When Yaniv visited India a few years back, a series of chance encounters and coincidences lead him to an astrolger who had a copy of his horoscope written on an old palm leaf that contained many remarkable details about his life. The legend as I understood it then was that there was a certain disciple of the ancient sage Agastya who began scrawling out the horoscopes of certain people who lived in India at that time. The remarkable thing was that he was writing out the horoscopes of their future lives– and not just any future life, a future life in which they had reached a critical inflection point in their spiritual evolution. The goal was to create a sort of time-capsule to the future through which beneficial advice could be given to that soul to help them overcome critical hurdle along their journey. Not everyone had a leaf, but the legend goes that only people who did have a leaf would be interested in finding it, and thus be drawn to a place where the leaves were stored. Curious about the legend, I put it on my wish-list of things to check out while in S. India.
Back in December, I met with Dr. M.D. Muthukumarswamy, Executive Director of the National Folklore Support Centre, as part of the project with Stanford. What had been slated to be a 30 minute meeting ended up lasting 6 hours, and felt distinctly like catching up with a long lost friend. I figured that Muthu would know about the palm leaves, known as nadi leaves, and so I asked him. He added some information to what I already had heard: the original leaves were composed between 3000 and 5000 years ago, and were rediscovered in the early 1800s when they were copied; the originals are officially lost, but probably held somewhere as the sacred treasure of a brahmin family; most of the people who claim to have nadi leaves are fakers; a man named C. Poosamuthu near Vaidyetheswaran Koil was the only guy in S. India who had the legit leaves copied in the 1800s. If anybody knows what they’re talking about, its definitely Muthu, so I knew I had to find this Poosamuthu fellow near Vaidyetheswaran Koil. Last week I got the chance.
Vaidyetheswaran Koil is a temple about 30 km from Chidambaram, and so I boarded a bus from Pondicherry to Chidambaram, and then started looking for a cab to take to Vaidyetheswaran. That day had already been a series of amazing coincidences for me and for others and something interesting happened here too. When I asked the how much the fare was (in English) to my destination, he responded in Hindi. Hindi! That’s practically unheard of in S. India. Anyhow, happy to have someone I could communicate with fairly well, I zoomed off in search of Poosamuthu. BTW, it was actually Urdu that he’d responded in, and my drivers were two rather modern, unusually muscular Muslim guys in their early 20s who took me by the Muslim community center, and their Muslim neighborhood on the way to Vaidyetheswaran Koil.
Anyhow, we get to the temple, and of course every shop there is a nadi leaf shop. We ask for Poosamuthu, and everyone sends us to their shop. When we specifically ask for Poosamuthu, they claim that they are a branch of the Poosamuthu operation, or that Poosamuthu is “out of station”. I ask for their card, and of course it has nothing to do with Poosamuthu. I ask for Poosamuthu’s card, and none of these guys could produce one. We realized that it was a case of trying to ask a Hyundai dealer where the Honda dealership was and that we simply needed to ask someone in another line of business so we drove off and asked around, eventually finding C. Poosamuthu a short time, and short distance later.
Upon arriving, I was initially struck by the number of people lounging around. There were like 7 or 8 chelas loitering on the porch, who kind of perked up when I got there. They lead me to a small room where a man in his 30s sat across the table from me.
Silence.
“Are you Poosamuthu?”
“Yes.”
“Great. Dr. Muthukumarswamy from Chennai recommended you. I’d like to see if I have a nadi leaf.”
Nod. Smile. Silence. More silence.
What was he waiting for?
“So how do I go about doing that?”
Smile. Silence.
Awright… so clearly I was not understanding how all this worked. I decided to follow the Roman rule and do as the Vaidyetheswarans do while in Vaidyetheswaran. I just sat there. And smiled.
A few minutes later, another dude walks into the room and sits next to me. The two of them start talking in Tamil. Just when I think this guy is cutting in on my action, he turns to me and starts talking in Hindi. Ahh… he’s the translator, and Poosamuthu doesn’t speak English.
