Reading your face
Written by Jayasree Saranathan (Published in October, 2010 issue of Astrological eMagazine)
‘Seeing’ means knowing! The first look at a person gives us some impression about that person. The facial features and the mannerisms do convey an idea about the person. The instinctive opinions that emerge on seeing a person have been a subject of research by scientists. The researchers of Brock University of Canada have done one such research on the facial proportions of man connected to his character. This is nothing short of what Samudrika lakshana sastra or Anga Sastra attempts to do. Treatises such as Brihad Samhita, Narada Samhita and Bharadwaja Samhita h ave already giveen insights into character and prospects related to different d ifferent physical features of man and woman. The Brock University research came out with a ‘width -to –height’ ratio (WHR) of the face and found it to be connected with the character of the person. This study had arrived only at one type of WHR – that of a broad face with height less than the width of the face. This is more or less like a square face. The corresponding character of the person of this face is aggressiveness. That means, a square faced one will be tough and aggressive. The study included only men. A study on women was recently conducted by the researchers of the University of California and the University of Toronto. Their study was about what makes the woman look beautiful. Even as early as 2000 years ago, the Greeks had arrived at a “golden ratio” for the face of women which they used in their architecture. The recent study also attempted to find out that ‘golden ratio’ of the face of woman by comparing co mparing the height and the width of the face. It was deduced that when the vertical distance between the eyes and the mouth was approximately 36 per cent of the face's length, and the horizontal distance between their eyes was approximately 46 per cent of o f the face's width, the woman would wo uld be considered to be attractive. Interestingly, these proportions correspond with what our astrological treatises say on facial beauty of woman. This ‘golden ratio’ of samudrika lakshana divides the face into 3 equal parts vertically. The distance between the starting of the forehead and the eyes must be equal to the distance between the eyes and the mouth or the nose-tip. This must be equal to the distance between the nose-tip to the chin.
Astrologically speaking, these proportions must be indicated by the p lanets in the horoscope. It is like solving an interesting puzzle to put in place which planet could have contributed to which facial feature. Given below is a basic guideline about this and it
would be a useful learning for astrologers to connect the planets with the features of the person whom they meet. Facial reading.
The nose and the forehead determine the facial look of any person. The majestic looks of a vedik pundit is more related to these two. When Jupiter is powerful in the horoscope and is in exaltation and friendly houses, the person will have a big and prominent nose that lends a majestic look to his face. When Jupiter gets some association with Venus, it makes the nose look beautiful. Popular examples are Morarji Desai who had an exalted Jupiter, NT RamaRao, whose Jupiter was in lagna and Mahatma Gandhi who had Jupiter in the friendly house of Aries. For them, Venus also was in the 7th house from Jupiter thereby lending a charm to the Jovian nose. Jawaharlal Nehru also had ha d Jupiter in own house in Sagittarius in the asterism of Venus. Amitabh Bhacchan has Jupiter in exaltation but in the 6th house from the lagna. His is a prominent nose but you can not call it as a beautiful one.
Connecting characteristics to nose, a person with a long nose is smart and clever. Straight and plain nose is connected to intelligence. Short nose makes one skilled and be endowed with mechanical knowledge. Thick and wide nose makes one good at logic, philosophy and interpretation skills. The nose with a slight upward bent gives enthusiastic disposition and curiosity to know everything. The phrase “poking your nose into others’ affairs” suits this nose. The nose which bends downwards is not a good sign according to facial sastra. It makes one sorrowful. If the nose is bent more, it makes one jealous.
