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 have already giveen insights into
character and prospects related to different 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 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 the face's width, the woman would 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 planets 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 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 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 8th 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 or 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 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 exaltation 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!

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