I learn that this dude actually isn’t Poosamuthu, but someone who claims to be the son of Poosamuthu. Felt kinda shady given all the scammers a few blocks away, but he said that Poosamuthu is old and doesn’t do readings anymore. He’s taught these guys how to read the leaves, and he still meets people but isn’t directly involved with the action. Next, he tells me the story of the nadi leaves. My Hindi isn’t anywhere near perfect, but as I make it out, his version says that the leaves were written by Vashistha (instead of Agastya’s disciple), another ancient sage of fame, meant for people who are either at a critical point in their evolution, or whose spiritual evolution is critical for the overall benefit of humanity. Seemed like a flattering twist designed to make people feel special and important, but whatever. On to the way it works. Not everyone has a leaf, you don’t pay if you don’t have a leaf, but you do have to pay half of the amount upfront if you want them to check for a leaf. Pricing depends on how much info you want. Apparently, there are 15 chapter that cover all aspects of your life… each priced at 300 Rs. Or you can get the whole enchilada– past, present, future and all chapters for 4000 Rs. Translation to English, where you also get an audio tape of the translation, cost another 400 Rs. Seemed like if you only got the past, it could only verify whether there was anything to all this, and not really do anything relevant for the present. Also, if you only got the future, you have no idea if any of it is legit. There are similar problems if you ask about any particular chapter, like the ‘career’ chapter or the ‘marriage’ chapter. So I decide to go for the whole enchilada.
They tell me that in order to find my leaf, they need my name, birthdate & location, and right thumb print. 2000 Rs and 30 minutes later, another dude aged about 50 or so comes back with a short stack of strips of palm leaves. They seem to be quite old, and have faint, not-quite-Tamil script on them. The dude and his translator begin. He carefully unwraps the leaf bundle and drawls off a line or two in a nasal, archaic Tamil. He then translates into modern Tamil for the translator in normal tone, who tells me what he said in Hindi.
Basically, the way it works is this: the guy asks you a yes or no question supposedly from the leaf. If you answer is no, its not your leaf, and they move onto the next leaf. Only when the answer to every question asked is ‘yes’ has your leaf been found. They’ll ask you questions like “Does your mother’s name start with any of these four letters…?” or “Is your family involved in the _____ business?” or “Do you have ___ brothers?” When they get a ‘yes’, they’ll move on to “Does the second letter of your mother’s name start with…?”
You can see the problem here. About a 100 questions later, they knew: my mother’s name, father’s name, health status of both, number-gender-approx age of siblings, where my family lives, what they do, my educational background, work background, future aspirations & inclinations, travel history, and many details about each of these. Essentially, they have tons of information about my past & present circumstances, and lots of information about what my future directions might be. Doesn’t take a genius to make some good enough guesses to fill in the gaps. As if that weren’t enough, there was still more that made it seem fake. First, the guy didn’t seem to be actually reading the leaves- just showboating like he was and then asking whatever question seemed like it was far enough removed from the previous question such that those with bad short-term memory wouldn’t remember the details of sequential lines of questioning. The nasal supposedly-archaic-Tamil added to that. Second, there seemed to be an endless supply of leaves. He first brought in 1 bundle that had about 20 leaves. When that was exhausted without locating my leaf, he went in the room and got another stack. This kept happening. You’d think that if there were perhaps 100 candidate leaves, he’d bring them all in the room at once. But if he was scamming, he would never want there to be a finite number cuz he might run out and then have to pay back the advance. What added to this sense was the Hindi translator telling me that I definitely had a leaf before I paid anything upfront– really got the sense that anyone with the money has got a leaf. Third, when he finally got to all ‘yes’, every question was based on things he had already asked and verified in previous questions– there wasn’t a single question that was a newly confirmed ‘yes’. Fourth, at the last yes, he didn’t note down what leaf, just said that he found my ‘index’ an wrote things down in his pad. This lead me to wonder if the leaves themselves were the nadi leaves or some sort of indexing leaf– but also gave the feeling that the leaves didn’t really matter and were just part of the show. Lastly, they didn’t seem to do a thing with my thumbprint. Theoretically, your leaf is supposed to be located by patterns on your thumb. They seemed to take my print just because perhaps I had heard that its all done with your thumbprint.
After they found my index, I was supposed to go back the next day. The process was supposed to take 2-3 hours and another 2400 Rs. but instead I went back to Pondy and called Yaniv the next morning. His experience was quite a bit different from mine… not nearly as sketchy and expensive. Wasn’t able to get a hold of Muthu to get his thoughts, but was convinced enough that these guys were cheaters. The experience did cost me 2000 Rs for the scammers and 600 Rs for the taxi (which also was a rip-off by about 150 Rs) but that’s the price of satisfying my curiousity. And for being a sucker!
I was pulling for you, man… better luck next lifetime.
shivendra
Interesting – Thanks a lot
I was always interested in checking out Nadi Josiyam. Your posting is an eye-opener.