The next planet in determining the attractiveness of a face is Mercury. It influences the breadth of the forehead. A raised forehead is related to memory power. Mercury as the signifactor for memory must be well placed in a horoscope to give this feature. When mercury is beneficially associated with Jupiter, the person will have a broad and raised forehead, be good at sastras and be a preceptor. Swami Chandrasekhara Saraswathy, popularly known as Paramacharya of Kanchi had Jupiter, Mercury and Sun in this 10th house of Karma. Mercury- Sun renders a deep knowledge and when connected with Jupiter, it gets manifest in the face that commands co mmands respect. A circular forehead makes one good at fine arts. On seeing such a feature, the astrologer can guess the association of Mercury with Venus. A wide forehead makes one authoritative and dominating. The planet in question is Mars in connection with Mercury. The next prominent feature of a face is the chin. A well defined and long chin makes one confident. He will not be cowed down by pressures. Saturn is linked to the chin. A
smaller chin or a sunken chin will show Saturn in weak spot in the horoscope. According to Varahamihira, the person with a smaller chin will be poor. In reality it could also mean that he will have too many complaints about life and generally not satisfied.
The most attractive feature of the face is the eye. The person with a deep looking eye that captures the others unto himself must have the sun and the moon is auspicious places, exalted or in friendly connections. The other facial features may not be good. But a person with the luminaries in good place in his horoscope will captivate others merely by looking at them. The sun controls the right eye and the moon the left eye. If a person has defects in the appearance of the eye, it is likely that his sun is in 8 th or 12th houses in his horoscope.
Swami Vivekanada had the sun in the lagna in Sagittarius in the asterism of Venus. His moon was in the asterism of Hastha. He had very attractive and beautiful eyes which held the onlookers to his face. In the Navamsa the sun attained Vargotthama and was aspected by the moon. According to lakshana sastra, wide and circular eyes show friendliness, imaginative faculties and eloquence. Medium circular eyes make one philosophical and a critic too. But small circular eyes show selfishness and suspicious mentality. Such persons will be over cautious. The next feature is the mouth, lip and the teeth. Mouth and lip are under the influence of Rahu whereas the teeth are influenced by Mars. If a person has protruding lip o r mouth not in good shape, we can guess that his Rahu is not in good place. Similarly the beauty of the teeth and health of them are connected to Mars in benefic places or association. A long upper lip shows a disposition of boasting about oneself. If the upper lip is thin, the person will tend to be secretive. If the lower lip is thin he will be mean. A wide mouth shows oratorical skills and a daring nature. A big mouth with a thick lower lip makes a person fond of eating. The cheeks are influenced by Venus. We can make this out from the prediction related to cheeks given by Varahamihira. If the cheek be not sunk and looks in good shape, the person will live in comforts. If the cheek is fleshy, he will be a minister. If the cheek is round, he will be popular.
Ears are under the influence of Rahu. Diseases of the ear are also due to Rahu in malefic connection. Rahu in beneficial houses and connected with benefics will make the ear look like a cup. Such a person will have a comfortable life. When Rahu is afflicted and is
posited malefically, the person will have small ears. Small ears will make one a miser. If the ear tapers in a point and looks like a cone, the person will be kingly.
Ketu controls the hair. Any depression on the face is also connected to Ketu in malefic position. Spots and patches on the face are also contributed by Rahu and Ketu. Generally malefics in the first, second and third Drekkana are manifest as moles or birth marks in face, torso and limbs respectively according to Parashara.
The science of anga sastra or samudrika lakshana is thus an interesting one by which we can connect the physical p hysical features particularly of the face with the planetary position in the horoscope. This exciting connection urges me to visualize how the great Hero-God of Hinduism, Sri Rama would have looked.
We have the horoscope of Rama with all the planetary details. Jupiter in exa ltation in lagna and moon in own house in the lagna must have given him a majestic look of a Vedic pundit though he was a kshatriya by birth. But the exalted Mars aspecting this combination must have made him tough once in action. His nose must have been long but tender due to moon’s association to Jupiter. The exalted Saturn must have given him a prominent chin
However birth in Cancer must have given Rama a bulge in the belly! Rama must have been on regular fitness work-out! Otherwise every planet in his horoscope is in perfect place thereby making his facial and body features smooth, perfect and attractive or what we call an Alpha-male in today’s parlance! p arlance!
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