It is an ancient system of prediction, written on palmyra leaves. Previously known only to a select group of people, the naadi astrology of India is growing in popularity. It has even been featured in documentaries, including on Discovery Channel. SUGANTHI SUPARMANIAM turns over the leaves

T. Ramesh (left) reading a script for Shanmugam. On Shanmugam’s right is his daughter Praba.

Sivapalan Govindasamy says the readings are accurate but cautions against wrong interpretations by astrologers

KUALA LUMPUR: A. Shanmugam sat transfixed. The naadi astrologer had just read out his name and those of his parents and siblings.

"I was astonished. Reading the naadi olai (dried palmyra leaves), he could even tell that my mother had two names," said the technician.

Recalling the first time he had gone to see a naadi astrologer in 2002, Shanmugam said the astrologer took his thumbprint and checked it against several bundles of olai.

"I was told to say only yes or no as he read from the olai. He asked if my name started with ‘Pa’ or ‘Re’ or ‘Mu’. When he said ‘Sha’, I said yes. He asked if my name was Shanmugam.
"He then asked if my parents were named so and so and if I had this number of siblings and if I worked as a technician.

"However, when he came to the name of my wife, he said it was Manogari. My wife’s name is Maheshwari. He then said this was not my olai and asked me to come again in two weeks.

"This time, all the information about me fell into place. But I am amazed that such information about me could be contained in the olai said to have been written by sages ages ago.

"I am also amazed that there could be another man with my name and whose parents and siblings have similar names but who has a wife called Manogari.

"Since then I have seen the naadi astrologer 17 times. I find there is truth in what is said in the olai, at least for me," he added.

Shanmugam is just one of the many people who are consulting naadi astrologers to find out their past, present and future.

After being told by a Chinese friend about the naadi astrologers, Chiew Chee Hoong, 50, from Subang Jaya went to find out.

"My friend told me the readings were accurate. I went to the astrologer, gave him my thumb- print and within minutes he found a script and read out my name," he said.

He added that he was happy with the reading and described it as accurate.

He said he would be performing a special prayer as instructed in the olai.

Businessman Tan Chee Meng, 45, from Rawang said he felt something was missing in his life and decided to consult a naadi astrologer.

"I was shocked with what the astrologer told me. The accuracy of it was scary, he even came up with my ex-wife’s name," he said, adding that the results were immediate as after performing a prayer suggested by the astrologer, business picked up.

The naadi astrologer can tell why someone is leading a happy life or a miserable life. Or what life holds for the future.

Also, he can offer remedial advice.

This ancient Indian art of prediction is said to have been written by sages, called siddhars, thousands of years ago. The predictions were written on olai in Vattu Ezhuthu, a Tamil script, using a sharp, nail-like instrument called ezhuthani.

It can only be deciphered by expert naadi astrologers.

Universiti Malaya lecturer G. Sivapalan, who teaches siddhar philosophy and Indian astrology, said he was a non-believer.

He said he changed his opinion when his sick sister became well after consulting a naadi astrologer in India, who, through the naadi, directed him to meet a doctor in a hospital.

"I had taken my sister to many specialists here and I figured I had nothing to lose so we looked for the doctor.

"We asked around for a doctor with the initials given by the astrologer and found him. True enough, after consulting him, my sister became well," said Sivapalan.

He believes naadi readings are accurate but cautioned against wrong interpretations by the astrologers who read them. Some astrologers, he said, had money on their mind and these people often made mistakes.

Sivapalan added that mistakes could also creep in when astrologers made copies of the olai as each leaf only lasts about 200 years.

He said naadi astrology made its debut in Malaysia in the 1980s and many of these astrologers from India had been coming here ever since.

He said he had written down interpretations made by naadi astrologers for more than 800 people here.

Naadi astrologer R. Sentil Kumar said only certain people were fated to know their past, present and future through the naadi system. He said the naadi also provided ways to reduce the impact of bad karma or overcome obstacles.

"Incurable diseases are cured if they follow the instructions in the naadi. However, the influence of past karma affects a person so badly that sometimes it is written in the olai itself that that person should not be helped with remedial measures," he said, adding that such people had committed atrocities in their previous births.

Sentil said his clients included Malaysians, Singaporeans, Germans and Japanese who came to India to read their olai.

Another astrologer, T. Ramesh, who has been reading olai for more than 16 years, agreed with Sivapalan about misinterpretations of the naadi and added that true readers of the naadi were born, not made.

"Sometimes, people come here with questions and the answers will appear in their naadi," he said.

Ramesh said naadi astrology was different from ordinary astrology as only through naadi could a person know his past karma (actions done in previous lives). He said with this knowledge, a person could better understand his circumstances today.

He has read the olai for more than 20,000 Malaysians.

Brief history

THE naadi inscriptions are said to have been written in India thousands of years ago by sages on olai or dried palmyra leaves, using their yogic intuitive powers.
Over the centuries, the olai were passed on from father to son or master to disciple.
In recent times, many of these bundles of olai were collected and stored in the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjore, south India.
When the British came, they are said to have sold off some of these olai to locals, mostly astrologers.
The olai were handed down over the generations.
Young people were given training in how to read the naadi.
It soon became a means of livelihood for many.
The olai are preserved by rubbing them with peacock oil on auspicious occasions.
The main centre of naadi astrology is in and around Vaitheeswarankoil, near Chidambaram, in Tamil Nadu.

How it is read

THE thumbprint of the seeker is taken and is used to identify the seeker’s olai from the numerous manuscripts in the astrologer’s possession.
If the person is lucky, his olai will be with that particular astrologer. If not, he will have to look for it from other astrologers.
Sometimes the olai containing his information might have been lost or destroyed and he will not be able to have his olai read.
Once the astrologer locates the particular bundle, he begins to read from each olai and asks the person a series of questions about his life, to identify the correct olai.
This process can take a few minutes or several hours.
Once the correct olai is located, the astrologer reads from it, describing the person’s life in detail.

The astrologer will also suggest remedial measures for a person to reduce the influence of past karma and enhance the benefit of future activities.