Thanks
Narayanan.
http://www.mentalcentral.blogspot.com
nadi predictions
site offering free prediction based on the nadi system of astrology
http://freenadiastrology.net/
address of the nadi reader
hi
can I have the addredd of the nadi reader
thanks
experiments with truth
rahul brown is obviously a sceptic—–while one doesnt have 2 believe everything one hears he obviously is suspicious of just about anything under the sun–considering the fact that his friend muthu did tell him that ayya(as poosamuthu is often referred to)has the original palm leaves from the 1800’s, he still wasnt prepared to take a chance—somethings are beyond the understanding of science ,mr.brown–yes i do believe that one might be taken advantage of when one is from out of town–u might end up paying more than the average indian guy—but they definitely DO NOT fake the contents of the palm readings—take it from one who knows and who has been there–several times!
I wish I’d read this last week – I could have saved Rs 4000! Just back from Poosamuthu this weekend after the exact same experience! Halfway through I realised what was happening, but was too meek to put up a fight. Pack of scoundrels! Don’t know if Naadi is genuine or not, but this lot is out to swindle you royally.
Beena:
Last summer in Pune, I located another nadi astrolger recommended by my friend Yaniv. This operation seemed much more legitimate. First, they seemed to care about getting my fingerprint correctly and re-did it when it smudged slightly the first time. My leave was located very quickly and with very few questions. It contained lots of information that was correct which I myself had not provided nor had they asked. It cost something like Rs. 300 or Rs. 600 total, and when I wanted to pay more to open up more chapters, it turned out that they searched and could not find those chapters despite my willingness to pay.
The reading itself contained interesting information, some of which was not so flattering. I walked away with a strong determination to avoid a couple of the negative things it mentioned were right around the corner for me, but still took the overall reading with a grain of salt.
Astrology, when practiced correctly, seems to indeed be part of an ancient wisdom system. However, its not meant to be a crutch nor an excuse for fatalism. Each of us has the potential to bring awareness to the present moment and choose our actions from the deepest level of our truth and understanding, unconditioned by past influences or future aspirations but instead anchored in wisdom. When we do that, we completely shift the frame of reference of an astrological reading and invalidate its readings.
And this is the true point of astrology, as I understand it.
My name is jai shankar from hyderabad. I want to make some comment on Poosamuthu, the famous astrologer. He is one of the best astrologer in the whole world and I believe that. There is a strong reason for this: my parents went to poosamuthu in 2009 for our palm readings. We got for my dad, mom, brother n mine. Our past n future matches almost more than 90% till now. The one mentioned in the palm readings are accurate for sure. Assume that its a fake, how come they tell about my education, career, family, my job, my marriage year, my children, etc. Its not only for me, the same repeated for my father, mother n brother as well. They will also tell how many children we will have. Till now its 100% accurate. I visited videeswaran koil and thought to meet Poosamuthu, but u fortunately he is no more. I heard that his sons are following his path but not sure how accurate they will be. I am planning to meet his sons and will update you soon.
Dear sir .
21-1-2016 I visited c poosamuthus center . Poosamuthus son is handling everything now poosamuthu is nomor. One of the nadi reder in that centet try to start find my leef . And didn’t find but at that time he wisely asked my all family details and fathers name mothers every thing then he replied your left is not in this bundle and he came with another bundle at that time poosamuthus son changed the nadi reader and another man came . The first reader hand over a paper to the new reder I saw that paper it contais my family details my father mother name etc . and I take a decision don’t read my parm leaf .They return back my money. I can surely say c.poosamuthus center is a fraud centre.
