Nadi Astrology and Vaitheeswaran kovil

My second trip to Vaitheeswaran Koil(temple) was in 2014. This temple complex is situated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The premises around Vaitheeswaran Koil is the unofficial headquarters of Nadi Jyotisham (astrology). There are different Nadi centers that operate around the temple. Be prepared for touts/agents who will try to haggle you to their prefered Nadi center for their quota of commissions.

Nadi astrology is unlike most other systems/occult for predicting the future. Nadi houses have huge collection of old palm leaves in which (they claim) that a person’s future has been ALREADY written down thousands of years ago by enlightened saints. This makes for a curious conundrum. Does the naadi center have palm leaves for everybody on the planet? NO. The ancient saints who penned down the future knew who will visit the Nadi center. Hence it is said that they wrote the leaves only for those people who will visit the centre.

Vaitheeswaran kovil

Finding one’s Nadi leaf: The Nadi reader (the person who reads the leaf) will take the thumb impression. He will also write down your name and date of birth. Based on this information he will bring a set of leaves that can be best described as an index for one’s personalised palm leaf. The index leaf consists of approximately 7-8 questions that should be answered only as “Yes” or “No”. These questions may be repeated across different leaves. If one of the questions is answered as “No” the reader moves on to the next index leaf. The questions may include “Were you born in the morning”, “Does your mother’s name have four letters”, “Are you living alone”, “Do you have two brothers”, “Are you involved in a court case” etc etc. If one finds an index leaf where all the answers are affirmative then the reader goes back to the storage room to get the personalised palm leaf. This process to find the personalised leaf takes about 15 minutes. Not all people who go there will get their individualised palm leaf with their future. If a total stranger can predict my past or future with even 25% accuracy it will be quite an achievement.

The reading: There are different options for the reading, based on the amount of money that you want to shell out. The leaf consists of various Kandams (chapters) and different sections command different fees. There are readings from the palm leaf for past, present and future (in this life) and even for your previous birth and next life. (Think reincarnation/rebirths). The entire reading is recorded for every client and the tape/CD is handed over at the end of the session. The readings are quite specific and state clearly the year when the major events will occur. The reading of past, present and future (in this birth) takes about 20 min. The leaf also talks about career, family, kids, parents, diseases among other things. My reading stated the even name of my parents (YES!!!). Now I know when I will die .

The skeptic: Even before the reading the main leaf, the reader has a good idea about you due to the question answer session during the index leaf. I wonder if this has any bearing on the full reading.

During the course of the reading the leaf will invariably state that there is some bad karma from past life and that some pooja(offering) is required. The details of the offering to be performed in various temples will be described in detail. I found it quite suspicious/funny that the leaf also stated that I should give a substantial amount of money to the Nadi house as part of the offerings to get rid of the bad karma from my previous lives.

Footnote:  After my second reading was over I told the reader that this was my second visit to the same place to have my future. I had made sure that the reader was not aware of this until the end of the reading. I told the reader that the second reading was totally different from my first time I had my Nadi leaf read. The reader assured me that it’s because the leaves change. If the naadi leaves change over time, what’s the whole point in having the future read today!!!

Vaitheeswaran Kovil : The main deity here is Lord Shiva. Vaitheeswaran Kovil with its magnificent stone work is a marvel of ancient engineering. I wish that the temple pond was cleaned more regularly. Prayers are held regularly in the various shrines within the temple complex.

Getting there:

Train: The nearest station is Mayiladuthurai

Bus: We arrived from the west to Tanjavur. From Tanjavur bus terminal it’s advisable to take the next bus to Kumbakonam. From Kumbakonam direct buses are available to Vaitheeswaran Kovil (Via Mayiladuthurai). The closest bus station is Mayiladuthurai. After alighting at Vaitheeswaran Kovil  bus stop, ignore the autorikshaw drivers who invariably crowd around tourists. The destination can be reached in a few minutes on foot.