societies as per the Karma (thoughts, words and deeds of beings in this world as well as other worlds) applicable. The current life path of a person is determined by past Karma. For example, if a person is blessed with wealth in this birth, then it implies this person has done many punyas (activities that resulted in good Karma) in his/her previous births and he/she is enjoying the benefits of it in this birth. It is like a person who has saved a lot of punyas in his or her account cashing it in when the need arrives.

Birth, death, rebirth and moksha are all controlled by our karma. Paapams (activities that result in negative Karma) are obstacles that may take long to dilute whereas punyas earned can be 'spent' very soon. From the Hindu point of view, this makes it important that we always think good thoughts and do no harm to any other being. Bad Karma is committed even if we think unrighteous thoughts.

What is to be given to your lot in life, when, how and where are all decided by the Brahma using the Navagarahas and the Siddars as channels. As the Brahma cannot do everything in our realm directly, 84,000 Siddars have been created to perform duties on its behalf. Siddars are only another level of public servants in the cosmos, and they have capabilities and energies many would consider supernatural, although in Hinduism this is quite normal. Of all the siddars, 84,000 are identified as very powerful and these siddars express themselves by way of Naadi. Agathiyar is the leader of all Siddars. Agathiyar along with Kakapujandar, Bokar. Agatiyar always thrived for Jeeva Karunyam (to not harm any being), i.e., taking care of all living things in this world and guiding them to the path of Gnana or the attaining of supreme self-knowledge.

Types

• Naadi talks about a person's past, present and future and is mostly concerned with material things like getting a job, construction of house, marriage, curing a disease, etc. Gaanda Naadi were already written by Siddars ages back and are available in Tamil Nadu with the blessed people.
• Jeeva Naadi is like a live thing happening. It is mainly concerned with Gnana and Nakshatra.,

Research

This is more from word of mouth than reliable sources

One Wing Commander (Retd.) Shashikant Oak of Pune has a great contribution in bringing the Naadi palm leaf based astrological system into limelight. For more than 16 years, he has been conducting an original research on the aforesaid system. His research includes various scientific angles, and has given the whole subject a new dimension. To conduct the original research, he has visited almost all the Naadi centers in India during the course of last 15 years, apart from individually meeting thousands of persons to take on account the firsthand experiences. He has also presented a detailed paper called 'Comparative Study: Nostradamus and Naadi Granthas.' Over the past few years he has been instrumental in bringing out the subject to the notice of international researchers. Apart from writing several research oriented books and detailed articles in various languages; Wing Commander (Retd.) Oak has also initiated preparing a dictionary of ancient Tamil words which appear in the Naadi palm leaves. His books are available in Marathi, Hindi, English, and have been translated into several other languages including Gujarati.

Naadi astrology in popular culture

Prince of Malacca

In the film Chandran Rutnam is set to direct, Prince of Malacca, the olai-chuvadi (palm-leaf) reading which Raj Rajaratnam sought to forecast his future is influenced.^[5]

After Johny reads an article in the Newsweek magazine by a professor at the University of New York, he becomes interested in olai-chuvadi reading or Naadi astrology. The article reveals, "Rajaratnam had gone to the ola-leaf readers." It is said there was a government case against Raj, that he was in the stock business, that he was famous worldwide. That he had to close his business down. Rajaratnam revealed in the article that he doesn't generally believe in fortunetellers and astrologers. "But the ola leaves were written thousands of years ago. In those days there was no share business. I found it interesting." The leaf reader had also divined that his wife was born in "some Southeast Asian country." His wife Asha was born in the Philippines.^[5]

References

Bibliography

• Shashikant Oak, Naadi Predictions A Mind Boggling Miracle (2010), ISBN 81-7182-948-1
• Sanjay Rath, Collected Papers in Vedic Astrology (2006), ISBN 0-9765177-1-X, chapter 9, pp. 247–276.
• Thomas Ritter, Die Palmblattbibliotheken. Und ihre Prophezeiungen zur Zukunft Europas (2006) ISBN 978-3-938516-20-1.
• Thomas Ritter, Die Geheimnisse indischer Palmblattbibliotheken Dem Schicksal auf der Spur: Dem Schicksal auf der Spur. Das Vermächtnis der Sieben Weisen. Schicksalsbibliotheken auf der Spur (2002) ISBN 978-3-89094-350-3.
• Shashikant Oak (Wing Commander), Naadi Predictions A Mind Boggling Miracle (2010), ISBN 81-7182-948-1