It’s all written: How Nadi shastra's ancient system works

Angoothawale is how most people in Sector 31, Gurgaon recognise the Nadi Astrology Centre in their vicinity. Angoothe – thumbs – is, after all, the most definite thing about this ancient (some say 4,000 or 5,000 year old), arcane divining system that is based on ancient palm leaf manuscripts, claimed to contain a record of the past, present and future of all men, of all time.

But there's nothing old or exotic about the two-storied building that houses the Delhi-chapter of the Sri Agasthiya Mahasiva Adhi Sukshma Nadi Astrological Centre. If anything, its layout resembles that of a doctors' clinic, with a reception area on the right as you enter, and steel chairs on the left with several people waiting for their turn, and beyond there is a series of glass cubicles where the business of divination is conducted.

"This is the oldest branch in Delhi," Arul Raj, a senior functionary, tells me in Tamil-laced Hindi. "We've been here for 20 years." The only other place they operate from is Vaitheeswaran Koil, the temple town in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu that is the traditional seat of Nadi astrology. In the last few decades, however, nadi astrologers have branched out across the country, and even abroad. Delhi, for instance, has four centres. "Nadi astrology is destiny; you will only find your leaf if, and at the time you are destined to do so," says Mohan at the Arulmigu Shri Agasthiyar Sughar Nadi Jyotish Bhawan, a centre in south Delhi's posh Hauz Khas neighbourhood. This latter centre claims to follow the writings of Agastya, the revered Vedic saint, while the one in Gurgaon follows the Maha Shiv Nadi, which is written like a dialogue between Shiv and Parvati. Other centres follow the writings of other Vedic sages – Vashisht, Koushik, Bhrigu and so on.

But whichever sage's writings they follow, all branches of nadi astrology start with the angootha – the thumb, the right in the case of a man and the left for women. "Sage Agastya had divided thumb prints into 108 groups," explains Parthiv, who works at the Hauz Khas centre as a reader of the nadi manuscripts, which are written in an ancient Tamil script. So step one is to find the group of manuscripts that match the thumbprint, and step two, to sift through all of them to find the one of the seeker – nadi is Tamil for search. Nadi astrologers do this by a process of elimination. Since the nadi manuscripts contain every detail of a person's life – name, whether parents are alive, whether married, number of offspring and so on – they proceed to ask the seeker questions related to these, framing them so that answers must only be in a yes or no. Payment – which ranges between Rs 5,100 and Rs 1,500 – is to be made only if your leaf is found.

The process is a long-winded one, and one could well come away without finding one's leaf. One reason for this is that offsite centres in Delhi and elsewhere bring the manuscripts from Vaitheeswaran Koil where they are stored, in lots – and yours could be in the next lot. In which case, the astrologers will ask you to come back – sometimes, six or seven times. "A lot of manuscripts have also been destroyed over the years, so some people's leaves are never found," says Parthiv.

Despite these uncertainties, nadi astrology has grown in reputation and popularity over the years. "We even went to Singapore last year," Mohan says. A 'client', he says, had scanned and sent his thumbprint, and made arrangements for travel and lodging. They met many Singaporeans during their stay but ironically, says Mohan, "it was the Chinese, more than Indians, whose leaves we found. Even their unfamiliar, Chinese sounding names were faithfully written in the manuscripts!"It's destiny, nadi believers would say.