History of Nadi Astrology

According to Hindu faith, thousands of years ago sages who had the power to look in the past and future of the entire universe recorded the future of people who were living and who are going to live, in the form of Tamil verses, as Palm Leaf Manuscripts. The text is written in Vatteluttu, which is an ancient Tamil script. There are different schools of thought as to the author of these leaves. They were said to be written down by different Hindu sages, who had divine revelations. Some of the sages include Agasthiya, Brighu, Kaushika, Vyasa, Kagabujandar, Valmiki and Vasishtha. This doctrine of astrology was made famous by astrologers around the Vaitheeswaran Temple in the state of Tamil Nadu and is still practiced around the temple by their descendents.

The source point of Nadi Astrology leaves can be traced back to approximately more than 2000 years. These Nadi leaves were initially stored in the premises of Tanjore Saraswati Mahal Library of Tamilnadu. The British rulers later showed interest in the Nadi leaves concerned with herbs and medicine, future prediction etc; but ironically left most of the Nadi prediction leaves to their loyal people. Some leaves got destroyed and the remaining were auctioned during the British rule. These Nadi leaves were obtained and possessed by the families of astrologers in Vaitheeswaran Temple. This is an art passed down the years from one generation to the other. [1]

The notion that astrologers claim these predictions were made for all human beings who have lived or will ever live is not completely true. Nadi astrologers say only a certain number of souls' future predictions are there in the leaves. They are reported cases of exact match in the past details and future predictions. Since the prophecy is written in the form of Tamil verses, their interpretation is subject to the nadi astrologer's way of understanding and interpreting them. But those who can understand poetic Tamil (professors, etc.) can understand the verses without the help of an astrologer.