Playground · Palmistry
The lines of the hand, as the tradition describes them
The hand chapter of Samudrika Shastra on an illustrated palm: lines, mounts, hand shapes and auspicious marks. No photograph of your hand is asked for.
Explore the hand
A right hand, as you look at your own palm. Tap a line or a mount.
Lines
Mounts
Line
Life line
जीवन रेखा · jīvana rekhā (also पितृ रेखा, pitṛ rekhā †)
- Where
- Begins at the edge of the palm between the thumb and the index finger and curves down around the mount at the base of the thumb towards the wrist.
- What the tradition associates
- Palmistry books read its sweep and clarity as a picture of steadiness and energy in everyday life, and of how firmly a person feels rooted in home and family.
- How its forms are read
- A wide arc that reaches well into the palm is described as an outgoing, active temperament; a line that hugs the thumb as a quieter, more reserved one. A line that starts joined to the head line is read as caution and closeness to family in early years.
The length of this line does not tell how long a person lives. The School reads no life span, illness or dates from it.
Describe your hand
Look at your palm and choose what matches. The lines you describe turn gold on the drawing above. Your choices stay on this page; nothing is sent or saved.
Choose something above; what the tradition says appears here.
Four hand shapes †
A square or long palm, short or long fingers. This system named for the elements is modern, and many Indian books follow it.
Earth hand
Prithvi (earth)
A square palm with short fingers. Described as practical, steady and fond of work done with the hands.
Air hand
Vayu (air)
A square palm with long fingers. Described as curious, sociable and quick with ideas and words.
Fire hand
Agni (fire)
A long palm with short fingers. Described as energetic, warm and keen to start new things.
Water hand
Jala (water)
A long palm with long fingers. Described as sensitive, imaginative and drawn to the arts.
Auspicious marks (shubha lakshana)
The Samudrika texts count certain shapes on the palm and fingers as auspicious.
Wheel · चक्र · cakra
A whorl on a fingertip. The texts count it among the auspicious marks.
Conch · शंख · śaṅkha
A loop on a fingertip, shaped like a conch. Also counted among the auspicious marks.
Fish · मत्स्य · matsya
A small fish shape, often described near the wrist. Named in the texts as an auspicious mark.
Lotus · पद्म · padma
A lotus shape formed by small lines. The texts link it with grace and learning.
Barley grain · यव · yava
A grain-shaped island on the joint of the thumb. The texts link it with learning.
Trident · त्रिशूल · triśūla
Three short branches rising together, often described on the mount of Guru. Counted among the auspicious marks †.
Method and limits
What Samudrika Shastra is
Samudrika Shastra is the traditional study of the marks of the body. Its hand chapter, hasta rekha or hasta samudrika, appears in Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita (in the chapter on the marks of a person), in the Garuda Purana and in later handbooks. Most popular palmistry books today also draw on European chirology of the nineteenth century, which is where the names of the hand shapes and some line names come from.
Which hand is read
The older texts read the right hand of men and the left hand of women; most modern books read the hand a person writes with, and compare it with the other. †
What this playground does not do
It describes what the tradition says about shapes and lines; it does not predict events. It reads no life span, health, illness, marriage, children, wealth or dates, and it does not read the short lines at the edge of the palm that some books call marriage lines. No photograph of your hand is asked for, and nothing you choose on this page leaves your browser.
† Practice varies between schools; our faculty is reviewing these rules.
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