The Lal Kitab needs no formal introduction. It is popular amongst neophytes and masters of astrology equally. The enamored of the remedial measures of Lal Kitab and the astrologers who suggest they take pride in them. The measures are too detailed and too typical to be understood by an intelligent human being. Whatever the facts, they are quite effective and cannot be just given up for their simplicity. Rather, they bring credit to him who suggests them.
On the face of it, Lal Kitab is an important treatise on palmistry and astrology. Ordinarily the palmists talk of mounts and lines (Sun, Moon, and Mars, etc.), but it is in Lal Kitab only that we come across the birth charts of the natives having twelve houses and all the planets (the earliest known nine planets) posted there. Rules of prediction are also very much like those enunciated in astrology. Despite all this, the astrology of Lal Kitab is different from astrology we know of, be it eastern, western, or of any origin.
Lal Kitab is essentially palmistry. The astrological contents that are added to it are to reflect the findings of a palmist, or rather to corroborate it. The palm has been divided into 12 parts just as the natural zodiac is divided into twelve signs like Aries, Taurus, etc. Some types of shapes have been allotted to planets. These shapes, wherever they exist on the palm, are supposed to be occupying particular houses of the birth chart. These signs represent the planets they are allotted to. Thus we have the twelve houses and the nine planets posted in the chart having twelve houses. The astrological chart is ready on the basis of the palm. They are often different from the birth charts prepared on astrological principles. The authenticity of astrological charts is to be corrected by the chart prepared from palm imprints. How charts are made from the palm is not our subject here. We propose only to discuss and deal with the astrological contents of the book.
Whatever the system or method of preparation, the chart has ascendant or the lagna, and the other twelve houses are numbered serially. Though they are the 12 signs of the zodiac, the rulership of the houses will also go likewise. The signs have no significance in the chart. For signs, we may say, each horoscope is to be treated just like the horoscope of Kala Purusha; that is, house No. 1 should be considered as identical with Aries in all cases. As Sun is exalted in Aries and debilitated in Libra, we say that Sun is exalted in Lagna and debilitated in the 7th house. The lordship of the houses willlordo go likewise. Marslord is always the lagna Lord, and Venus is the 7th Lord.
In the palm, we talk of lower Mars and upper Mars. In Lal Kitab’s astrology, we have two Mars, one a malefic or bad Mars and the other a benefic or a kind of good Mars. This is one peculiarity of Lal Kitab’s astrology. Both the Mars have their own properties.
As regards the comparative power of the planets, it is the same as given in classical texts, but at the same time we come across the concept of equivalent planets. Mercury, for instance, is considered to be equivalent to the Sun in the power of giving results.
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