I have an experience with Mr. Poosamuthu (or Pechimuthu as I remember). I will tell the story here, since it may help many people who are interested in “nadi”. It was 1989 or 1990. I was doing a small construction business in India then. I had a friend “P”, an old man who was also a contractor. He had 9 sons and 1 daughter, out of which one son “V” was a fraudster. He was worried about this son and because of the advise of a Tamil friend decided to visit Nadi astrologer. He asked me to accompany him for a 4 day tour of Tamil Nadu during which we visited many places like Thanjavoor, Swami Malai, Thiruchy, Chidambaram and Kumbhakonam. His eldest son “R” also was with us. We 3 reached Mayiladudurai rail station one early morning and took a bus to Vaideeswaran Koil. May be one or two hours journey. V.K was a very primitive village those days. We somehow located a tea shop and asked the owner about nadi astrologers. He told there are 7 families doing this, claiming to be the descendants of saptha rishis. We asked him which is best. He replied he is neutral about this and cannot comment. We requested him to show us a house and he told directions to go to Pechimuthu’s (“P”) house. He told Pechimuthu claims to be from sage Vasishtar family. We reached the house. It was a large house. There were permanent shamiaynas on all sides. On 3 sides, group of benches were there for visitors to sit. He had 4 or 5 assistants. We never met P, but I saw a person about 60 reading some leaves in a room, who I think was P. The assistant welcomed us and took our finger prints in a register kept for the purpose and noted our date of birth. I don’t know why finger print is required. Why date of birth is required since they claim it is Nadi method? At that time, I didn’t know the exact date of my birth and gave an approximate date, which might have varied by a day or two. (They can get the right date from the Panchamgam). He asked us to go out, have a cup of tea and come back. When we came back, he asked us to sit on a bench and started the process to “select” the “index” leaf by asking questions for which we must say only “yes” or “no”. It was like this: You are the second son of your father; your mother’s name starts with ra; you have 3 sisters….Not many questions by which he could have made a story. But could have made names. After this, he asked us to go to the temple, take a bath in the pond and have a breakfast. When we returned after about 2 hours or so, he had located the leaf books for us which “contained our Jathakams”. He had written them in 50-page note books. This contained a set of slokas in old Tamil and the translation in contemporary Tamil. We sat on a bench and he arranged a cassette recorder and started to read the books for us, recording everything that was spoken. Later we were given the audio cassette and the book to get it read by a Tamilian or heard. They told correctly that my friend P had 9 boys and one girl and one of the boys was a man of frauds and he will continue to be so (true till now). P had an ambition to develop an old temple in his compound. He did not tell about this to even his wife or to me, close friend. But this ambition was mentioned in the Nadi reading. He was 100% satisfied. Then R. All the past was told. He was working in state electricity board then. The Nadi told him he would settle in a foreign country in the future. He went to US later and is settled there now. Their family temple was developed into a bigger one and R came from US to conduct the ceremonies as the eldest son. This was before the death of P, thus fulfilling the prediction and his wish.
In my case, Nadi told my past with 100% accuracy. My education, degree, subject (engg), year, my going abroad and year of returning, current occupation, current financial position…But they didn’t tell me about my family life. I had no children then. They asked me to pay for “vivaha kandam”. We had only paid for “Pothu kandm” (General chapter) by paying Rs100 each. i paid more money, Rs100 each for “Thozhil Kandam”, “Vivaha Kandam”, etc. Then he came up with a past-birth story. I was not having children due to some sins of past life. For this, I had to do some “vazhivadu” in a Shiva temple near Poom Puhar in Tamil Nadu; gift silk sari and cloth to the “Kandam” and dakshina Rs2000. I will get children ONLY if I do this. If I do this, I will have a daughter and son, both will be highly educated…Of course, I didn’t believe in their the past-life story and the “parihara”, which would have costed me about Rs5000 at that time, a huge amount at that time. I had no money to pay. They also told me that my business then will be “no profit-no loss”, true. But in the Thozhil Kandam, they made a big story. They said that my business would develop into a very big one, one day I would buy many lorries and it will become a public limited company… They told some other stories of spirituality also to boost my ego (That is what I understand) and get money from my pocket.
Later, my daughter was born to me in the year which was predicted correctly and later a son also. Their education is good. But my business collapsed and I had to have a long service life abroad (which gave me funds for my life). What I understand is that they have the leaves, but add masala to the future part to boost ego and propose compulsory pariharas to extract huge money. I was somewhat foolish those days and fell for their stories. What is first got in the Pothu kandam is the truth. Further developing into deeper Kandams is a way to claim more fees. Since nothing is there in the leaves, they make a story according to the input, taste and psychology of the person in front of them. Pariharas are also a way to make huge money. While they told only the darshan of the Lord at Poom Puhar with 5 betel leaves 5 manjal, etc. which would cost only a few Rupees, they suggested Rs2000 and silk dress for the Kandam (for themselves)!
I conclude that while it may be true that some astrologers may be able to tell something true sometimes, they will fail at other times. Nobody can tell future. It’s sealed by God. These astrologers carefully extract information from us and return, adding some stories. Pariharas mostly to mislead and extract money. So use your brain and act sensibly. Daily meditation may give a better result. Visiting temples without any particular prayer may prove good.